Coin Storage Help Please!

Go to Home Depot and get a 5 gallon plastic Homer bucket. Also purchase a Leaktite 5 gallon screw top lid, this is a very air tight container set-up. Then for added protection put your coins in zip lock bags and add a pack of silica Gel.

 

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Fair questions. This part of my collection takes up 5x 3" binders, about 10x red 100 2x2 boxes, 10-15x DANSCO albums, and a bunch of other containers. It basically filled the entire 2' x 3.5' x 2' box. It takes a lot of space and is too heavy to move the box on its own (maybe two strong men could lift it). I am already being an imposition, so I have to take what I can get. I will ask about bringing the coins inside. As far as security, the area they live in is very secure and that garage has so much junk lurking around it, I'd be impressed if someone could spot the container hidden in all the junk and then once again if they can move it on their own. Anyone with this amount of time and capability to steal from people who are retired and live at home is going to find my collection wherever it is stored.

 

I certainly appreciate the thought here. It would take quite a few to deposit boxes store my coins and the monthly cost to store them would eat away at my measly $50/month coin budget. Suffice it to say I cannot afford safe deposit boxes and this is not an option.
If something were to go missing from the collection, then I would take my losses and walk away from the situation. I'd be upset, but if they need the money so badly that they take from my collection then they need it more than I do. Seeing how they are retired and own their house, vehicles and aren't hurting for money, I don't see this happening but I'm willing to risk it. I thought about that long before asking them to help me store it. I would rather lose my entire collection than make enemies out of family members.

 

thanks for the thought. If you see my other posts, SDBs are out of the question. My most important coins are sitting in a safe. I contacted them and asked about moving the collection. It's been in their garage for a couple months now and it just dawned on me about how stupid that was. No offense to the good people on this forum, but I'll take my chances with my coins being stored with family in a garage before I'd take my chances with complete strangers.

 

Thank you for helping me solve the problem; I will first try to get them to bring the collection indoors but if not, I'll be buying a lot of Home Depot buckets.

 

I have some buckets of coins in the basement. I AM aware that this is a terrible location for them... I would suggest investing in something that can keep your stack off the floor.

 

Dry rite

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For what it's worth, it sounds like a 5 gallon bucket and if you vacuum seal your coins you don't have to worry about air. My food saver works great for that.And for the lid for the bucket. I generally buy it at Home Depot to be sure it has the gasket it unscrews so it's has easy access when you screw it down it has a gasket so it's airtight. I found it quite adequate for over 15 years. Since most of that time I moved around from job to job in my profession. And most of the time my collection was in the back of my truck in 5 gallon buckets. and of course I have a topper on it. But to minimize the light from getting into the bucket I generally spray painted them in black. No air contamination no uv contamination. For what it's worth.

 

@Seattlite86 and thank you for your individual replies to your feedback. Nice to know some folks appreciate the help.

 

I also found vacuum sealing quite well for shipping, definitely nothing wrong with a little added protection.

 

I like the vacuum sealing idea, but I have too many coins to make that a suitable option. I've already asked my wife to buy some of the moisture absorbing gel packets and spoken to the family members about moving the coins inside. I'll update when I have a solution.

 

It is not that much trouble as you think. You have to be creative when doing it. You would not believe how many coins you could actually get into a 5 gallon bucket. Well on my buckets I actually had to make a rope handle to support the weight. And did not have to worry about the moister packs reaching their limit and become ineffective'. The more the moister the faster they stop working. So you can imagine what I was dealing with up in Seattle where the moisture content was high 80% of the year. If you have someone to put in a new one every six months depending on the humidity. You'll probably be okay. I throw a new one in my survival food buckets about every six months. And I live in South Florida that's high humidity. Good luck.

 

As far as I know, bank box rooms are not climate controlled

 

No need to go to the trouble and expense of a vacuum sealer. Careful packing will enable you to push the vast majority of the air out on your own, and between silica gel and BadThad's (wise) recommendation of a sacrificial Cent or two - they're the most reactive of coins, and will attract any nasties first - you'll be fine. We're only talking a couple of years here.

Just don't do your packing within a few miles downwind of an active volcano and move on to worry about something else when you're done.

 

All I know one thing about vacuum sealing. Some of the people in the flooded areas around the country. If they would have vacuum sealed a lot of their personal possessions. When their house had 6 feet of water in it. The only things that would not have been effective would be all the items that were vacuum sealed. And for those big bulky items like binders and such. You can buy those oversized vacuum bags at Walmart the kind you just hook the vacuum to and suck all the air out. Cheap inexpensive and gets the job done and you can set them in any kind of containers that you wish. And an old food saver you can buy on Craigslist for pennies. All I know is the minimum cost is totally worth knowing what ever I have is protected against outside elements. Personally I believe people overthink a lot of things. All I know as one collector to another, this is a really inexpensive way to protect your coins why you are Away. And no if they are still there when you come back that they will be in the same condition that you left them in. It's simple and gets the job done.PS. For years I had one of those big Tupperware toolboxes in the back of my truck. But the only thing it wasn't filled with tools. It was filled with vacuum sealed coins. Just a thought.

 

Actually, putting your coins into a vacuum is not a good idea. It creates a dynamic environment - all vacuums leak. It encourages the drawing in a fresh air (and contaminants) over time. The best environment for coins is a STATIC one where air is neither coming nor going and it's at equilibrium with the environment.

 

Soon slabs might come with something fancy such as "slabbed with noble gas /w helium" for extra protection.

 

I don't know of anyone that would put their coins in a vacuum. The vacuum sealed bag is quite different. And it is unfortunate I have a few coins that was stored in an airtight container with several gel packs. I've got some real nice spotted coins if you'd like to buy them from just that little bit of air that was left in the container. Now the ones I put In vacuum sealed bags. Looked the same 16 years later when I opened them. The only ones I had problems with was the ones I had in airtight ammo cans. I figured being a Marine and a firearms instructor. And after going into hundreds of ammo cans from World War II and the ammo was still dry and had no malfunctions or hanging fires as they are called. I figured it was good enough to store coins in and I was wrong. Will not make that mistake again. Storing coins in a vacuum cleaner really. I do not know where you got that from vacuum sealed bags.

 

I just realize I may have missed taken your meaning. I believe you are trying to say that vacuum sealing bags leak eventually. Yes you are right in property sealed bags do leak. The key word there is in properly. I have survival food that I sealed in vacuum sealed bags over six years ago. Every six months I go into those 5 gallon buckets and replace the moister packs in them. And in six years I've only had a couple of bags show signs of not being vacuum sealed. And that was because of my mistake when sealing the bag. Over all 99% of the bags that I sealed are still airtight over six years later. Then you still end up with this scenario that you're talking about. Though the bag is not airtight anymore you're still in airtight container. So what's the diff.PS. The vacuum seal coins you see in the photo above, Has been in my safe for over 16 years. And visually looking and feeling it is still vacuum seal.