Copper storage, Large Cents?

Having collected large cents for quite some time now I am still always curious about how to properly store them. I have read numerous articles on the subject recently. I have not however found the "best" method to store Early American Coppers. I prefer my coins to be visable so paper envelopes don;t work for me, however they might be the best all around way to store coppers.,, ? I currently have my coppers in flips and am concerned about their reaction with the copper. I want to move them to a safer enviornment. A Dancso Album is what I am thinking about using. Anyone have their EAC's in Dansco's?

Thanks Tony

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I've got a few in Danscos. They don't appear to be suffering any harm. The majority are in cotton bags in paper 2x2's stored in Intercept Shield boxes. Seems to work well for me. It's pretty easy to take them out and visit with them.

PS - they also fit better in the safe-depost box this way.

 

Have you considered Air-Tites ? They're a good choice for those who don't like slabs.

In addition, a low-humidity environment is vitally important. Mine are in a water-resisant safe with lots of EvaDry dessicant. I also have mine in Intercept Shield boxes.

Personally, I don't want raw copper directly exposed to the flip. That's how they get "album / slide wear". Sliding 'em in and out can't help matters. Anything I have in a flip is also in a cotton liner. Yes, that gives us the visibility problem. Not good.

Also... here's a topic which will bother some folks. The truth is many top copperheads put a special oil on their early coppers. They used to call it Blue Ribbon, now it's called Coin Care. It's a widespread practice. I could name names, but I won't... I just know that several major, major folks do it because they told me so. Other major players don't.

There are several reasons for doing it. A major advantage is a super-thin protective coating which slows down oxidation, especially useful in coastal climes with salt water and humidity. It also removes dirt and crud from the surface and can "brighten" things up a bit.

I'm neither recommending it nor condemning it. I'm just sayin'.

 

Yes - I have a dansco album I am using - so far with out issues. The better ones stay in airtites and some will eventually be graded. I keep them locked up with silica gel packs. No problems so far.

 

I store my large cents in Airtites in a ziplock bag with silica in a safe deposit box.

 

Hi all, thanks,

I have never used airtites as I want my coins in some kind of album or page. I understand that can be done with airtites ? I think I would rather have my coins on a page in airtites than in a Dansco but I know nothing about airtites or pages that might hold them. Coin supplies and me don;t get along, I hate dealing with that stuff. I don't know what's good whats bad, I have had problems with pages and such though. Yes I was reading about Blue Ribbon this morning as a matter of fact, I say if the "serious" copper guys use it it can;t be bad for their coins. My coppers are not high grade by any stretch of the imagination. I have my coins in a home safe, OLD huge safe, double door, I don;t really worry about humidity so much but I do have to get some dessicants in there ! One thing I know is that it's almost impossible to get 3 ring binders that are cloth, now they are all vinyl, sucks. I already have a vinyl binder in there safe and hate it being there, but that's what I have some stuff in. Are there binders and pages made for airtites coin safe ones ?

Thanks Tony

 

Oxford makes a non-PVC 3 ring binder in their "Earth Care" line.It is made from Polypropylene. I bought close to 30 of them when on sale at Walgreens for my
Stamp collection pages. I haven't checked Walgreens lately , but during the summer, mine was selling them at "Buy 2, get one free". Sizes from 1" up. Nice "D" ring.

Polypropylene is a safe plastic for coin use as any.

Jim

 

I used to keep mine in a Dansco, but the tan colored pages made the brown of the copper almost blend into the pages and made it hard to view them easily. Now they mostly reside in 2X2's.
Guy~

 

I believe with airtites you can use a capital holder album and just slide the airtites into it. I have not tried it yet, but maybe one day.

 

If Airtite was smart they would contract with Dansco and make a custom album that accepted Airtites. There are lots of collectors who love Airtites, but don't like the display/presentation products (this poster included).

 

I would say the best way to protect them would be Intercept Shield holders inside an Intercept Shield box.

 

Yep.

Aren't all AirTites the same outside diameter regardless of contents ? If so, Dansco need only make a generic AirTite album, and peeps can put anything they like in there. Additionally (and optionally), they could make albums with dedicated holes for each issue (1943-PDS, etc).

The problem I see is that a Lincoln cent set in a traditional album has small holes, so a lot of coins fit in a small surface area. The same Lincoln collection will have a big footprint in AirTites.

Regardless, I think a Dansco generic AirTite album would sell.

 

No.

 

At one time I thought slabs were safe enough, then I found a new green spot on one of my slabbed half cents over the weekend...

Looking closer at a few other coins (slabbed), I found lint, tiny flakes of paint, an eyelash, and other miscellaneous debris, mind you these were PCGS and NGC slabs, not any of those fradulent copycat companies.

You'd think with the amount of money these companies charge to slab a coin they're at least able to buy some of those compressed air keyboard dusters?

I personally use Coinworld holders for the raw coins, I'd buy the dollar-sized inserts, then cut down a PCGS slab ring to make 3 prongs that suspend the coin inside the dollar-sized opening. The neat thing is the edge is now visible, and the coin sits pretty snug in its holder (one of my other NGC-slabbed half cents is just a bit too small for the opening so it rattles around). The coin that had the green spot is now sitting in one of these holders after I blew off the thing causing the green spot with compressed air. So I forfeited the slab grade, at least it won't look like a rain forest in a few years.

 

I am going to look for binders with cloth covers. I might use 2x2's but the self adhisive ones as I hate sliding stapled ones in and out, pockets too tite, you know how that goes.
I don't really like Dansco's because of the color of the pages, I prefer Whitman, but Whitman doesn;t make blank large cent pages as far as I can tell. The tan that Dansco has,,! it doesn't show off any color coin well,what were they thinking ? I have to check into the airtites see what kind of page I can use with them.

Tony

 

The problem with cloth covered binders is that the covers under the cloth are made of cardboard and adhesives so you have sulfur and who knows what else outgassing in there. Danscos or other albums are ok for the post 1836 coins but they are not a good choice for the older coins. Since they were made without a close restraining collar every coin is a different size, so in most cases the holes in the album will either be too small and the coin won't fit, or they will be too large and the coin will rattle around.

A line of albums designed to hold airtite holders would be an ideal product.

 

Does such a line exist? If so, I would certainly buy some...this is what I really need.

 

If it does I have not heard about it. Now I think someone said the small cent holders will fit in half dollar dansco albums. I really hope something like this is available.

 

I seem to remember seeing something about that a while back...but I was hoping that someone knew of a setup for larger coins. I have recently started a new collecting project and I'm trying to come up with a good storage/display method. An album like this would be ideal.

 

Surely this type of cutter is available today as it was in 1961, to make just the correct size hole in your album. You could center the device in a smaller hole and enlarge it to whatever size you want. I have a woodworking adjustable bit similar to this.

Or make your own archival pages from inert museum cardboard and glue, and sell them to all the airtite users.


Jim