I'm trying to come up with an idea that will satisfy my need for uniformity and visual attractiveness. Slabs are okay, but the main downsides for me are cost, and the fact that once slabbed, the coin is forever out of reach, for example if I'd ever want to take updated photos. I've used flips before, and they work okay. But I've also seen wear on thick coins from rubbing on that stiff mylar. I have some Guardhouse Tetra snaplock holders, but I don't like how thick the foam insert is (makes the coin seem like its down in a hole) plus there's no room for the sort of comprehensive information I want to include. I considered good old cardboard holders, but in 2.5x2.5 size to give me more room for label information. This might work only the ones I bought are all too large and smaller coins flop around freely inside the capsule. I might just buy some smaller ones and see if I can make that work. Anyway...I'd love to hear from you all! What is your preferred method of storage/display for your world coins? Pictures welcome!
I should add that I do have a beautiful wood coin cabinet I built myself (funded by my wonderful wife for a birthday present a couple years ago) and it works great for my ancient coins. But I think I want something a little more sealed/protective for my world coins, since, being closer to the time and condition of minting, they have more to lose from handling than ancients, which have already been through it all.
I have several hundred ancients in my collection. They are not certified, just raw coins. I start with lots of uncleaned all are cleaned by me. During the process I use online photos and descriptions to identify the coin. Then, i put the published description and photo and a photo of my coin on a letter size paper. I number the coin and the printed record. Now the coin will be put in a 2X2 and into a one of those 2X2 sheets. The coins are in a separate binder from the datasheets.
All my world coins are in 2x2s in binders like yours, except for type duplicates and those valuable enough to merit safe deposit box storage. It's hard to justify spending a lot of money to display a coin for which I might have paid 5 cents. Besides, it is easy and fun to flip through the pages to different designs and countries. I have over 1500 in binders, but again, most of them I bought from junk boxes for from 8 for a dollar to 20 or more for a dollar over the past 40 or more years.
I'm thinking I'll do 2x2 cardboard flips. I'll need to come up with a satisfactory method of labelling.
I have my nicer coins in flips in a binder generally loosely organized by nation/region/metal composition. My loose coins for 'fondling' are in small tupperware containers separated by silver coins, general base metal coins and 'pure' nickel coins. The couple slabbed ones are housed in an old jewerly box I retained from my maternal grandfather when he passed when I was 13 yrs old.
I keep a lot of my coins loose in bins. Sometimes sorted by country or general time period. Over time, I gradually put some of the better ones in archival flips, but I accumulate junk coins far faster than I can sort them.
