Hi everybody. I am a new collector and am looking for advice on storing coins for the long haul (10-20) years. I've bought quite a few slabbed PR70DCAM coins as an investment for my daughter. I don't have a need to look at them regularly but I am looking for the best way to preserve them in their mint condition for the long run. I live in Durham, NC where the temp and humidity vary wildly. I've ready humidity can affect coins over the long run and cause corrosion or coloring. Currently these are in PCGS slabs, which I've read are not airtight, some are in sealed bags and If so I've left them in those and I'm storing them in the blue PCGS 20 slab boxes in my safe in my house. Is there more I can do ? Could I seal the boxes with scotch tape ? For coins i do want to look at regularly, are the air-tite plastic coin holders recommended ? Advice appreciated. I even wondered if toning is beneficial over time and it might be better for me to expose them to the elements ? Best Guy
Probably not the best decision you could make. I say that for a pretty simple reason, 70 graded coins have been dropping in value for some time now. 10 - 12 years ago 70 graded coins were selling for multiple thousands of dollars. Today you can often buy them for $150, some even less. And they have been getting steadily cheaper with each passing year. So you might want to re-think that idea. And while you are at it, please, do yourself a favor and believe me when I tell you that coins make terrible investments. Over 9 out of 10 collectors lose money on their collections. Yes, first of all if you have a Sentry safe, get your coins out of it and buy a different safe for coin storage. I recommend some of the models made by American Security. Then, make sure your safe is located in an interior closet or room that has no walls exposed to the exterior of your home. That gives you the best chance of making sure that the temperature remains as constant as possible. Then get yourself some rechargeable silica gel packs and put them in your safe. Then monitor them as needed and recharge as needed. No, do not do that ! Yes, they are fine. But so are several other hard plastic coin holders. But as a general rule you will find that Air-Tites are far and away the most economical. The thing about toning is that you never have any idea how the toning is going to turn out. Most of the time it ends up being ugly and unattractive. But sometimes it does end up being attractive, I would guess less than 1% of the time. But are you willing to take that chance ? If you like and want attractively toned coins, then buy attractively toned coins that you like and forget about hoping to end up with them. And since you are just beginning and know very little, only buy those in NGC or PCGS slabs.
Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. I definitely take on board your advice about PR70DCAM coins. I looked at the price history on PCGS and see the price declining over the years, especially for Kennedy half dollars, from $1500 to less than $100. I've avoided those, but bought pennies, nickels and dimes. My average buying price is between $20 and $25 bucks each, for coins that PCGS says are on average $150. Personally, for the prices I've paid it's a definite fun punt. I'm trying to buy coins with a population of less than 150. I guess time will tell if I get my money back or not... but it's sage advice, so many thanks. At the moment I'm having fun, exploring, working out what I really like. That will probably take a bit longer. I'll probably dabble in gold coins when the price falls to about $1000, I see them as a fun hedge against other investments. Will also take your advice on the silica.. that's a great idea, thank you.
You are obviously not aware of it but please realize that with some coins as high as 86% of them have been graded MS70. Point being that you are better off to just buy ungraded examples for your collection or not buy them at all.
If you have time, go through boxes of pennies to start and look for wheat and indian head pennies. I've had a great amount of luck last summer when school was out, finding a 1910-S wheat cent and a 1909 Indian Head Cent, and about 600 other wheat cents total
You might want to keep them in sealed coin albums, they're good and sometimes can tone your coins to a nice color. Coin flips aren't always good because air can still get into them. And for some coins that I have a lot of, I just keep them in coin capsules.
Uhhhh - if the air wasn't getting to them in those "sealed" albums you mention, the coins would not tone at all. Just wanna make sure you realize that. And for several reasons, albums are one of the worst storage methods there are for coins.
Everyone has their own taste and interest in coin collecting. If that's why you like the proof 70 coins, then enjoy it. But I have to say that as an investment potential, it's probably not the best choice. Buying coins purely for investment has always been a bit dicey, and it's always rare coins that do the best. Modern coins in high grade generally will not be the best investment because there's so many of them produced by the Mint these days and it's enough to meet demand. If an average collector has a choice of spending 500 dollars on a proof 70 or 50 dollars on a proof 69, most collectors would just get the 69 because it looks almost the same. Collectors who make money on coin collecting generally focus on a collection of classic coins, including some key date coins. The rare coins will always be rare and are better potential although they certainly cost more. But a nice collection of, say, circulated Liberty seated half dollars in VF or EF condition makes far more sense as an investment because there will demand for a nice collection like that when you sell. If you like certified coins, you can assemble a collection of Morgan dollars in uncirculated grade that would always be in demand. I've always thought Morgan dollars makes the perfect collectible: historical coin with artistic design containing silver and available in uncirculated condition for a wide variety of dates for the average collector with average income. An additional benefit of building a collection is that you can involve your daughter with the hobby and spend time with her and teach her about the history of coins. That could be a much better investment than simply leaving something for her later that she may not understand. In short, if you buy coins only with numismatic investment as the goal, you probably won't do well, but if you focus on a sensible collection and enjoy building it with others, you have a better chance of reward, both psychological and financial. Well, that's my 2 cents, which by the way, is another collectible coin. Regarding coin storage, if you can simply store the coins inside your house with temperature control, such as central air conditioning and heating, you should be OK. Just check the coins every few months to see if there's any adverse effects. I didn't want to criticize your choice of collecting coins. All I want to say is collect the coins that you enjoy and excited about. If you enjoy the proof 70's, than that's great, collect them. But investment is a secondary benefit of collecting.
