Okay...I have some old medals of which I have posted here a while back. I am looking for a good way to store them. Some of them are rather large...maybe 4" or more...a few are pretty thick. Any idears?
You could try to find some larger display cases for them, the hinged lid types. I have a few normal size medals on display like this. otherwise bubble wrap sounds good LOL
Assuming that you are wanting to preserve them in their present condition as much as possible I would consider heat sealing them in plastic. They make heat sealers that are designed just for use with coins - typically you use a non-PVC flip, cut off the top flap and seal the open edge. With something as large as a 4" medal I suspect you would have to use a Zip-lock baggie.
okay...so I guess that with the big ones I am just going to have to rig something up...I would like to seal them up as they are bronz and silver and I at least want to put them in something like a flip.... here is the 4" medal...it might not be 4" exactly but it is darn close. here are a few of the others that are pretty large... thanks.
I am thinking of trying to get my hands on something with drawers that I can line with velvet.... Something like this but smaller:
That one is oak - very bad choice of wood for a coin cabinet. And velvet liners tend to hairline up the coins/medals. Lighthouse makes some nice coin trays of inert plastics and tray hoilders that might better serve your purpose if you wish to go the cabinet route.
Bubble wrap A buddy of mine asked about the odd toning on this medal and that reminded me of this old thread. My larger medals are kept in jumbo mylar flips but this large copper medal is mounted on a plaque that was wrapped in bubble wrap when I received it. I don't know if it was simply wrapped for mailing or stored in the bubble wrap.
Yarm, The unusual toning on that medal may be from the bubble wrap. I'm not sure if bubble wrap is PVC-free though. Chris
I was also searching for large holders for my Bryan Money. Many of them are 3 1/2" in diameter and also very thick. I ended up making my own version of a 2 x 2 in a 4 x 4 size. I went to a craft store, and bought a sheet of PVC free mylar, then cut poster board in 4 x 8 rectangles, then folded them in half. I cut circles in each half, then added the folded 4 x 8 mylar pieces. Insert item, and staple. I will try to post a few pics, but it will be a couple of days until I have the time to take some pics.
I saw a small collection of early Canadian silver where each piece had been wrapped in plastic wrap and stored that way for years. When the coins were unwrapped every wrinkle and crease from the plastic was visible in the toning. It was such a shame because all the coins were uncirculated and the effect from the plastic was really visually unattractive.
In 2008, NGC announced that they would begin encapsulating more U.S. & world medals. Prior to that, I believe that they were only encapsulating medals produced by the U.S. Mint. Realizing that some of the medals can be quite large, NGC also introduced a new line of oversized slabs. http://www.ngccoin.com/services/oversize-holder.aspx My original plan was to adapt a map chest to house my collection of 800+ medals, but Doug brought up a good point about the hairlining which hadn't crossed my mind. I still plan on using my map chest, but now I'll have to come up with the money to encapsulate most of the medals. Chris
