How do you store your coins?

As a staunch Antiquarian, I agree, David.

 

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I have my coins in albums, 20 per page and 100's of pages, here in New Mexico. My coins never get below 74 degrees nor warmer than 84 degrees. I clean my coins which everyone always says "don't". I use a soft eraser to clean them. I do not immerse my coins in any type of liquid. I wanted to see what everyone else was doing. Plastic doesn't hurt the coins and it is thick enough to keep the pages from rubbing the front and back of the coins. My coins will knock your eyes out. I don't try and hide the beauty of my coins. I enjoy enhancing their appeal by my method of cleaning. I don't believe that one needs to spend a tub of money to "store coins". Many put them in a vault. Unless the temperature and humidity are controlled one might as well put them out on the back porch in the rain.
Hope this helps you.
The General

 

I’m curious, are you speaking to ancient or modern coins woth regards to cleaning them with an eraser?

 

Silver generally. Copper coins are used more and are dirtier. By using the eraser it brings out the details more.
The General

 

But are you talking about cleaning modern or ancient coins? If you are using an eraser to clean modern coins...that's a big no-no.

 

Look, this is the Ancients section, where there's a much higher level of civility, and I'm more of a guest than a participant, so I've been holding my tongue. But I can't let this go.

You are giving TERRIBLE advice here. Please don't use an eraser to clean modern coins. You ARE RUINING THEM.

I'll leave it to the Ancients experts to give advice on coins that have spent hundreds or thousands of years in the ground.

 

Dave Vagi is my hero! I'm an NGC slabber and I believe that certification by experts is the best route to pursue. Whatever judgement you pass on me—I love you all! I recently sold off my Parthian collection to raise money for some folks who are struggling to put food on their tables and pay for their medications. The NGC certified slabs made all the difference. I was able to turn these relics into assets that could keep the folks I love alive.

 

I doing have anything terribly unique compared to others, but thought I'd share.

Like TIF changed up her storage as her collection grew, I'm currently in a transition of sorts with my storage and presentation.

I have a zippered 3-ring binder, trapper-keeper-esque binder (I bet similar to Pavlos^^) where I've been keeping my collection. I previously had used the cardboard w/ window coin holders, unstapled, folded and placed in the 20-pocket pages with ID tag in the pocket next to it.

I've been using a specially-sized 4x5 table in a Word doc (with many pages of that table) first for my 2"x2" IDs and I've recently made a new one that fits in a flip (1.675"x1.675", I think) with my new collection label at the bottom to make them all purdy and nice lookin'.



I'm actually quite happy with the set up, BUT I'm growing short on room in that zipper binder (it gets soooo heavy!)...

... and actually just added over the weekend a 2-pack of those Whitman boxes to my Amazon wish list for the very near future.

I've got a couple of the silica bead ones that I have on the inside pouch on my zippered binder for the same reason.

 

Well Ray, I stopped passing judgement on others years ago but I am sure you will be forgiven for your transgressions. IMO that is a great storage system - and I do admire your compassionate ministrations to people in need and the admirable use you found for your coins.

 

Thank you, my friend! I've held coins, in my hands, that were touched by the first Christians—what a Gift! I'm Blessed by your friendship!

 

That is extremely admirable! And, while many people on the forum are anti-slab, I don't blame you in the slightest. I prefer my coins "in the flesh" but there are far bigger things to worry about in the world than whether or not coins should be slabbed. There is definitely merit to it for protecting coins if you're passing them around to people inexperienced in handling them.

While NGC doesn't guarantee authenticity, they won't slab something they know is fake and, frankly, a second opinion is valuable. I've had a couple coins where I wasn't 100% certain they were real but the dealer I bought them from thought they were. Normally I avoid any ambiguity and I tend to trust my gut but felt it was worth the "gamble" just in case they ended up being genuine. I sent them to NGC: they were rejected. I returned them and received a refund; no issues. At times, it's well worth the fee to ask a neutral third party.

 

Thanks, AncientJoe for your sound advice! I know I'm a work in progress! Bless you, my friend—you're an inspiration!

 

Using the dimensions of the Guardhouse 50 slab aluminum boxes found online, I determined that my collection would fit in a space of only ~175 cubic feet. In the paper envelopes I now use stored in red cardboard boxes with empty space in some, I am under 5 cubic feet.

I admit I would be interested in knowing how many of my coins they would reject but the cost of curiosity is high. We all must chose what fits our needs and preferences.