Say there is a fire...

Would your coin collection be better off in a fire if they were not in holders and airtites? If they were in a metal box with no actual flame touching the coins. Would they be better off raw than if you ended up with a big hunk of plastic with coins intertwined in a big melted plastic mess? My question is, can holders in some cases be worse than just raw for coin storage?

 

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I don't think it really matters. If by "fire" you mean my house burns down...the amount of heat generated would ruin the coins either way IMHO.

 

I mean that you open the metal box and see a plastic brick with coins inside... I dont think a house fire would get hot enough to turn the coins into a metal brick... depends I guess..

 

Most of the melted plastic holders can be dissolved with acetone. If I were in the case you imagine, I would certainly like for plastic around the coin. yes it would melt, but doing so it would absorb a lot of heat that wouldn't reach your coins. Even better if the plastic turns into a gas. Every chemical has a heat of melting and 'boiling' that removes heat from the area before it reaches and rises the temperature of your coin.

 

A few years ago NGC was fluffing a "before and after" ad showing a number of Saints in melted slabs and later magically "conserved".

Actually, here....

http://www.coinlink.com/News/us-coins/fire-damaged-coins-conserved/

 

I don't think so either...but the heat from the fire would do damage to the coins themselves. I'm not saying they would melt completely...but they would be ruined.

 

morgan i recovered from a house fire, it was stored raw in a metal box that receive severe heat damage

 

I would have imagined that most folks that participate on this board are going to have coins in a safe deposit box, or if at home, within a fire safe of some kind. I hope, anyway.

 

During WWII some of my family members had a brick built shop and it got hit with a German incendiary bomb, very intense heat and rapid burning, the place was obliterated.
They had a metal cash register with a wooden drawer, all the silver coins inside were fused together into one big lump.
Best protection is a fire resistant safe that can withstand high tempratures for over an hour.

 

NO NO NO NO NO!!!!

Fire safes trap moisture.

 

dessicant?

 

My understanding is that "fire safes" don't prevent eventual heat damage on coins from a house fire, they only protect documents and papers from catching fire and burning up. I think mine guarantees protection for up to 1100 degrees.

 

Here's a quick link on how fire ratings are determined:

http://www.safeandvaultstore.com/fire-ratings

Cliff notes:
The "hour" rating on a fire safe is an indication of how long the interior of the safe will stay below 350 degrees while subject to an external temperature of 1300 degrees F (or more depending on the test)

Paper burns at 451. Gold/silver melts at over 1600, copper over 1900. Coins should survive at 350, even raw, but certain plastics can melt starting at 350:

http://www.plastictroubleshooter.com/ThePlasticTroubleshooter/melt_temps.htm

My assumption is that a 2-hour rated fire safe, in the lower portion of a house which doesn't get as high temps as the upper that's actually on fire, will keep everything fine that's in a plastic slab of some sort, during a typical house fire. Raw coins will suffer more from the smoke than the heat (IMHO). And, again, with fire comes water damage from the attempt to put it out, so in that case, plastic offers the best protection from that in case the safe gets damaged and opens in any way.

A good part of my "everyday" collection is in album folders on the shelf for me to look at, not in my safe (and the coins are all holdered somehow). However, those are the cheap, easily replaceable items that I don't mind being in the open to people or everyday hazards. The real valuable stuff is offsite in my SDB.

However, everything is insured, just in case. Life happens, make sure you got backup.

 

Even if the metal temp doesn't reach melting point, the coin surfaces will still bubble up, won't they? (At a lower temp).

 

My safe came with instructions that said to open it (and leave it open) periodically, and also to use desiccant. They provided some renewable sheets. It's primarily to save papers (I don't have anywhere near the size collection that I am sure some of you have) but I also keep my coins there.

 

Here's a link on a prior conversation about this: http://www.cointalk.com/threads/advise-for-fire-water-damaged-collection.52017/

 

Here are some pics I Googled:

 

Omg the poor graded coins! I cried looking at it

Sent from my Z750C using Tapatalk

 

The bank would have to burn down, to get at my coins, even then if the bank building burned down, the main vault would probably still be standing.... I also have insurance with Hugh Woods, and they would not argue with me having my coins in the "most secure possible place" (safety deposit box of a major bank) prior to the fire...

 

Bubbling is hotter than melting. Think of ice ( solid) ,melting (liquid)--> boiling/bubbling ( vapor). Since coin metals can carry heat so rapidly, the whole coin should be about the same internal temperature. There would be a problem with clad coins, as dissimilar metals would have different melting temperatures.

One has to consider where their safe is located. If in the central part of a multistory home , there would be more fuel on all sides and likely to hit higher temperatures and last longer than if on an exterior wall.