Problem In 7070 Album

Yes, that's what I did. You can see them if you look at my Large Cents in my 7070 pictures linked below.

Bryan, yeah I figured that in addition to wear, the standards for exact size weren't as rigidly enforced back then (probably because they didn't have the technology).

Ken, see that, got it. I was planning on doing the same thing, though I was hoping someone had come up with a more elegant solution!

BTW, I was floored when I saw your 1810 Large cent--I filled up that hole with an 1810 cent that looks almost exactly the same--and it arrived in the mail today!

Dansco used to offer shims like the ones I made out of the flip, you just had to mail them that you wanted or needed them but they should have included them in the albums in my opinion. I don't think they do this anymore but justcarl may know for sure


tjmcman, I remember one of my coins being tight but I didn't have to modify the album to make it fit. I thought I was going to have to and I believe it was with the lettered edge capped bust. The one in mine was a 1832, I guess the earlier ones are larger than the later ones like the one I used

The 1827 Capped Bust half dollar in my 7070 is the only coin I have ever had any difficulty getting into the hole. I had to work the opening to widen it up a bit before I could get her in there.

Why do the early coins have problems fitting well in the holes? If you think about how they were made the answer is simple. I could say the answer is left for an exercise fore the student but I won't.

Remember that before 1836 the coins were not struck in a tight fitting collar. (The reeded edge coins had a collar snup enough to make the reeding show on the coins but not a 'tight" fit.) At that time the collar was mainly used to try and center the planchet and keep it from falling off the lower die. Since the collar did not restain the expansion of the coin during the strike, the final diameter of the coin was determined by the strength of the strike and the softness of the metal. This means that every pre-1836 coin in a given series is a slightly different size than all the others. Typically they can range in diameter from smallest to largest by about 1 to 1.5 mm. Now how do you make a hole in an album for coins that vary that much in diameter? What you do is measure a random sample of the coins and determine what the most commonly seen size is and make the hole to fit that size. The average coin will now fit, but there will still be a fair number that will be loose and some that you will have to booger the page to get them in. After 1836 and the close collars all the coins are a given size and creating holes that fit them well is easy. The Matron head large cent is a real problem because the design range used in the album (1816 - 1839)overlaps the changeover date from loose to close collars. If you make the hole fit the 36 -39 coins many of the 16 - 36 coins won't fit into the hole. If you make it fit the early years (Which still can't be done because of varying size) then the later years will all be loose and rotate. It is a problem with no good solution.