I want a premium album

Lighthouse / Eagle has those nice slab holder pages. As of right now, that may be the best protection/display available. But I would certainly like to see the product of the R&D prelim work above :yes:

I tried Quadrums, and while they are nice, I wouldn't call them "premium." For one thing, I don't think they are as airtight as you would want.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I'm listening to ideas. Anyone else interested in the cause? Ideas of what they imagine the perfect album to be?

 

I've dealt with these folks for 30 years and find that they have the best prices/selection around. They may have what you are looking for ... if nothing else to give you a choice of more than a few to try out. They are also the cheapest on books and supplies.
http://www.brooklyngallery.com/cgi-bin/commerce.exe?listcategories=action&parent=0905

 

Nothin new there Bill, same things we have all seen. But interesting that they are closing out the Intercept Shield line. Guess the lousy quality at IS finally caught up to them

 

I thought IS made premium kit. What's the deal?

 

The best album IS makes still does not have air tight slots and still has plastic slides rubbing over the surfac of the coins. It is not the kind of premium the OP and I would love to see. Also, here are my comments about IS from another thread:

"That is what Intercept Shield claims. I'm just not convinced that they follow through with the quality they claim. They are made in China. Consider the pet food problems, low quality steel, lead in kids toys, oh, and counterfeit coins. I have also worked closely with a friend who tried to have manufacturing done in China. He even shipped them the chemical additives needed for the job, (a fire retardant) but they added them in at way under the rate they should have, less than 10%, so the product was useless.
Add to this that the holes in the albums are not always sized well. I tried 3 of their albums. I had to shave some of the holes in the type set to get coins to fit. The state quarter holes were so badly over-sized that they actually rattled.
Its a great idea if it was done well. I just don't see the proof in the pudding. I don't like them or trust them."

 

Exactly softmentor. IS is a good product, but it still lacks what I would consider to be premium archival features. Personally I think that IS is better than Dansco, but they are limited when it comes to the number of series that they cover.

 

I've been following other threads about how some guys custom fit their own pages to fit ATs, but I'd be concerned about needing to insulate in between the pages, so the ATs make unsightly scratches on each other. I thought Quadrums would be sweet, but a few sizes aren't exact fit (so they rattle), and the pages don't stay shut. I think the black synthetic material has the potential to make them airtight. I do still like the Lighthouse pages, however. They display better than pulling individual slabs out of TPG boxes. Sorry to hear about the IS problems, and to feel the need to contribute my Quad issues...when I first got the boxes with Euro labeling, I thought they would be "premium."

 

I like the AT in album idea, but it would have to be at a price point that is max 3x a Dansco or IS. If people are willing to spend high $ on an album, chances are they may also have a large number of their coins in slabs. The trend toward slabbing is counter to the high $ albums described here. Just my thoughts.

I like the Lighthouse / Eagle slab holder pages. Some day I may move my type set to those..

 

I think that if there was an archival album, the tendency to want to slab everything would slow down. I'm sure that I am not the only one who likes to album collect. I agree that the price is too high for the average collector, but the albums are not intended for average collections.

 

dittos on the concern for the air tights getting all scratched from rubbing the ones on the next page. have to come up with a page that prevents that. Either the page its self is thick enough to recess the AT or have a divider page? maybe both? I do like one thing with divider pages, you can use them to give date/info about the coin instead of having to squeeze it on the page under the coin.

 

The type set album is on, I start working on it tomorrow. I have been wanting to do this for some time now but never really had the time to really get going on it. I'll post some pics as soon as I get something going to show the progress.

 

I have often thought why don't they have high end albums that hold airtiights.

 

I think it is really up to the collector and what they want to collect. An uncirculated coin saves the state of the coin for posterity's sake. Circulated coins have history behind them but may not show all the details of the coin. Since I have just started collecting since March of this year really by first buying junk silver, I tend to like the lower risk circulated coins since I am less likely to be jipped or somehow grossly overpay. I may though in the future want some uncirculated versions of some of the coins I have been buying or finding just to have examples that show all details. For example, I bought a beat up matron head large cent for $5. It was inexpensive and has lots of history explaining how it got beat up but an uncirculated or even AU version would show all the details.

As far as containers though I wouldn't want to stick any 19th century coin in an album. I would get an air-tight if the coin had nice details but if the coin was pretty circulated I stick them in flips, the coin holder I prefer. What do most people prefer, 2X2s? I like flips and air-tights because they are cleanable. I know I got a silver American eagle and there was a bunch of crap on the flip so I wiped it out.

 

The horribly sized pics on Eagle's website makes me think they aren't worried about competition.

 

How about Kointains?
They are the inert plastic shells that fit tightly over the coin.
I can hold a coin in one of these, and if I wasn't looking, couldn't tell it was in a capsule.
You would only have to slightly enlarge the openings in a Dansco.
The Kointains also have a very slight convex to them, so the plastic never actually touches the coin surface.
On problem is that these are expensive capsules for what they are.

 

Seems like another challenge would be developing pages to separate the cointains, since the convex aspect might encourage them to scratch each other. Or sort out pages which would display them in a staggered fashion...oh, the agony!

 

I have an update on the album. Like ever body else, I was concerned about the air-tites getting scratched. So I came up with an easy solution. First, I made thick pages, but it really looked bad. So I tried thinner pages with a thin clear plastic collar surrounding and slightly thicker than the air-tites. I think it is a winner, it looks great and protects the surface of the holders without having to have thick pages. I am stuck on how the pages should be covered, but the album itself will have the old school look leather binding.

 

Kirkuleez definitely would like to see detail pictures to see how you did it.
I'm thinking if we actually design one from the ground up, we could make an airtight that has a raised rim, such as coins do, so that will help keep the center from scratching over the coin area. Make them fairly close fit to coin size so that they fit in close in the album. This way you can get a good number in each page. Need to come up with a nice page that 1) holds the air tight securely 2) Is not ugly bulky, as Kirkuleez points out, 3) has a way of preventing the pages, and consequently the air tights, from rubbing each other. (perhaps a liner page between each coin page. Make these in between liner pages thick with recesses for the air tights to extend into without touching the insert page? only the 'middles' between the coins touch. ?) and of course anti-element protection
Cap it off with a nice binding and case sleeve.
what do you think about something larger that Dansco standard size. More room to accommodate the wider air tights and still get in a similar number of coins? Something a bit more dramatic in shape and stature. Not huge, but ... stately.

 

I'm hitting an update on this, and want to reference this thread as well:
http://www.cointalk.com/t203523-3/

Has anyone here been dissatisfied with air-tite albums? I see valleycoin has a good deal on empties with separate pages. I'm thinking it looks nice...