Posted 02/08/2018 12:44 pm
Look for the lowest lifetime expense of collection storage that is archival and preserves the existing grade of the note.
I used to use mid-grade Lindner albums and currency pages. I got about 100 notes to the album. Storage of 100 notes cost me over $1.15 per note. Cheaper ring binders and cheaper pages were unsatisfactory, they canted the pages, warped, and required a sleeve to protect the note even with the page. Putting the notes in order meant that the notes were handled even in the albums, risking losing a grade from handling, and incompleted series meant empty spaces in the albums, a waste of money.
I sold all my albums off and went to using 5x8 mylar sleeves, with a fold-over top, for each note. They are housed in a Globe-Weis 5x8 file box, the green office file boxes you see in offices, about 400 notes per box. The sleeves cost me $0.36 each in lots of 600 sleeves, smaller orders can run $0.40 cents apiece, and the boxes are about $15 each. So my cost to store my 3,500 note collection is just over $1300, or $0.385 per note. This is far less than even the inexpensive binders and pages. Were I starting over as a collector, I would never use albums and pages, I've learned that lesson. Spending $300 a year on new albums and pages is just not smart collecting, now I'm spending about $75 a year on storage and putting the additional funds back into more notes.
I prefer the sleeves to pages for more reasons than cost : I can examine the note more closely, and sort and organize them into order without handling the note. I can remove a note from my primary collection to my secondary holding collection just by moving the sleeve from one box to the other, very simple. The boxes take up far less room than albums, as well. I don't feel the need to have albums to show other folks, we can look at a country's notes using the sleeves just as well. I think they prefer to look at a few notes in hand rather than page through an album, anyway.
For the lowest lifetime expense of storing your collection, whatever size it may be, I recommend the sleeve system. My notes range in value from $0.50 to over $1000, so archival storage is the main consideration, then cost of storage. I see no reason to increase storage costs as note values rise. I would rather put my hobby budget into additional banknotes, not storage albums and pages.
I still keep oversized notes in an album, but this is nothing compared to the collection of 3,500 notes.
Graded material is similar, I use a 6x9 file box for them. Very inexpensive storage. If you keep notes in a safe, boxes are easier, as well.
I get my sleeves from Beate Rauch in Las Vegas, seems to be the least cost from that source.
I used to use mid-grade Lindner albums and currency pages. I got about 100 notes to the album. Storage of 100 notes cost me over $1.15 per note. Cheaper ring binders and cheaper pages were unsatisfactory, they canted the pages, warped, and required a sleeve to protect the note even with the page. Putting the notes in order meant that the notes were handled even in the albums, risking losing a grade from handling, and incompleted series meant empty spaces in the albums, a waste of money.
I sold all my albums off and went to using 5x8 mylar sleeves, with a fold-over top, for each note. They are housed in a Globe-Weis 5x8 file box, the green office file boxes you see in offices, about 400 notes per box. The sleeves cost me $0.36 each in lots of 600 sleeves, smaller orders can run $0.40 cents apiece, and the boxes are about $15 each. So my cost to store my 3,500 note collection is just over $1300, or $0.385 per note. This is far less than even the inexpensive binders and pages. Were I starting over as a collector, I would never use albums and pages, I've learned that lesson. Spending $300 a year on new albums and pages is just not smart collecting, now I'm spending about $75 a year on storage and putting the additional funds back into more notes.
I prefer the sleeves to pages for more reasons than cost : I can examine the note more closely, and sort and organize them into order without handling the note. I can remove a note from my primary collection to my secondary holding collection just by moving the sleeve from one box to the other, very simple. The boxes take up far less room than albums, as well. I don't feel the need to have albums to show other folks, we can look at a country's notes using the sleeves just as well. I think they prefer to look at a few notes in hand rather than page through an album, anyway.
For the lowest lifetime expense of storing your collection, whatever size it may be, I recommend the sleeve system. My notes range in value from $0.50 to over $1000, so archival storage is the main consideration, then cost of storage. I see no reason to increase storage costs as note values rise. I would rather put my hobby budget into additional banknotes, not storage albums and pages.
I still keep oversized notes in an album, but this is nothing compared to the collection of 3,500 notes.
Graded material is similar, I use a 6x9 file box for them. Very inexpensive storage. If you keep notes in a safe, boxes are easier, as well.
I get my sleeves from Beate Rauch in Las Vegas, seems to be the least cost from that source.
Edited by paxbrit
02/08/2018 12:48 pm
02/08/2018 12:48 pm
