What did they do before slabs?

I was just thinking, as I was looking at some proof Buffalo nickels from the teens and twentys, how were proof coins cared for back in the old days? They didn't have plastic holders to enclose them, and I'm sure they didn't put them in Whitman folders.

 

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They were simply careful with the 2x2 flips or envelopes and managed quite well...


Ben

 

Most coins like that I've gone through in old collections were stored in small paper envelopes. Only problem was that some discolored the coins.
Guy~

 

Cabinets with velvet trays were also very common.

 

And amazingly the coins were not usually destroyed with careful handling. But one does wonder what trapping a coin in a plastic tomb with no air circulation and polymer based chemicals will have over a long term?

 

I bet a lot were damaged

 

They did actually have plastic holders a long time before TPG's slabbed coins. But before that I think it was mostly little paper envelopes.

 

I remember that most coins I bought before there were slabs I bought in 2x2s. Quite a few dealers I knew put their better coins in individual Capitol holders or the thinner Whitman plastic holders and the only grading you had to go by was what the dealer had marked on the holder. Of course, most often there was a difference of opinion.

 

I still keep my early 20th century German proofs in trays.....but they all had hairlines and minor marks when I bought them.

 

Carefully buried.

 

I always liked the plastic holders with the little plastic srews , very cool , but a little pricy . I forgot what they were called or who made them .
rzage

 

But sometimes , not often you could find some that were undergraded
rzage

 

Sounds like a bunch of young people out there. When I was a kid there was no such thing as being carefull with a coin. If you were a coin collector, you handled them with your hands, put them in paper envelopes, pushed them into the only thing there was, a Whitman Folder, with your thumb. If that didn't work, a soft rubber type hammer. Occationally you could find a plastic flip type shapped thing at a hobby store. No such thing I ever saw called a coin store. Most hobby type stores sold stamps and/or wood model planes primarily, coins and other things were secondary. No plastic rolls. No books telling you anything about coins until 1946 when the 1st edition of the Red Book came out. It was labled the 1947 edition. No internet to check on coins. TV programs did not sell coins, only showed Hoody Dooty, not sure if spelled right, Captain Video or other great programs. Of course most didn't have those expesive things called TV yet.
We used coins to play games by throwing them at the line separations in the concrete sidewalks. Closest coin won all. We threw them accross rivers, threw them in fountains, threw them in wells. Many coins were placed on RR or street car tracks. In schools many were melted down with acids just to see what happened. It was considered good luck to place a coin in a place where they were pouring concrete. Holes were drilled in coins to make a necklace for a girl. Couldn't afford to buy her a real one. No one carred about dates and no one knew what a mint mark was nor was interested.
All coins, except pennies, were Silver and no big thing. I remember when the Mint stopped the Merc Dimes and started those odd Roosevelt things. Sitting Liberty, Liberty Head coins were common so no big thing.
AHHHH the good old days.

 

greetings all!
things were so much more difficullt then............all we had were the opinions of what a seller thought the grade was and what the buyer thought the coin was graded. sometimes people would disagree on a grade (tho we only had bu, premium bu, and gem bu to go by oftentimes)!!!!! the numerical grade system was in use, but not the ms61/62/64, ect... sometimes also, people would disagree on whether a coin was cleaned or not!! it is so fortunate that these are things that the TPG's have resolved...................................!!
my first certified coin was an anacs 1876 trade dolar in xf40. no slab, just a photo cert and 4 (or 5) graders' opinions of various categories on the reverse. however...it turns out it was damaged as i didn't know a rim ding was damage when i was 22 or 23. i still loved the coin.
the most difficult thing tho was going to coin shows..... it was just like school.....20 miles(or more) each way, uphill both ways, and you had to outrun (barefoot) the dinosaurs to get there........................!!!
one thing is easier, is that when you bid in mail bid auctions, oftentimes, you would never see the coin til it was in your hands. photos weren't available on all coins. the internet has certainly helped in that regard.
anyway...aaahhh..the good old days......best wishes all........steve

 

no internet, no coin books, no TPG's, no CT, no auction houses, and no spock it doesnt look to be very good to me

 

Spock, there was heaps of Coin books i happen to have about 50 Ebooks that date before 1920, there is a few books that explain how to look after your coins and grade them

 

What's your ebook source, Collector? I wouldn't mind getting my hands on a few of those myself, especially if they're out of print!

Feel free to reply by PM if you prefer.

 

There are coin books going back to the 16th century.

 

there are a few numismatic specialists in books like Orville J. Grady. you can find old auction catalogs, ect. at one time i had most all bowers and ruddy catalogues as well as even b. max mehl and woodward catalogues. they are extremely interesting for reference as well as general reading.........steve

 

if you have the pridmore PM me