My answer to displaying coins

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by 4to2centBC, Jun 20, 2017.

  1. Nicholas Molinari

    Nicholas Molinari Well-Known Member

    Most office supply stores have transparent sheets.

    I take it you printed directly on the transparency?
     
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  3. 4to2centBC

    4to2centBC Well-Known Member

    Thanks everyone. Those are transparency sheets for ink jet. I then placed another blank sheet behind it to help highlight the letters and protect the ink surface. The trick is that you have to reverse the image before you print because you print on the back and look thru the plastic at the image.

    I guess the color of ink that works best depends on the color of your tray and the background. I tried yellow, gold, light blue, black and none stuck out like the red for these Abafils. I wanted it to stand out against the blue satin of the cover. Having said that, I wish there was a way to print an opaque white....but I can't.

    I buy fewer coins and do not really worry about getting overwhelmed with storing them this way. Plus I prefer the coin on a red field rather than a dealer tag, otherwise I would have laid them out like Ken.

    I actually got the idea from a box of mixed chocolates I saw decades ago when I was a kid. They used to have a transparency overlay describing the chocolate beneath. I don't know if they still do that.

    In a way, this is my Forrest Gump moment and I guess this is my box of chocolates.
     
  4. Carl Wilmont

    Carl Wilmont Well-Known Member

    .
     
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2017
  5. Carl Wilmont

    Carl Wilmont Well-Known Member

    For smaller collections, this little aluminum coin case by Lighthouse has 5 removable trays (bottom one is slightly extended in pic). Each tray has 20 slots. (The cases come in different sizes.) The coins display nicely in the trays, are easily accessed, store well together, and are very portable in the box with the handle. You can put tags underneath as Ken did with his trays, or list attributes separately with a reference system that corresponds to the tray and slot location. I selected this storage system when I first began my collection in 2015 and have enjoyed it. FullSizeRender-6.jpg
     
  6. Carl Wilmont

    Carl Wilmont Well-Known Member

    Slab fan or not, that's an elegant way to display that set. The brass label is a nice finishing touch.
     
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  7. Carl Wilmont

    Carl Wilmont Well-Known Member

    Right- and folks here like to see the coins you post!
     
  8. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

    Thank you. I enjoy showing them to people who care. I've tried to engage local friends and family, but they nod and say how nice. Their body language says otherwise.
     
  9. Nerva

    Nerva Well-Known Member

    I prefer the red felt too, and haven't decided what to do about identification. I also want to be sure to keep the old tags that go with some of my coins. I like the Abafil trays with separate sections for a description below, but they only come in one size and they're expensive enough already. I like the idea of a card with slots to sit above the coin tray that could keep the old cards as well as my description. That would make it easier to move coins around, too. But it's a lot of hassle, I probably wouldn't do a nice job, and the trays might not sit flush in the box with extra thickness on top of the trays. Dilemmas, dilemmas ...
     
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  10. zumbly

    zumbly Ha'ina 'ia mai ana ka puana

    I have way too many coins to use those nice Abafil trays, and in any case, too many are worth less than the trays.

    While most of my coins now call paper envelopes home, I recently picked up a plastic specimen box with a tall clear cover for about $1.50 to display a few coins by my study table.

    IMG_8050.JPG

    It's a cheap, bare bones approach, but placing them right where I spend a couple hours every evening has allowed me to enjoy them more than I previously was able to when they were locked away. I'll probably change up the coins every few weeks.
     
  11. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    @zumbly - I dunno about the display (OK, I kind of like it), but... those coins... wow.

    (Edited to add: for a buck and a half, that ain't bad at all, actually.)
     
  12. randygeki

    randygeki Coin Collector

    The local shop once bought a frame with about 3 dozen coins glues to the back. It looked nice, in a cringeykinda of way.
     
  13. zumbly

    zumbly Ha'ina 'ia mai ana ka puana

    I admit it's not the most stylish display :D. On the other hand, it serves its purpose, and even if I'm just walking into the study to pick something up, it makes me pause for a second and smile.
     
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  14. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Then it serves its purpose well indeed.

    I've had some fun improvised displays over the years. Your $1.50 one is actually quite a bit classier than some of my old ones, though I've always had the heart of a wannabe museum curator, even when I was a little kid. I made my first museum when I was probably eight years old. It was like an 18th century "cabinet of curiosities", with coins and stamps and shells and stones and toys and an interesting dead bug or two.

    PS- In the early 1990s, I had inherited a small glass-top curio cabinet which had once held my grandmother's seashell collection. I used it for my English monarch coin collection, and the presentation of the coins looked much like some of the displays posted here, including yours. @Aethelred, whom I had just met at the time, will likely remember this.

    In another little bit of synchronicity, I will mention that there was one particular CD I listened to constantly in that era, so much so that when I hear those songs today, I think of that room and the cabinet of coins.

    It was the very same Enya album whose cover art is visible in your photo.

    I knew that picture was familiar from somewhere!

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2017
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  15. ancientcoinguru

    ancientcoinguru Well-Known Member

    @4to2centBC, excellent method to present your coins, great idea! I also use Abafil cases/trays, but just have an excel list for attribution. I just might copy your idea to highlight my best coins.
     
  16. zumbly

    zumbly Ha'ina 'ia mai ana ka puana

    I see digging Enya during the heydays of the Grunge movement as being as out of step with the times as obsessing over ancient coins now is. We kinda rock, eh :D.
     
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  17. 4to2centBC

    4to2centBC Well-Known Member

    I like it, but I did something similar. Then I forgot to hide them away one afternoon.................and they became melt value for drug addled burglars and dishonest pawn brokers.

    I keep the sea salvaged escudo and the recent Turk bronze at home since they are only a few hundred dollars combined. No more display cases at home for me. My abafils serve as a portable alternative.
     
  18. Kim Greenwood

    Kim Greenwood New Member

    Great idea and presentation 4to2centBC!!!
     
  19. Cheech9712

    Cheech9712 Every thing is a guess

    I'm not eccentric. Put them in a book when i bring them to grandbabies. I'm way different then most of the collectors in coin chat. I dont even own a pair of gloves... Grandkids have dropped the coins all the time. I love live things. Cheech
     
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  20. chrsmat71

    chrsmat71 I LIKE TURTLES!

    that's a nice OP display of some BEAUTIFUL coins!

    i have quite a few low end coins, so nice trays like that aren't really an option for me. i've got a redbox set up like sallent does, but have considered making a little display case for nice or recently purchased coins...something like zumbly did. but then i always remember what some of you have said, that no one is going to be looking at this display other than me (and you guys if I take a pic), so i just pass.

    here is my current coin display (sitting on table..new coins i'm still "fondling" and reshoot coins, i'm a bit behind on putting them up).

    100_8061.JPG
     
  21. Carl Wilmont

    Carl Wilmont Well-Known Member

    What's the copper-colored coin on the lower-right center with squiggly lines on it? It looks interesting and unique!
     
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