Any final prep before putting coins in flips/capsules?

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by dave_in_delaware, Feb 22, 2018.

  1. Santinidollar

    Santinidollar Supporter! Supporter

    There oughtta be a law....
     
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  3. juris klavins

    juris klavins Well-Known Member

    http://www.jpscorner.com/coin-flips.html > Avoid the vinyl flips and buy 'non-plasticized' or 'archival', depending on how valuable your coins are & how much you want to spend.
     
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  4. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    My two cents worth... The cotton cloth would not scratch the coin, but any grit on the coin would be scrubbed around and that might. If the coin is anything less than XF or so, I would be less concerned about "wiping". The acetone rinse (btw, none of that deut... whatever stuff, use that for thinning paint or something) is not a bad idea to remove oils, but not really usually necessary. Make sure the coin is clean, make sure the 2x2 is clean, put it in.
     
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  5. jwitten

    jwitten Well-Known Member

    I had a proof coin that arrived from the mint with a little dust once. I was planning on grading it. I wiped it off with a new clean cloth. Well, long story short, I decided to not send it in for grading, haha. Left imperfections on an otherwise perfect coin.
     
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  6. Randy Abercrombie

    Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

    Serious? This thread has been full of bad news for me. I got hundreds of pieces in those cheap vinyl flips. Coin in one side. Description & info in the other side. I mean hundreds! Are they causing unwitting damage to my coins???
     
  7. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    Are you sure they are vinyl? Vinyl would be really soft and a bunch of them together would smell like a shower curtain. Quick test to check, shave off a wee bit of the 2x2, heat a copper wire up in a flame and touch the plastic shred so that it melts, return the wire to the flame and a green color indicates chlorine (halogen) which tags it as PVC (Polyvinylchloride or "vinyl").
     
  8. wxcoin

    wxcoin Getting no respect since I was a baby

    Just because they are soft doesn't mean it's PVC. I buy flips that are advertised as non-PVC. I guess I'm just taking the word of the supplier so maybe I'm putting too much trust in their word.
     
  9. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    @dave_in_delaware - sorry if my cheeky peanut butter joke took on a life of its own and became distracting.

    That is of course sound advice, though I do not follow it religiously, or 100% of the time.

    Yes. Acetone is useful, but is a hardcore solvent which should be used with caution, in a well-ventilated area. Basically you should treat it like you would gasoline, though I guess it's not quite that volatile.

    Totally agree, on all points.

    Though I generally prefer proof coins to MS, I do not like using them in albums with clear slides like that. If your coins are pristine and valuable enough for you to have all those extreme concerns about near-microscopic particles, then I would submit that perhaps you should not be using slide-type albums like the Danscos and such. While I enjoy such albums for low-to-middling material, I think high-end or pristine/delicate coins like proofs belong in slabs or Air-Tite style holders. When my Dansco 7070 type set got nicer around the millennium, I transitioned to slabs.

    It is indeed better, as long as you're using non-PVC flips. No more staples near your coins is just one reason this transition is a good thing.

    Ouch. That sounds like the classic symptom of PVC contamination, which can be harmful or fatal to your coins over the long term if left untreated. You probably do need to give them an acetone treatment. For that I will refer you to the advice of some of the others here with more experience.

    Personally, I have used the readily-avaialable acetone-based fingernail polish removers from the drugstore to remove paint and gummy adhesive residue from inexpensive coins, but others will be quick to (rightly) point out that drugstore nail polish remover is not 100% pure acetone and will usually include some trace amounts of other unnecessary and possibly counterproductive ingredients. It's best to go with the pure stuff if you can find it, though that can involve some inconvenience. Again, I will refer you to the more experienced folks on that.

    Archival non-PVC flips can be ordered from most coin supply firms. JP's Corner, which @juris klavins mentioned, is popular. I tend to use Wizard Coin Supply these days and often used Brooklyn Gallery in the past. Both of the latter are fine, in my experience. I've never used JP's Corner but have browsed their site and their prices seemed pretty reasonable on the stuff I was comparing.

    A general rule of thumb for coin flips is that the softer and more flexible the plastic is, the more likely it is to contain harmful PVC. Which begs the question of why the soft vinyl PVC flips are still manufactured at all. I don't know the answer to that, but cost-saving may be one reason. Soft vinyl flips are fine for temporary or short-term uses such as transporting and mailing coins. You just want to avoid them for long-term storage, particularly in hotter environments. I just use a "better safe than sorry" approach and try not to use them at all.

    Then there's the flip side of the flip issue.

    Soft = PVC and PVC = bad news. But...

    Hard = brittle and brittle = flips that can crack along the crease and split in two after a few months. This is the downside to the cheaper non-PVC flips, which are safe for coins, but annoying when they're constantly snapping in half.

    Fortunately there are some "happy mediums" that are both safe for coins but not too brittle. These days I've started using Meghrig archival quality double-pocket flips, but these seem to be an old-fashioned brand that are sometimes hard to find in stock. The Saflip brand double-pocket flips are good, readily available, and I've used them for over a decade. I only prefer the Mehgrig brand because those have sturdier, heavier plastic and slightly rounded corners.

    Good luck. Save and protect those coins. I know the sort of material you collect, and know your coins definitely deserve protection.
     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2018
  10. Randy Abercrombie

    Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

    I will do the copper wire test this weekend while my My is out of town to avoid.... Well... family issues...... I know what you mean about the shower curtain smell and they don’t have that. I purchased a pile of these many years ago. They aren’t soft vinyl. I think I am OK.

    EE826AB3-26E5-4C3D-BC80-3F8349ABBA6D.jpeg
     
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  11. wxcoin

    wxcoin Getting no respect since I was a baby

    I use the BCW flips since they are advertised as non-PVC. Does anyone on this thread know otherwise?
     
  12. wxcoin

    wxcoin Getting no respect since I was a baby

    This is the route I've gone this past year to organize sets IMAG1841.jpg
     
  13. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

  14. wxcoin

    wxcoin Getting no respect since I was a baby

    I hope that these are safe.
     
  15. desertgem

    desertgem Senior Errer Collecktor



    Denatonium benzoate and Denatonium saccharide are 2 extremely , but non toxic substances that produce unbelieved bitterness and usually vomiting. Added to many potential harmful things that shouldn't be consumed. Typically in parts per million so it will not cause damage to coins/metal. You can not get many chemicals pure unless you are an educational lab or better. Use it , any change you see was not from it affecting the coin.

    Acetone is found in the human body in minute mounts from metabolism, and especially higher in certain medical problems. Gasoline is not~ avoid consuming it.

    China has now perfected odorless shower curtains and other vinyl products, so people who buy such have to look carefully. Not smell.

    Plant fiber based material such as cloth or paper has a hardness value when dry higher than gold, silver, copper, so I wouldn't use on less than Nickel clad.
    IMO. Jim
     
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  16. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    You say this and yet people spaz out about using tap water instead of distilled water when many areas have tap water that is fine up to the parts per million level (btw, 10,000 ppm = 1%).
     
  17. desertgem

    desertgem Senior Errer Collecktor

    My city water from the Colorado river water reports 2.4 ppm of Arsenic, but the accepted level is 10 :) Its like taking a mineral pill with every gallon. I personally think the approved public water is better for a person than distilled. No animals developed on earth with distilled water. A lot of people take coffee enemas also, but I have that crossed off of my activities also along with drinking acetone or gasoline :)
     
  18. wxcoin

    wxcoin Getting no respect since I was a baby

    I don't drink coffee so a diet Pepsi enema will have to do.
     
  19. Randy Abercrombie

    Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

    That’s really attractive. And strongly appeals to the OCD in me. That seriously is attractive and practical too.
     
  20. TheFinn

    TheFinn Well-Known Member

    Any additives to a solvent can leave a residue when it dries, so probably the best solvent to get is 91% Isopropyl Alcohol from the drug store or a pharmacy dept. Just let the coin air-dry after using it.
     
  21. TheFinn

    TheFinn Well-Known Member

    Anything will scratch if it is wiped over the surface of a coin. I use a Q-tip and ROLL it over the surface.
     
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