Airtites in Dansco?

I am working on a foreign coin collection that I really wish I could put in a nice bound display album such as a Dansco. I just don't care for 2x2s in pages in a binder. The pages are hard to turn and they look bad. I really love the look of a nice bound album. I was wondering if there was anyway to place an airtite in a Dansco (or similar type) album. The sizes of airtites this collection uses are A, T and H. It seems to me that an A airtite with a diameter of 30.93mm would probably fit into a half dollar album hole which is 30.6mm. It would be a little tight but that's OK (as long as its not to thick). However, I can't seem to come up with a solution for the T (36.49mm diameter) or the H (44.45mm) as no US coin size comes very close to that. Believe it or not, this problem has been haunting me with this set. I really don't want to use 2x2s or a binder...I just can't stand it. Does anyone have a suggestion?

 

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What about ring-type air-tites?

 

I've been bugged by this presentation issue as well. Just ordered a bunch of Quadrum stuff direct from Lighthouse. I'm O.K. with using 3-ring binders, but I bet they have nicer solutions for you. My beef with Airtites was the variable exterior size, so you can't mix up the pages with type-sets, etc. I'd also like to know creative uses for Dansco albums, since they are so nice to see and hold, compared to the lackluster viability of using 2x2s stored therein. Good luck!

 

I am using the ring type airtities. The coins in this set are a variety of sizes and different sizes of rings allow for the use of only 3 exterior plastic sizes. I have even considered putting the foam rings into a Dansco but I have the same size problem. I don't know how well they will squeeze into slots. For instance, the inside diameter of a H is 39.37mm...so presumably the foam ring is about the same size. A silver dollar slot is 38.1mm. So, the foam is roughly 1.3mm bigger. Could that be squeezed into a 38.1mm slot? I don't know.

 

I would think air-tites are too thick for dansco albums...

Anyways, you'll just have to play around with it. What about direct-fit air-tites?

 

I have tried Airtites in Danscos. Not so good. If I had a ton of ATs, I guess I'd buy AT albums and live with it. Since most are in flips, I'm looking forward to converting to Quads.

 

They don't make the right sizes from what I have seen.

Why didn't it work?

 

I forgot which sizes I tried, but couldn't get a good fit. Best end result still seemed "fuddy duddy."

 

Did they end up spinning in the holes? I'm wondering if not actually using the airtites but only using the foam rings would work. I figure they will compress some and might be able to stay stable. I just don't know how much they will compress.

 

Yes, the smaller ones did move around. Plus the page thickness resulted in odd fit for the album's spine. Interesting idea about only using just the rings. Then you wouldn't be worrying about preservation?

 

I'm not completely convinced that airtites really do that much for preservation. I have seen what I believe is coins toning in them. Preservation is important to me. Currently, the coins are in 2x2 holders and anything is better than that IMHO.

 

Preservation of Coins in Airtities

In the thread where I am asking about placing airtites in a Dansco...I mentioned possibly only using the foam ring and not the actual holder. Someone mentioned to me that by doing so, I would lose the preservation benefit of the airtite because I am not using the plastic holder. I was under the impression that airtities do little to preserve the coin except they have a hard shell to prevent mechanical damage. My understanding is that they really do nothing to prevent toning or other coin deterioration. I know that intercept shield holders are different in that respect, but I am specifically talking about round airtites with foam rings.

So, my question is this. If I managed to place my collection in a Dansco album using the foam rings from airtites to size the holes (the coins are foreign and thus no properly cut Danscos exist)...would I be decreasing the preservation quality of the coins substantially verses having them stored in airtites?

edit - I merged the threads

 

Yeah, I'm almost clear of coins touching cardboard. I never got into stapled 2x2s, and moved from Saf-t-flips to Saflips. Now the excitement of something better, even if marginally so. Other than slowing down the external air, I also assume the Quadrums (as would air-tites) will protect my MS and proofs.

From '60s silver proof sets (whatever they used--plastic?), looks like the nickels develop a nice blue haze, but it doesn't do much good for the silver. I'm thinking about taking the nickel and penny out, and saving the (now) impaired silver proofs as junk value.

 

imho airtites help preserve the coins

 

I bought most of my Danscos at the same time, a few years ago. I filled them with what I had, and then I used the 2x2 cardboard flips for the rest. The flips are in the plastic sheets. So, after the last three years, the majority of my uncirculated coins in the Danscos are toning one way or another. Mostly the gold type toning. The coins in the 2x2 flips look the same as the day I put them in there. My point is, the 2x2 flips, inside the plastic pages, really seem to be MUCH more "air tight" than the danscos themselves. Just throwing this out there.

Anyway, here is one way I display the 2x2's using a dansco album:

http://www.cointalk.com/t195935/

 

I actually really like that setup. Can you tell me what supplies you used and how many pages the Dansco will hold. Since it's an old Franklin book...I would imagine it originally had 2-3 pages in it.

 

Well, As far as supplies, I just bought the standard 2x2 flips from my local coin shop, and the plastic sheets. However, I also bought the plastic sheets online one time, and they were not the same. meaning, the ones I purchased locally were of MUCH better quality. The were thicker and more pliable. The ones I bought online were much more brittle, thinner and seemed to split easily around the pockets.

When i get home, I will look at the actual brand name on the sheets. It made a big difference to me.

The Franklin album I used currently has about 4 sheets in it. It has room for at least 4 more. Really, you could cram even more into it, it just becomes a matter of how the album will close. If you are putting it on a shelf with other albums around it, you don't want to be putting all that pressure on the coins. Bottom line though, if you are actually putting Franklins in it, you can no doubt fit the entire series.

Also, keep in mind, there are even smaller cardboard flips available, 1-1/2 x 1-1/2 I believe are the dimensions. So if you are storing smaller coins like nickels, dimes or cents, you can then store even more.

 

I do the same thing with saflips in my Danscos. They "seal" nicer than saf-t-flips, and are much harder to pull out of the page slots. I did save the original cardboard pages, for posterity I guess. So I'll have junk in rolls, nice stuff in slabs or Quadrums, and saflips in Danscos for those in between.

 

I would also like to mention another way to store the coins more safely, and still use Dansco pages. That is with Kointains. They are direct fit, thin plastic capsule for the coin. They are very good for protection of the coin, and most definitely reduce the amount of air reaching the coin. However, they do increase the diameter. I have tried putting a nickel with a kointain into a nickel Dansco, it just won't work. You could maybe force them in, but it would take some work.

So, you would then have to try and find the closest larger size mm page for the danscos. This would work if you could figure out the appropriate sizes. This option can get expensive since the mm pages for Danscos have much less holes on the page than the U.S. Coin pages. For example, a Lincoln cent Dansco page has 36 holes, while a comparable mm page has only 16. So it can get pricey.

-g