Protecting Your Collection

For information
http://coinsguide.reidgold.com/holders.html

Coin Protection is a tricky topic. You shouldnt ever give up on a coin - remember, the plan should be that the coin should outlive you by a couple of millenia.

The key points are these: Removing anything from the coin which could harm it and then making sure nothing gets to the coin that could harm it.

Methods:
First, all coins should be deionised to remove Chlorine which causes BD. any chlorine ion will destroy the coin given time. Removing the ions involves deionised or distilled water - soak for about 12 hours at a time and then replace the water, removing any green specs without remorse, straight down and into the metal.

Second, remove surface impurities like olive oil which could cause discolouring and eventual corrosion. Also with DW or Acetone - I've found it useful to burn off anythign that refuses to emulsify, but you'd need to repeat the DW treatment to ensure biproducts dont cause issues.

Then, seal the coin in wax. Before hand, remove the water by heating it in an oven for a period of time. Wax it. This gives a layer of protection against airborn woes. Buy Ren wax - its pricey, but it lasts forever and its really good at what it does.

After that, storing the coin is important. the wax will protect it, but PVC would eventually get to the fabric of the coin. You need something like a Saflip. HEat sealed would be even better to exclude gases.

Ben, never heard of the Acetone treatment, but I do have some in storage. But I did read something about Red Devil Lye and that stuff scares me.

I will research Ren Wax. When waxing, the wax should be clear so you can actually see and enjoy your coin.

Thanks for all the info. All of this is new to me as I have researched about coin collecting for the past two weeks (my wife going to kill me, because it takes away from our business, LOL) but some of the ideas that are presented here I have not seen, heard or read about. But I consider the people on this site to have the knowledge and know how.

Yeah, you wont need to use it until you have quite a few coins cleaned. Its much more important you learn the cleaning process properly first. Patience is your friend in this pursuit.

long story short philip, if you're not cleaning or anything just make sure you have non-pvc flips..the one you posted above would be just fine. just note that they don't come with paper inserts to write you coin info, so if you want to do that you'd have to make your own (i always by flips that come with inserts).

I use quadrum coincapsules, very protective, 20 per page.. 55 cent per coin though, so its only for my best coins: https://www.google.com/search?q=qua...L9PUJt2xklM:

My preferred choice for coin protection is by Smith & Wesson... Oh wait, you were asking about coin storage. :)

The safest method of coin storage I have seen are those little sewn felt pouches placed inside acid-free paper envelopes. I don't know were to get the pouches, but the acid-free paper envelopes are easy to find via Google. The second safest is the "non"-PVC flip (however they do have a small amount of plasticizer, so they aren't completely PVC-free). If you want to go high-end, you could get yourself an Abafil coin case (www.coin.com) and store your coins in it... All storage types have some drawbacks (for instance, the coins slide around a little in an Abafil case, over time causing wear; the non-PVC flips can scratch coins and are brittle; etc.)

John