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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ed Zak, post: 14887, member: 824&quot;]<b>2 by 2&#039;s, albums, Intercept Shields...oh my!</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s the deal, I have stored and displayed my coins in everything from Whitman folders to professionally graded/certified slabs stored in an atmospherically favorable envirmonment (there&#039;s a mouth full!). </p><p><br /></p><p>Getting all of my coins slabbed is ridiculous, but I want to display them in a way so I can individually take them out (so Whitmans and Dansco albums are out). Protection is a must so that my coins keep and stay their colors...even in Southern heat and humidity.</p><p><br /></p><p>So I went to cardboard 2x2&#039;s like everybody else. I even printed up Avery Labels (.5 by 1.75&quot;, 80 per sheet) detailing the year and mint in #12 bold font on line #1, with the mintage in #8 regular font on line #2, all neatly centered on the label. I used to put the grade, but then it became a matter of opinion, so edition #2 of these Avery labels just dealt with the year, mint and mintage numbers. Who wants to show a collection when somebody would say, &quot;I have the same coin in MS65&quot;, as he looks at your label with a MS64 notation. Worst yet, who wants to deal with somebody that will tell you, &quot;That&#039;s not AU58, it is more like AU55!&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>I must admit, they looked great in a three ring binder, but then I had to deal with the cardboard dust/shavings from the edges and the fact that mylar wasn&#039;t as strong as I would want. I even saw some of my old, old coins with staples turning to rust! Not good!</p><p><br /></p><p>To combat this, I took some new cardboard 2x2&#039;s, cut out the mylar and replaced them with PVC-free &quot;flip&quot; hard plastic (inert material). My thought process was that the rigid plastic window is stronger and more durable than the flimsy thin mylar. I even used a heavy duty stapler where I used flat pliers to squeeze the staples even tighter. Afterwards, I taped the edges to &quot;seal&quot; the cardbord (and staples). It was as strong as you can make a 2 by 2! One dealer who I sold some of my dups to barked out, as he was cutting the coin out with household scissors, &quot;What the hell did you do to this 2X2?&quot;&nbsp; I explained my &quot;process&quot; and he told me that I was just wasting my time. I call it, &quot;enjoying my hobby&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>Still I wasn&#039;t happy. Then I started looking at the Snap Tites and those plastic 2x2&#039;s with the Intercept Shield protection. The trouble is how to display them in a book/album format. Finally, I found an album that will hold plastic 2x2&#039;s and the Intercept Shield 2x2&#039;s! I still use the Avery labels that detail year, mint and mintage, but I think I found something that offers the ease of looking at my coins individually along with presentation and protection. I found this album at:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.brent-krueger.com/eagleh...tml#ACCESSORIES" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.brent-krueger.com/eagleh...tml#ACCESSORIES" rel="nofollow">http://www.brent-krueger.com/eagleh...tml#ACCESSORIES</a></p><p><br /></p><p>It cost me about a $1 per coin extra, but all of my pennies from 1909 to 1950 are now stored in either Snap-Tites or Intercept Shield 2x2&#039;s. The coins actually look better with the black background...so score one for presentation!</p><p><br /></p><p>I can&#039;t find anything better to protect coins than the Intercept Shield without resorting to sonically sealed slabs (and even that has no guarantees!). For a $1 per coin, it looks better and it is better protected.</p><p><br /></p><p>Maybe someday I will add the grade and start my own grading service...until then, NOT![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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