Ancient Coin Storage And Cataloguing.

I use 2x2s with general information and my catalog number, I than record the rest on the information in my data base.

sel: can you explain or point me a resource to prove providence. Most of my purchases have been smaller but as I work my way up I suspect I should be keeping better records. Will an excel spread sheet work? , etc.

As far as storage, here is what I do:

Might want to use archival quality flips though (mylar). The softer plastic flips contain plasticizers which will react and create sticky corrosive bright green goo which will ruin your coins.

A large number of my granddad's US coin collection was reduced to melt value due to PVC corrosion after being stored in such flips for half a century.

I'm considering using acid-free paper coin envelopes. The obvious disadvantage is that you can't see through them :( Hate the stiffness of those mylar flips though.

Mine aren't ancients, but I use a traditional mahogany coin cabinet.

The coins sit on felt 'roundels' within the recesses and underneath the felt I put the tickets (which are small paper disks onto which you write whatever information you want).



Obviously I also have a paper file with receipts and electronic records, but for some of the coins the tickets go back to the 1950s so are of value in themselves, as they can be used to prove provenance.




There's no one source allranger. For many coins the only information you will have might be where and when you bought a coin.

But I always try to find out and record any details of previous owners. Auction records and catalogues, books, coin tickets can all prove useful in this. My longest provenance relates to a coin that I bought a few years back without knowing any of its history. So far I've managed to find it in the following

sale of F A Walters collection Sotheby 26-30 May 1913 #608 (part, 6 coins)
when it was bought by Baldwins for G R Francis who published it in the British Numismatic Journal 1918 Plate III, 2,
it was then sold with Francis' other coins through Glendining in Mar 1920 (Lot#160 (part, 2 coins))

..not yet sure who bought it at this point but it ended up in
Lockett IV English Part ii Oct 1956 #2309 (but sadly not illustrated in the catalogue) when it was again bought by Baldwins (for £5/10/- !)

.. after which again the trail goes cold for a few years until it appears in M Rasmussen's List 6 in Apr 2004 where it was bought by the person I bought it from in 2005!

As you might guess, I probably spend nearly as much time researching provenance as searching for coins to buy. So don't be throwing out those old labels. In time they might prove valuable or of interest to your kids or other collectors!

the odd and curious present a problem for me also. giant coins and strange shaped coins like byzantine trachy cups...right now I have them stored in postcard slips in a box. thought about trays, at least to showcase some of the more awesome coins.