Question Re: Album Storage Of First Day Coin Covers

Ah-ha! Finally found this article again! @bkprewitt - I kept waiting for it to show up at the top of the topic list in its original forum; sorry it's taken so long to reply. @jbuck - I realize that this is its proper forum, and it's not a big deal at all but it would sure be nice to know when an article is moved that you've been active in w/o having to subscribe to it. Anyway, I found it which is what matters and I have some more to share on this:

Sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with Potomac Supplies. And thanks for taking the plunge and doing the research. According to that link from which you purchased, FDC #6 has a pocket size of 4-1/8" x 7". The FDCCs are 3-7/8" x 7-1/2" so I can see where that would be an issue. As for the over-stuffing... your only option there is probably going to be multiple albums. I don't care for that (although I don't know if there's a single-album option out there that will work and look decent) and I honestly am not a fan of that padded vinyl look anyway. I prefer the leatherette-bound albums like Dansco and Whitman and such.

So I took some time today and did some more research while waiting for your results (or so I thought at the time) because my FDCC's are annoying me on my office floor and came up with a few more options. Unfortunately nothing yet that's going to meet our needs completely.

http://www.ihobb.com/p/LHCOVERALBUMS/CLFDC6KA.html
I think this one would be perfect... except the pages are bound to the spine, not on binder rings or posts and we'd need to swap them anyway for clear pages.

http://www.ihobb.com/p/FDCALBUMS/JUMBOCOVER.html
This one is a flip-up-style album and even mentions that it stores Presidential FDCC's but warns that the coins reduce the capacity so not sure we'd get all 40 or so in one album. And its dimensions seem a bit large for the Prez $1 FDCC's anyway. I think this one was mentioned specifically in the article I quoted further back in the thread, and the author preferred a different album in the same style:

http://www.ihobb.com/p/ALLSYTE/MONARCH.html
Size-wise, this is the best fit... stated pocket size is 4"x7.5", almost exactly our need. Expensive though. would need 2 for Prez and 3 for Statehood. That's $250 right there.

I dunno. All we're looking for, really, is a nice-looking album/binder that will hold removable pages with 2 pockets of approximately 4" x 8"

Golly, why is this so hard?!

I'll keep plugging away.

I use the Lighthouse Vario 2S sheets to store my PNCs. They feature a black film backing and are double-sided (i.e., can hold four covers per page). I prefer the look of the individual cover against the black background vs. seeing through a page to the next cover.

The Vario 2S sheets offer double-sided pockets so that I can store four PNCs per page -- I store them in a standard D-Ring binder. The trade-off of being able to store 4 covers per page vs. being able to see the backs of the covers works for me. It is very easy to remove a cover from its pocket, so pulling one out when I want to see the back of it is no problem.

The Vario 2C is clear, but is only one-sided (i.e., two covers per page). So, twice as many pages will need to be purchased.

Here's what the Vario 2S page looks like...

The Vario 2C was going to be my next approach. It looks to be a good solution from what I can tell, and I'll likely go that direction. As for binder, I'll probably use one of the BCW 3-inch binders I have laying around.

Always a good thing. ;)

Thanks, gents! I'm gonna order some of those Vario pages and a binder. Will post pics when they come in and I have the FDCC's installed.

Ok, I did it. Purchased 5 packs of Vario 2C pages and a blue Vario G binder. Not sure how long it'll take to get here but I will post pics when it does. Thanks for all the suggestions and support.

@jbuck - I'll check out the Active Topics feature. Didn't even know that existed - thanks.

Ok, quick update. My binder and pages came in yesterday and I have assembled my album of Presidential $1 FDCCs. It looks pretty good, I must say. I'll take some pics when I get home and post them.

@jbuck, ok, I've been using the "Active" feature for a week now and it's pretty handy. For a post like this that's old, though, I had to go back to the all forums view in order to see it. I guess I could have picked a larger date range, I suppose. Still getting the hang of it. :)

Ok, here we go. Ran out of time last night.

Got my shipment on Monday and I'm pretty happy with it as I said. Here's the album with slipcase. It's a hard-shell, leatherette-covered slipcase. The album itself is the same leatherette skin and is slightly padded.



Any thoughts on how to label the spine? I'm going to buy another 1 or 2 of these for the other FDCCs I have so labeling would be convenient... Of course a P-Touch (home label maker) would work.

And here it is open to the first page:



The album is a 4-ring binder with an interesting configuration (to me). The rings and spine assembly are fixed to the back cover (vs. being attached to the spine). The the spine wraps around the rings and then snaps to the front of the rings. In the picture, you can see the 1-1/2" section of the front cover that clips to the rings, and then the rest swings free. It's really hard to describe, so just take a look at the pix and I'll post close-ups if anyone cares.

Here it is, with the front cover unclipped and the album opened completely, lying flat:



Pretty happy with it overall but I'm concerned about the overall width. I have about 1/2 of the Presidential $1 FDCCs in there but not sure that it's going to fit all of the remaining ones. It's gonna be tight. And almost certainly not all the 56 Statehood Quarter FDCCs. See the following photo for a top-down view. There are enough blank Vario pages to handle the rest of the series, so they take up some room. Visually it looks tight but there is some room.



I'd prefer to get all the Statehood Quarter FDCCs in one album...so I'm hesitating on buying another one for them and two albums will be expensive plus pretty roomy. Thoughts?

Ok, I ordered two more of those albums today for State Quarters and will let you know how it goes. The company I ordered from is pretty fast with shipping... I made my last order with them on a Thursday and it showed up on my porch on Monday. :)