It's a well worn story, but I ended up with my father's collection of Australian pre-decimal coins as part of his deceased estate. The main collection of all denominations was / still is housed in a very tacky plastic Hendo album which is a real handful to lug around, as well as being a fantastic breeding ground for PVC cancer and verdigris.
The coins were not well prepared for storage back in the 50's and 60's when he was quiite active with the pre-decs.
Fast forward to 2021-22 and a quick look through the album has me cringing and washing my hands when finished.
So the big decision to bring them out into the air and give them a new home was made.
The budget is limited and hopefully what I finish with is worth the effort and spend.
I am putting each denonomination into separate polypropylene Bantek 3 ring folders, sitting in hartberger 2x2's and BCW sleeves.
The folders are transparent and zippered.
Each folder will have some 5 gram indicator dessicant bags inside, and the folders will be stored in large ziplocks.
I have just finished the first denomination of half pennies.
Each coin is inspected and checked against a large store of spares and error coins to see if they can be swapped out for a better coin. With the half pennies I ended up purchasing 7 replacements on
ebay as the originals were pretty ordinary.
Before going into the 2x2's each coin gets an acetone bath and rinse and depending on the crud built up overtime, they may also get a pick clean and some Verdi-Care love.
Once totally dried each coin gets photographed and documented in a spreadsheet and go into 2x2 storage.
I chose stapled as I will upgrade the collection as funds allow and I can unpick the staples and re-use the 2x2.
Each 2x2 gets a pre-printed set of labels attached, showing the year, country, denomination, mint and mintage.
So as time allows I aim to get the other denoms done in their own folders.
Once that is complete, and if I am still on this side of the mortal coil I'll start on all of the varieties and error coins that he had a keen eye on, some 500 odd coins. I've had a cursory look through them and catalogued and ziplock bagged them.
Oh and then there is the world coins (yes he even put away some US stuff, pennies, dollars dimes etc) and WW1 and WW2 middle east banknotes....
Not to mention the decimal aussie stuff, but that might be for someone who comes after my time.
Thanks for looking. As always, your comments and advice are always appreciated.
TT
The Ox moves slowly, but the Earth is patient.
Posted 07/23/2022 02:35 am
