>> As I have said in a number of posts, Peter. "what need slabbing fulfills" as you say is that it makes money for the slabbing service & the high end collectors & dealers.

How does it make money for high end collectors and dealers? When you answer that question then you are in a position to answer the next question . . .

How can we accomplish that by a means better than slabbing?

I assume that you don't object to collectors and dealers making money, you object to the negative impact slabbing will have on the rest of the hobby. So find another way to allow them to make money that doesn't have the negative impact on the rest of the hobby.