Has anyone used their products and if so what does anyone have any feedback about the product. I'm thinking about getting the protective bags for my slabs, but they appear to be very expensive so I want to get some comments before I go down this route. thanks for any comments
They're based on Intercept technology, so if you want to prevent your slabbed coins from toning, they will help. If you just want physical protection for your slabs, then they're not worthwhile.
I put a little plastic sleeve around them to prevent scratches and then just box them in a pretty air tight container. I think that's all you need. Expensive bags seems like overkill, but if they are expensive coins why not
But then you would have to buy something to protect the ziploc, then something to protect that and on and on and on. Why not just buy a slab to protect the slab?................no wait, then you will need another slab protector. Next they will be selling CAC sticker protectors.
Slabs aren't airtight. They are no kind of protection for the coin, save impacts. Ziplock bags are air tight. Your worst enemy as a numismatist is oxygen.
I use bags on my certified coins for two reasons. The first is I live in a very humid climate and the second is to prevent scratching the slab. I have not used the Coin Armour brand but they look very well made.
I'm curious. How are ziplock bags airtight and slabs not? Zip locks are softer plastic, and slabs are harder and look seamless. I think both allow some air to get through the plastic, at a particle level. It's not the seams, because you cannot find any open ones on good slabs unless they are cracked. So it must be that plastic, even so called other solids, are permeable to some extent.,
Its all part of the great slab con that has been going on since the early 80`s. Since coins were first struck they have been exposed to the elements, humidity, oxygen, carbon dioxide etc etc. for centuries and they have survived pretty well all over the world. I live in a high humidity (85% today) area and have collected coins for over 50 years, non have ever been stored in slabs, airtights or ziplocks and are perfectly okay.
Anyone who has ever had coins ruined in storage - there's an active thread in the Forum from one such poor soul right now - knows how lucky you are. I'm not that lucky either. Slabs are not sealed around their whole circumference. They're "spot welded." Air can get in. All the experienced hands around here know of the guy - he's discussed it on the PCGS boards - who can AT slabbed coins. So either protect your coins from oxygen, or plan on being lucky.
Ziploc bags are actually not airtight. They are made of "linear low density polyethylene," which is permeable to air and liquids. See https://books.google.com/books?id=IcvoCAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA185&dq="Linear Low Density polyethylene" permeability&pg=PA224#v=onepage&q="Linear Low Density polyethylene" permeability&f=false The only way to 100% protect your coins from oxygen is to store them under glass in a dry nitrogen environment. But, then you'd never get to handle them.
Hmmm. Not completely impermeable, then. Low, but non-zero. Still beats the snot out of leaving a slab sitting on a table. The whole point is to isolate your coins from local atmosphere to the greatest degree possible. Humidity alone isn't necessarily a problem; it's the oxygen necessary for, um, oxidation that causes the vast majority of difficulties. It's intuitive that reducing atmospheric exposure - especially in places where atmospheric sulfur is elevated - would help.
Well the website has a link for a free product trial. I thought I'd get some this way to take a look at them and see what they are about before I buy anything. I'll keep you posted.
