I have been purchasing my silver proof coins already graded but I am now buying silver proof coins directly from mint agencies and ungraded from dealers. I was wondering if it's safe to keep them in the plastic capsule over a long period of time (years)? I transfer these coins to mylar flips? (I'll use cotton gloves) I hear these flips are heat sealable so I need something to heat seal them? Should I expose them to a Desiccant Silica Gel pack pefore putting them into a flip? Is any treatment necessary before sealing up the flip (after sealing the flip)? I was also going to use compresses air to blow possible dust off the coins. Thanks for the advice.
You would be better off to just leave the coins in their original plastic capsules. Remove them from the cardboard boxes and then use proper storage methods. Putting the coins in Mylar flips then exposes to the coins to what is known as flip rub. The coin will slide around inside the flip. This will cause wear marks on the high points of the coin. And Proof coins are especially susceptible to this.
I agree with Doug. Leave them in their original holders unless you put them in an airtite or 2x2 cardboard holder.
Great, thanks for the advice. I opened one of the plastic capsule to see if there was any marks on them and wanted to do the same to the rest of them. Many of the capsules have scratches/flaws on them and it's impossible for me to determine if the flaws are on the coin or on the capsule. The one Panda coin I checked was nearly perfect with maybe a few small specks on them. I was thinking of using compressed air at an angle to blow anything off the coins, checking them and then putting them back in it's orginal plastic capsule. I guess the plastic is not going to hurt these coins down the road? I know mylar is inert but don't know about plastic capsules. The box the coins comes with is really quite nice so was thinking of putting it back there. I have a few proof coins without boxes and don't know what I should do with them. I don't want them rattling around the capsule, not sure what's the best way to present them.
If you don't want them rattling in the original holder, you might think about an airtite for them. However, since they're Pandas, and I don't collect them, I'm not sure if their diameter is the same as any of our bullion rounds or not, meaning they may not fit in a standard airtite.
Maybe I'm overly paranoid but I would never use compressed air. Whether it's canned compressed air or an oilless compressor I'm neverous that if even one little fleck of oil or some other foreign substance gets on the coin it's worse than having loose particles on it. I use an ear irrigation squeeze thingy to blow off loose stuff. I bought it specifically for this.
ephyfe - you need to be more specific here about what coins, exactly, you are talking about. I made an assumption that you were talking about US Proof coins - my bad. The reason I say you need to be specific is because not all countries use archival grade materials for packaging when they sell their Proofs. So what you should do may change radically depending on what coin it is.
Have to be careful using flips to my knowledge i have seen a lot of coins stored in them developing milk spots.
These are proof Panda silver coins from China and some proof dragon coins. I also have from other countries (asia and europe). The Silver Eagles I buy graded so it's the foreign coins I'm concerned about. The capsule seems OK for these coins, they are a hard plastic. Most if not all came in the plastic capsule they were sold in from the mint. Some aren't completely tight were they don't move at all. I'm not sure I could find a capsule that fits even tighter, some of these coins are slightly smaller, than eagles. I have some of these capsules without the box. How do I get this to fit in with my NGC slab holder box? Any suggestions? I'd like to keep these silver coins all in one place. Thanks.
Yes, not quite sure what I can do. I think they came that way from the original mint. The Pandas are OK, but some of the coins aren't quite tight enough.
Say no more, I won't be using the flips. Even the PCGS slabs worry me sometimes because I've heard some stories. I had one coin develop white spots with a PCGS slab and bought another with spots (and returned it). Haven't seen it with NGC yet.
I have a hard time thinking PCGS or NGC slabs would contribute to spots. Nor saflips/saf-t-flips. Not being able to prevent them showing up later, well O.K. On the other hand, I would not trust plastic from China.
It is likely the spots developed prior to slabbing but weren't visible, slabbing won't stop this and milk spots became more visible with time.
Thanks for the advice. I was looking at your collection. Really great collection there. I collect world paper money and have a much smaller, although growing, world coin collection myself. Mainly silver coins so far.
Flips have absolutely nothing to do with milk spots. They do not cause milk spots. Milk spots are caused by something in the processes at the mint - and only by processes at the mint. If a coin is going to get, or has, milk spots - it has nothing to do with the holder the coin is kept in. Edit - And ephyfe - just leave the coins in the mint holders. They'll be fine.
