The 2x2s work well for most coins, if you do three things. First, use needle nose pliers to crimp down the staples. Second, pack them tightly in the 2x2 boxes to prevent the coins from moving. Third, store them in a dry place. Either use large dessicant containers or a dehumidifier to remove moisture from the area. If you use the dessicant containers, remember to replace them as recommended. Circulated coins that I put in the cardboard 2x2s in the 1960s and 1970s were still fine when I liquidated my inventory and collection over the last few years. BU coins I put in Capital Plastics holders back then were exactly the same all these years later. I'd be cautious in using any kind of tape to seal the 2x2s because of the chemicals in the tape, and I'd avoid all of the paper 2x2 flips.
Coins I put in the older albums (all mine were Wayte Raymond / National Coin albums) were in great shape, but had acquired beautiful light toning over the years. My
Buffalo nickel collection toned lightly with the classic gold tint that those particular albums produce. The silver coins toned lightly near the rims. The bronze coins didn't change at all. Gold coins, naturally, did fine.
Coin tubes work very well over longer periods. Long story here, but I'll give the short version. Way back in the day, Grover Criswell talked me into buying prooflike
Morgan dollars, when everybody hated them. (People thought they looked "weird" and wanted what we later called the blast white coins.) I took his advice, and went a *little* overboard in buying them. I stored them in tubes, with a cotton ball on top and on the bottom. I've been liquidating that part of the inventory a couple hundred a year for the last few years, and will finish that task in the next year or so. ALL of the coins were and are exactly how they looked when I put them in the tubes 45-55 years ago.
These coins were stored in a large safe, with a dessicant tub that I swapped out every 6 months. My safe was stored at a climate-controlled property title office inside their huge records safe. That office was located in a dry adjoining state.
Yes, it's bone dry here. But other environmental factors like annual wildfire smoke can affect the coins. Flash floods and tornadoes aren't recommended, either.
I found that these storage methods worked well.
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Posted 08/14/2025 10:35 am
