So, I've settled on binders with pages for the most part. My one question for this is what size binders work best to handle the pages without them gaping or sagging through the bottom? I would prefer larger to have one for each continent, but I am not sure if 2" or 3" are a wise choice. What size do you think works best with 2x2 pages and roughly how many pages can you fit in it comfortably? Thank you for answering all my questions. I am about to order but Wizard ran out of the 2x2s I wanted so I'm delaying a bit. Im hoping this will be a nice holiday project for us.
Ensure you have a D ring binder so the pages will lay flat. There's not much you can do about the pages sagging if the pages have lots of heavy coins in them. The one I use is a 2" binder made by Eagle that i purchased at my LCS. I'm not sure how many pages it can hold comfortably, but I had at least 15 in mine at one time. It now holds just a couple. Once you fill it up you'll be surprised at how heavy it gets!
A one inch binder will hold about ten pages of coins in 2 X 2's. That's 200 coins. I don't stand them up, I lay them flat.
My general philosophy is that you should use the smallest binder you can. By that I mean break your collection into the smallest groups you are comfortable with and use 1" to 2" binders. They are easier to pull off the shelf and do not sag as much as the larger ones. Also, if you have a 3" or larger binder, they get VERY HEAVY. Taking one off the shelf can strain your wrist. I do agree that D ring binders are the better ones to use.
As I've said before on other coin sites, I use 3" D-ring binders with heavy covers. I also use 1 1/2 X 1 1/2 holders, where you get 30 to a page instead of 20. I have no problem with weight and there's still more than enough room on the holder to put notes & ID's, up to 1" coins.
I don't mind larger binders although as I age I can see the benfit of going smaller. The picture is older. I now have 2 full shelves of the lighthouse binders. I got some stuff out of boxes. Some of the binders have slab pages. Some have both 2x2's and 2-1/2x2-1/2's. To answer the question, 3" is my go to.
