Some years ago I saw someone here post some Lighthouse Albums with Encap slab pages and I thought that was a really attractive way of storing and showing my coins, so since 2021 I've purchased 5 Lighthouse albums (Thanks Wizard!) - 2 of the wide ones that hold 6 pages with 12 slab compartments and 3 of the ones that hold 4 pages (I shop the sales). The funny thing is when you get a new coin that needs to go in the album. How do you folks deal with that sort of situation - you have to take a bunch out, advance them, update your spreadsheet / database, and figure out what's dropping out if you have limited space. I had been waiting to fill a new 4 page album - shifting my early American coppers, early quarters, etc around. It's quite a production - in addition to moving them manually, I wish I had a smarter system to relocate on the spreadsheet, it's cut and paste, cut and paste, cut and paste. At least my free Numista datebase doesn't need to reflect these changes. I think coin collectors are often a bit obsessive - and a touch compulsive. Ring any bells? This time it was a 1796 and 1798 Large Cent that finally tipped me into reorganizing, but I had a Kentucky token, a Georgivs Triumphus 1783 and a bunch of others I had been putting aside until I was in the right mindset to do this, so a lot of things moved. Now it's going to be new fun to open albums and see different things.
That’s a handsome looking setup. I use those albums and pages, too, when my coins aren’t in the safe deposit box.
D'oh I said 12 and it's obviously 9, thank you for the reminder Lord M. Me count better today. Happy Superbowl Sunday sports fans!
My set-up is similar, except I use Eagle slab pages. They're a little easier to move slabs in and out of versus ENCAPS. Either way though, it's a good way to store your slabbed coins.
I had totally overlooked that anyway. I’ve used those too, for exactly that reason. But the Lighthouse ENCAPS do have the advantage of allowing you to put an as-yet-unslabbed, raw coin in a flip or 2x2 into a slot temporarily, since the coin is fully enclosed in the page and usually won’t fall out. This is good if you’re waiting to submit your stuff until you’ve got a small handful ready to go. The raw coins can be kept with the rest in the meantime.
The real problem is an unused binder and a couple of pages attracts the "let's make a collection fairy".
I got a group of Eagle brand albums as a Christmas gift one year. 2 -5 page, 2 -3 page & 1 -4 page. You had to buy 20 pages of albums (any combination) to get a big discount. Circa 1997. My wife wanted to get me something coin related as a gift but wanted it to be something I would never buy myself and wanted it to be a surprise. I was surprised. I think I had about 9 certified coins at the time. Totally changed the way I collected coins though. Think lost of commbinations of 3's and 9's.
I use four lighthouse albums but only for my US Type. That gives me a potential 144 spots. For the type set I went in with a plan and it works well. I use the first one for half cents, cents, 3 cents, nickels. The next one for half dimes dimes, 20 cents. Then quarters and halves.. Then halves dollars and some commems mixed in. I fill the spaces in the order they show up in the online registry. That is my main guide, but its not exact. I have a couple examples of some things while missing many others. For the most part I do try to avoid doubles. I put the 2016 anniversary gold versions with their contemporary versions. Was my personal preference, the next guy maybe wouldn't. Some clad versions of modern stuff, I have not purchased to save space. If there's three types of something like the three SLQ versions, I'll try to adjust to keep them in a row together if I can make it work. Same with 3 cents. I haven't had to re-organize much. I leave empty spaces where types are supposed to go so if I end up getting one, it has a spot. Splittng up the types mostly confines any re-orginization to that specific album if needed. The slab album option is attractive if you're just focusing on a specific graded set you want to page through and look at easily. I wouldn't recommend attempting it for an entire collection. The expense and demands on space in secure locations will be exsessive. To the OP, it looks like you should do something similar and just commit dollars to a folder, halves to a folder quarters to a folder. Aside from that, you can always determine if it's time to consolidate things and upgrade to free up space.
