Are my PCGS coins ruined?

Home safes, the kind they sell at Home Depot and other home improvement centers, are notorious for humidity problems. (Trust me, I learned this the hard way.) You can google the subject and get a lot of info.

Paper documents (wills, passports, stock certificates, etc.) can develop mold, so I'm sure it's not a great environment for coins either.

If you're going to use this type of safe, it's best to leave it open when you're home, and only close it when you're gone.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Is there a better safe you would recommend?

 

Sorry, I'm not knowledgeable enough on the subject to recommend one. All I know is that the kind of safe sold at home improvement stores has problems with humidity. Something to do with the material used to provide fire resistance. We sent one with our son when he headed off to college, and everything he kept in it developed dampness issues.

 

Fair enough.

Lots of information on this thread, and it's a little overwhelming to a newbie like me. Especially after reading about these dreaded "milk spots" that can develop after getting a coin up to a year or two. Eek.
For someone that inherited some nice coins, and is just starting out and looking to pick up some new ones, is there an easy beginner way to go about protecting the coins from the elements in terms of what to put them in? Should they be individually cased? Or within a special box? What is really necessary?

 

I'd like to know more about this. What was the challenge? Are there any articles about it, ads seeking problem solvers, or interviews or lawsuits with angry pseudo winners ?

Whatever you get, bolt it to the studs in the wall or floor joists.

Fire proof safes trap in moisture. That's how they are waterproof.

To the op, luckily they were only ASE's the labels are still Ok right?

 

News to me. As far as I know they have always paid off on their rewards. If they reneged I'm sure it would be widely reported and be very damaging to their reputation. Whereas paying off would would be great advertising and enhance the reputation.

 

I guess you'll have to ask David Hall because the threads complaining about it were zapped, and I can't remember the specifics. One involved a $10,000 reward.

Chris

 

This article might help you http://www.numismaster.com/ta/inside_numis.jsp?page=how-to-store-coins

 

I have thought about vacuum sealing my coins using the gadgets you see for food storage. Not sure if it contains PVC though.

 

1. Any plastic used for food storage, including zip lock type of bags is not supposed to have any PVC.

2. the thicker the plastic, the less gaseous compounds that can get into the bag. Use heavy duty freezer bags, double zippers best.

3. Intercept products are copper ions embedded in polymer material that react with mainly sulfur compounds in the air. That is great, but it is very difficult to know when to change them as they can not be regenerated easily.

I think your best bet is to use 2 of the zip lock bags mentioned above , one inside the other. get a roll of new shiny cents at the bank, check for any errors or varieties ( I doubt that will be the case, but it prevents the remarks from addicts) and then scrub with a wire brush or plastic scrubber until bright and scratched ( not into the zinc layer though), dip in acetone, allow to dry, and throw them into the bags. As long as they stay bright and red, your coins are safe. When they start to change ( red-brown), either be cheap and re-treat with the scrubber, or spend them and make some new ones. The 100% scratched ( more surface area) copper layer will be more reactive than the coins and will be sentries to corrosion. 99cent store zip locks are too thin I have found and only recommend the "Ziploc" brand, which come large enough for albums also ( Amazon).

They don't 'look' as snazzy as commercial products, so you might want to limit them to your bulk coin storage. They don't help if you don't check them every few months.

 

haha if we all start vacuum packing our coins in the future we could sell them Instead of "Jar of old coins found at grandpa's house" it will be "Vacuum sealed coins from grandpa's house, unsearched!"

 

I notice milk spots have been mentioned, and, yes, they do lower the grade. But, nobody's mentioned toning yet.

With toning, it all depends. It is possible that toning could lower the grade if it were butt-ugly. But, as long as the eye appeal of the coin is intact, toning can have no effect on the grade of a 70-graded coin. In other words, is it ugly? If so, you now have some PF69/MS69s. Otherwise, you're fine.

 

I didn't take any chances when I built my house. I sunk a metal safe in the concrete in the basement floor when we were pouring the foundation. To deal with the moisture issue I built a cedar closet around it and put mothballs it. I like it a real lot except the only thing is I noticed I get dizzy a lot when I'm in there looking at my coins.

 

The cedar closet and mothballs will have no effect on the moisture.

 

I would guarantee moth balls have nothing to do with the moisture and, if I were guessing, I would hypothesize that the cedar would make the moisture worse but its affect would be negligible regardless.

 

Every time I buy anything that has desiccant package, I keep it and put it into one of the boxes in each corner of the safe. It doesn't hurt to put one or two into each slab box as well. Basically - everywhere. And change them out every year or two as you go through things.

Leaves me more money for silver.

 

Look at it this way.......Eddie ain't gonna have any moths eatin' his coins.......

 

Amen brother. I sent 'em an e-mail regarding one of their old slabs which doesn't show up in their data base. Totally ignored me.

 

I have to admit, you guys, I did notice them getting a little damp, but Kenny, I swear, you're right, that whole time, I didn't see one moth!

 

Just don't smoke in there Eddie.........