I have much of my collection in Dansco coin albums. I started a long time ago with Dansco so I continued to buy them. Now I am beginning to think about getting rid of them. I don't care for that 70's style brown covers and, especially, the gaudy (gold-leaf) font titles. Recently, I have been preparing collections of modern US coins for my three siblings: Lincoln Memorial Cents, Jefferson Nickels, Roosevelt Dimes, Washington Quarters, Franklin Half Dollars, Kennedy Half Dollars, Eisenhower Dollars, and 20th & 21st Century US Type collections. For these collections, I decided to use Whitman albums instead. I like the dark blue covers and the more classic "Times New Roman" looking font album titles. But I have a few issues with the Whitman albums. For example, the 20th & 21st Century US Type album and the Eisenhower Dollars album do not hold the coins snugly. The coins rotate around their ports which is an eyesore. Also, the Lincoln Memorial Cents album spans from 1959 to 2007. Seriously? The album does not accommodate last year 2008 for Lincoln Memorial Cents (or even 2009 bicentennial coins)? I can add pages, but 2010 marks the beginning of a new series and these coins should be stored in a separate album designated for Lincoln Shield Cents. One alternative is the CAPS albums. They are much more elegant. I wish the pages were darker colored instead of white as I think a darker colored background makes the coins standout more. On the plus side, I like the ability to customize pages and album titles. Another alternative is the Lighthouse binders, but a small series (such as Ike Dollars) would leave half of an album empty. With that said, I am left to three possible choices: 1. I could keep the Dansco Albums, purchase blank binders, and find someone to custom print the album name on the binder with the font of my choosing. 2. Or, print custom labels with the font of my choosing and cover the existing print on the albums (cheaper alternative). 3. Buy all new CAPS albums. Considering the number of Dansco albums I have, buying all new CAPS albums and ditching the Dansco albums would be costly. I am curious to know what others here think about their coin albums.
Wow. I just love everything about Dansco, but while you're looking around, do consider the Littleton albums. If I were starting from ground zero, I do like their look.
Dansco is what I use exclusively. If you switch to Whitman, how long before you get tired of the dark blue color and the font?
I use nothing but Dansco, although I am frustrated at the length of time it requires for them to put out new albums (see Kennedy Halves). I do have a Caps album for my ASE, which I love. I don't find the expense that much of a deterrent because of all of the upside. Unfortunately, those things are so dang large they take up way too much space. However, since all my other coins are circulated or AU (although they are nice looking), I wouldn't want to put them in Caps albums. I may use Caps for my Early and Modern Commemoratives when I start that collection. P.S. I like the look of the Intercept Albums when they are on a shelf, but I understand they aren't very safe for the coins.
All my albums are Dansco. Aside from a few fit issues in a couple of the albums for early coinage, they are great and I have no complaints.
Coin albums are arguably one of the worst things ever invented for coins. Sure, thousands upon thousands of collectors love them. But they are responsible for ruining more coins, in one way or another, than just about anything else. And to this day they continue to damage and ruin coins.
I'd rather just use 2x2 albums. Its essentially the same thing but with more options and safer for the coins. You don't have to deal with empty holes either.
dansco albums tone coins darker and not in a good way either. I have switched to "Caps" pages with airtites.
I expected your reply and rightfully so. I have heard of toning issues with albums if that is the problem to which you are referring. I bought my first Dansco albums many years ago for Liberty Nickels and Indian Cents. I started with my remaining Dansco albumsd only a few years ago so I have not seen any problems yet. There is something to be said about opening a full album and gazing at the coins or showing a friend my collection. I have completed the entire set of nice BU Washington quarters. It took me a long time to complete that series in high grade. I have almost all quarters from 1940 onward in a Dansco album. The quarters from the 1930s I still have in the TPG slabs. I hesitate putting those in my Dansco album. I do have coins from 2011 that I have put into slabs and stored them in a Lighthouse album. I looked at them not long ago and some had some very ugly black toning. I don't know what is up with that. I used black inserts. Black inserts were discontinued. I am wondering if they were discontinued because the chemicals in the black inserts were causing the strange and ugly toning. Too bad - coins look beautiful against a black background. One more note. About a year ago, I looked at my dad's peace dollar collection that he kept in an album from the 1960s. The coins are put into the album like you would a folder, and then slide the plastic cover over them. So the reverse of the coins a pressed up against green cardboard. They coins looked nice with some toning (actually some had beautiful red and blue toning along the edge). However, when I took the coins out of the album, the reverse sides were completely black! I tried to dip a few but to no avail. The were ruined. Out of curiosity, does anyone have photos of album toned coins to share? Some toning can be attractive.
I recently moved my date set of Silver Eagles to a CAPS album. Love the protection. Not so much the ring notebook format. It’s a keeper, though.
Can anyone post a picture of what a "CAPS" album is? I got this one because I liked the way the pages turned but the holes are so tight I could barely get the quarters installed. Forget taking one out to change it without tearing the page. Sucks.
Here’s a CAPS album for my silver eagle date set. Advantage: good protection. Disadvantage: Ring page format makes it a bit difficult to turn pages with heavy coins, such as Eagles. Might not be a deal at all with your set. Overall, though, I like mine.
I use Whitman the most for US and Canada. I also have Cornerstone Albums from Zyrus Press for my Lincolns, Jeffs, FDRs, State and NP quarters. They are really nice. The Dancos I have are for my Australia, Ireland, and Euros and they work pretty good.
I agree totally. They are the best imitation Dansco's on the market and Littleton has very nice quality.
Personally, I'd say stick with the Dansco Supreme Albums (the ones with slides). I use them for my world coin type sets (Cuba, Panama, New Guinea, Switzerland, etc.) because there really isn't much else out there! On occasion, I've used the old Whitman albums when Dansco versions weren't available (think Great Britain Victoria/silver type, Philippines, Newfoundland, etc.) and haven't had any complaints. My only bad experience was with one of the Dansco folders. I had bought what I thought was a beautiful Australian type set on Ebay. When I got the coins, I discovered that though one side of each coin was beautiful, the other had been toned by the album, often in a very unattractive way for the silver coins.
You asked about albums of timed coins. This is a 1960 Whitman that I purchased in the 1980’s about a third complete. The black toned dimes are the dimes that had been in the album since the 1960’s. This is just one page. Rest assured though that all the toned dimes went ugly black. Not one appealing toner in the bunch. Yes, I learned the hard way.
