Store Coins

If you are referring to these-http://www.jjcoins.com/Images/wbw004.jpg-I heard they are only good for short term storage, Because they decay around the coins.

I've seen coins that have been in 2x2 for years, have bought some, with no damage whatsoever. If you keep your coins in a dry place (and you should!) they won't present a problem.

These things are known as "2x2s" because they're 2 inches square. 2x2s are normally completely safe for short, medium or long term coin storage. There were some shoddy brands available in the 1970's and 1980's made from PVC and other unsafe plastics, but most of the ones you'll find on the market today are quite safe.

There are just a few things to note about them. They come in two versions, "self-adhesive" and "staple-it-yourself". Both types have their adherents:

- Self-adhesives look neater but are more expensive, sometimes the adhesive doesn't stick properly (meaning you'll end up having to apply staples anyway), some people worry about the glue causing the coins to discolour, and if you take the coin out again, you have to throw the 2x2 away.

- Staples are cheaper to buy but extra work to assemble. If you stack stapled 2x2s together, to have to watch out that you don't accidentally cause staple scratches from the staples in one holder scratching the coins in adjacent holders. They're more reusable - you can take a coin out of a 2x2 and put it (or another coin) back in, but again be careful not to allow the staples to scratch the coin coming in or out.

2x2s can be stored in coin album pages made for that size. They can also be stored in anything that can take an old photographic slide, since they're the same size. I buy all my "coin album pages" from photo supply stores, though with slide photography now virtually extinct, this source is starting to dry up.

Almost all of my "important" coins are in 2x2s, except for my ancient coins - the high relief on ancient coins causes the plastic to stretch too much, obscuring the detail. My ancients are in 2x2-sized mylar flips.

Me too. Not sure how long those 2x2 flips have been around but I've had coins in them for possibly 20 years. Maybe longer but at my age not sure. I've got 9 of those Whitman cardboard boxes for two rows of 2x2 flips and mostly full. Some have been there for a long, long time. No problems with that at all.
HOWEVER, there are some problems here too. If you are indeed talking about those cardboard flips, I've seen many with gigantic staples in them and they tend to either scratch other coins or even your fingers. Then too, I've seen people use the dollar size for all coins and the staples going through the clear plastic. I've seen some that were glued shut and might have used some wierd glue due to the coins starting to get ugly. So although I have had no problems with 2x2 flips, that doesn't mean all is OK.