| Author |
 Replies: 27 / Views: 10,493 |
|
New Member
Canada
8 Posts |
OK...I'm new to the coin hobby. I recently inherited a collection, plus a bunch of coins that I saved when I was a kid. The collection is a bit of a mess...coins in various plastic storage envelopes, 2x2's and stuck-down PVC album pages. Some of the coins were in collector sets issued by the Mint way back and they came packed in PVC sleeves...needless to say some of them are now tarnished and corroded. However, I do notice that the coins that were sealed in plastic pouches by the mint are still in pristine condition even after 30-40 years or so. The first thing I want to do is figure out how to properly store and preserve the coins that are there before I even think about adding more. As far as I can tell, all the various coin storage systems out there have some sort of problem associated with them....nothing seems to be ideal. So...I'm going to think "outside-the-box" here (I'm so new to this game that I don't even know if there IS a "box" or not): what I propose to do is find some way to seal the coins inside plastic (eg cellophane or mylar) pouches using a small hand-held heat sealer. These things seem to be easily available in the food-preservation and jewellery packaging worlds. The heat seal would completely isolate the coin from any outside storage conditions or humidity. One could also flush the inside of the pouch with nitrogen (N2) before sealing it to purge out most of the oxygen. It would be fairly simple to rig up a low pressure line to a nitrogen tank with a small needle (like the ones used to blow up a volleyball) to flush the inside of the pouch before heat-sealing. The sealed pouch could then be stored in binder pages or mounted in a cardboard or plastic frame (similar to a 2x2). Has anyone tried such a system for storing coins? Any suggestions or comments? Anything I'm missing here? Thanks in advance to the forum. |
|
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
 to the forum. And to answer your question, I think someone in the past did mention sealing their coins with a vacuum type system in plastic bags of some type. Also, there are many that also put coins in plastic rolls, plastic flips and the Albums in Zip Lock plastic bags. I do most of those. HOWEVER, A little problem doing all the things you are considering. For a someone just starting out, a collector with only a few types of collections, what you mention is a good idea. For someone collecting coins for a long time, many have excessive quantities of coins and all that sealing gets rather irritating. Now picture this. I go to a coin show. I buy a fantastic 1921S Lincoln Cent in MS-67. It is actually better than the one I have in set #1. It goes into #1 and the one in #1 goes to #2. Then from set #2 to #3, #3 to #4 and on and on to set #10. In Mercury dimes that would be from #1 all the way to #12. If each set was sealed in a plastic bag as you mention, I'd be there for the rest of my life messing with those albums. But if you think you could do that with just some of yours, try it and let us all know how it works out. Sealing in with Nitrogen is a little on the excessive side though. |
|
New Member
 Canada
8 Posts |
Hi Carl: Thanks for your reply. The way I had envisioned it, each coin would be in it's own individual sealed plastic pouch. It would sort of look like a condom in it's wrapper (only clear plastic)(  ). If you trimmed the pouch into a 2x2 square shape (or similar), it would fit nicely into a binder sleeve, or could then be fitted into a frame like a 2x2 folder (without the plastic). Admittedly, it wold not fit into one of the many proprietary album systems that I see. My intent would be to keep the coins in boxes for compactness. If oxygen is the big culprit in coin tarnishing and corrosion, then why not get rid of it?...easy to do the way I describe. I'd really like to hear from anyone who has tried something similar. |
|
Pillar of the Community
 Canada
9864 Posts |
For about 7 bucks each you can send your coins to ICCS or CCCS and have them entombed in a little sealed plastic pouch.It's the Canadian way.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
397 Posts |
It has been done for a while, many mints do it for proof sets.
|
|
New Member
Canada
8 Posts |
DBM and shockergd...thanks for the ideas! I'm going to try to figure out what CCCS and the Mint do and just copy them! If I get good results I'll post them here.
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
If you trimmed the pouch into a 2x2 square shape (or similar), it would fit nicely into a binder sleeve, or could then be fitted into a frame like a 2x2 folder (without the plastic). Admittedly, it wold not fit into one of the many proprietary album systems that I see. My intent would be to keep the coins in boxes for compactness. Your just not using your imagination a little more. The reason coins done as you say would not fit into an Album is it is now a bit to large. HOWEVER, this only means a Cent will not fit into an Album for Cents. Nickels are now to big for a Nickel Album. So you just purchase Blank Albums and put Cents and/or Dimes in a slot for Nickels. Nickels in slots for Quarters. Of course now you would have to do the lable making things that have been explained on this forum in the past since you now have blank pages. Not sure about other manufacturers of Albums but Whitman has blank Album covers, blank pages and little press on letters/numbers to make your own. There is always a way. |
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
If you trimmed the pouch into a 2x2 square shape (or similar), it would fit nicely into a binder sleeve, or could then be fitted into a frame like a 2x2 folder (without the plastic). Admittedly, it wold not fit into one of the many proprietary album systems that I see. My intent would be to keep the coins in boxes for compactness. It is possible to buy polyethelene ribbon tubing in 2 inch width for just such a purpose. Seal the end, cut off a three inch length, slip the coin in and seal the other end at the 2 inch point, trim the excess. It is also available in other sizes. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
593 Posts |
Quote:
So...I'm going to think "outside-the-box" here (I'm so new to this game that I don't even know if there IS a "box" or not): what I propose to do is find some way to seal the coins inside plastic (eg cellophane or mylar) pouches using a small hand-held heat sealer. These things seem to be easily available in the food-preservation and jewellery packaging worlds. The heat seal would completely isolate the coin from any outside storage conditions or humidity.
One could also flush the inside of the pouch with nitrogen (N2) before sealing it to purge out most of the oxygen. It would be fairly simple to rig up a low pressure line to a nitrogen tank with a small needle (like the ones used to blow up a volleyball) to flush the inside of the pouch before heat-sealing. CoinNut66 - if you are still out there (and didn't give up) - I just had a similar idea and thus found your post. My idea was to create a sealing system that always produced a 132 cm x 82 cm output (same as the US Mint) that could be stored in an album designed to hold mint uncirculated sets (Eagle makes them and they work perfectly). I had envisioned having the ability to seal 2, 4, 6 or 8 coins. If the actual number of coins to be sealed was odd, a disk identifying the set could be added, just like the US Mint did. Sealing the edges is fairly simple, so your idea of a 2x2 sealer may be more practical, but a larger device would have more flexibility. I wonder about the need for nitrogen, though. With wines we all know that oxygen is the enemy, but the small amount of oxygen in the top of the bottle after corking is OK. It's only when the bottle is opened that oxygen becomes a problem. Why? Opening the bottle introduces NEW oxygen and, more importantly, allows the ambient air to interact. Put a cork in a half empty wine bottle and you will have vinegar in a month or less. Put in a stopper that allows you to remove the air (vacuum stopper), or spray a layer of Nitrogen in the bottle and cork it so the oxygen can't interact with the wine and - viola' - the bottle is drinkable for months. Similarly, I would expect that sealing coins in an ambient air environment (which is almost 80% Nitrogen, by the way) would be fine and any reaction between the oxygen in the trapped ambient air and the coin would be negligible - just as you see with the mint packaging. I think you're on to something quite promising. I hope you're still out there! Edited by larsdog
04/26/2012 12:02 am
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
The main problem with all such ideas is they are basically only good for a few coins. Once you accumulate virtually thousands and thousands of coins, you would have spent a small fortune attempting to do anything excessive for preservation of the coins. For example I have possibly over 3,000 Mercury dimes. Possibly several thousand 43 Cents. And on and on and on with excessive amounts of coins. Attempting to even consider placing each one in something like a plastic sealed thing would take me the rest of my life and I'd have to sell my house for the money to do that. My suggestion is to stop worrying about every thing that could go wrong with coins and start having fun with this hobby. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
593 Posts |
Quote:
The main problem with all such ideas is they are basically only good for a few coins. Of course, and I would not advocate large scale use. I'm talking about a collection of mint sets. Almost everything from 1959 to now is available already sealed by the mints. I want to add '71 and '72 P&D Ikes. I can get the encapsulated S mint version in brown Ike boxes, but not the P&D. It would be nice to be able to buy uncirculated Ikes and have them sealed in the same way everything else is and slide them in the same slot in an album designed for such packaging. Prior to '59 the sets were not sealed, so if someone collected pre '59 mints sets they may want to seal them like the later sets. And instead of buying Special Mint Set in slabs for '66 and '67 someone could seal their own (or crack open the SMS boxes and re-seal them) so they all fit nicely in the mint set album. It is certainly not something one would want to do on anything approaching a large scale. It would only make sense if you were already collecting sealed mint sets. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
593 Posts |
I found an article about sealing your own coins: http://www.australian-threepence.co...n-pages.htmlThat's fine if you want to seal several batches, but I just want 4 small pouches sealed for '71-'72 P&D Ikes. I even have the mint tokens if I can get them sealed in there, too! I wish I could find someone to seal small quantities that uses archive materials. I wonder - if I got some of these "saflips", I may be able to find someone with a sealer that seals food. Does anyone know if these "saflips" are good for storing coins? I've never seen one. UPDATE: I just found some 2-1/2" x 2-1/2" saflips for sale on ebay. 5 for $3. (You can get 50 for less than $10, but I only need 4). I'm going to see if I can find someone here in town that seals jerky or something that has a heat sealer. I will give this a try and post the results. (Be patient, I have to buy the Ikes first)! UPDATE #2: Checking ebay, new 4" Impulse Heat Sealers are about $25 and 8" Sealers about $30 (including shipping), so for sealing saflips the heating unit price is much less than what the Aussies paid a unit that would seal full sheets. I may just buy the 8" model so I can seal anything as big as a mint set from the U.S. Mint. Edited by larsdog
04/27/2012 10:12 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1554 Posts |
2x2 cardboard flips have worked for me for over 40 years. Just last year I removed over 50 Silver Dollars from the Flips that I had them in and replaced them into new Flips as the old Flips staples had started to rust. The Silver Dollars don't look any different than when I put them in those Flips back in 1969. People get to weird about storage of coins.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
593 Posts |
Quote:
People get too weird about storage of coins. This isn't about getting crazy about storage, but finding a way to be consistent. I collect mint and proof sets from 1968 to present, but the '71 and '72 P&D Ikes were never packaged as sealed uncirculated coins. It would be nice to store them in the same mint set albums as everything else. Fortunately the 1999 SBA P&D dollars WERE packaged as sealed uncirculated coins, as was the 1996 W dime. I bought the 1982 and 1983 P&D Souvenir Sets, but I can see someone wanting to seal their own sets for a lot less. Also, the '66 and '67 Special Mint Sets don't fit in any album. It might be nice to create your own set that is the same size and shape as your other mint sets. I also collect used pennies and nickels before 1959. Those are stored in Dansco albums. I have no plans to "seal" any of those coins or the albums. I only want to seal the Ikes so the presentation is CONSISTENT with the other mint uncirculated coins I have. Edited by larsdog
04/27/2012 11:22 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Australia
1006 Posts |
Great idea on the storage although be very very careful with the pvc sleeves because I have heard it decomposes and creates a very unattractive green patina on coins.
Personally I keep my coins in PVC free album sleeves but my best coins are in 2x2 holders in album sleeves.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1554 Posts |
Hmmm, quite the dilemma. I think larsdog and the others who posted above have some great ideas, or, maybe the ANA could give you some advice. Good luck. |
| |
Replies: 27 / Views: 10,493 |
Posted 09/26/2011 10:16 pm
