anyone used these lighthouse coin trays / boxes before?

Looked like each tray has its on hard sleeve, then stacks into cases they sell.
I can't find dimension of the smaller slots on this 45-slot version, or info on depth of the slots. Looked like they are deep enough for the thicker tets?

Tired of using albums, this seemed a decent alternative. I think they do come in black, wondering if they get dirty quick

 

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I use the Lindner version, stackable, red inserts, expensive. I got 5 trays that I found on ebay so I have 8 in total and the aluminum case was also expensive!

Full range of Lighthouse stuff here:
http://www.lighthouse.us/epages/lighthouse.sf/

I have to say that putting the coins into trays, rather than albums, has suited me just fine. Depending how many coins/trays you have, you need a good system to be able to find them. I do handle them more since they have been in the trays.

 

The trays are deep enough to take my t ortoise which is 6mm deep.

 

I love my albums..

 

Think you have convinced me to go trays P.

Albums suck for storing notes with each coin, or to modify them. And like P said, too much trouble to take a coin out of pouch so they don't encourage handling.

If the lighthouse ones were about the same size as your lindner then smallest slots looked big enough for denars.

 

Just curious, but how do you plan to store notes with each coin in the tray?

 

Slide out trays, IMO, shows off the coins better.

Dah! Pish, drool drool...

 

I loved my trays until my collection was too big to be able to carry all that bulk. Now I'm in paper envelopes and boxes. Having photos makes it work for me.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L8CTJME?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00


Mine and I love it.


and....

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001IDFB8O?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

 

Holy crap Pish! You have more coins than I do!!!

 

Print them out in tiny text, cut into square and put it under the coin i think. I have these small sticker squares too if not caring about the notes being semi-permanent.

 

I've tried to use a tray very similar to that Lighthouse tray. While it fit many coins, it was not sufficiently deep to fit thicker coins (like an Athens tetradrachm).

 

It doesn't? what about the lindner ones?
the whole tray was 2cm tall, that's the only attribute related to depth I could find on their site.

 

Lindner do extra deep trays, it is worth looking at everything they supply (coinwise) before jumping into any particular system. OK so I shall tell you what I do, it is a bit long winded but in the event of a computer crash, worth it!.

Coin comes in and is identified. I print out a label (word template) that used to go into a 2x2 flip but now goes into an index box (see first picture, it is on top of my trays). The same details are put into a spreadsheet. (Cut and paste makes short work of that).

When I have a decent(ish) photo, it goes onto Tantaluscoins so that I have a record of it online in case I get burgled. (Cut and paste again)

Once the coin is on Tantalus, it goes into a tray. Label goes into the index box. I create a circular label that accompanies the coin into the tray. The circular label has the inventory number on it, emperor's name and on the reverse, a description of the reverse of the coin. I bought a punch to create the circular labels, and it is almost as good as bursting bubble wrap

So far I have had no problem finding a particular coin. I might update the spreadsheet, once a tray is full, to show the tray number, row and column, but that seems like an awful lot of work.

I also have a case like Noob, that is where all the good stuff goes!

 

Extra deep trays
http://www.lindner-usa.com/pg5_englisch/numismatik/double-coin-boxes-collection-boxes.html

 

I just tried my Athens Owl tet in the draw, it is fine.

 

I'm not against the trays. Far from it. But the notes that PP speaks of are nearly the same as I do for my flips in three ring binders. My only point is that there is not much difference when it comes to keeping info along with the coins.

 

I agree with Bing.
I used to keep my label and coin in a coin safe double 2x2 flip. These went into pockets meant for trading cards and were kept in ring binders. A few times a coin flip slipped out of the pocket and when I temporally "lost" one of my favourites, I decided to change my system.

My method might look long winded, I look upon it as fun.

It doesn't matter what system you use, provided it works for you. Remember that stuff you save on your computer can disappear in an instant, so you need to make sure that you back it up, save it to the cloud, stick, whatever.

If you are going to change to a system of trays, look at the sites and see what they have on offer. Ask yourself what you might need in the future. Download the brochures. It is a long term investment, I found that I couldn't mix and match between lighthouse and lindner, so I had to make a choice.

I got the aluminium box to store the trays because I take them on holiday with me (no safe). If you don't need the carry case, the trays stack just fine.

Before you make your investment, consider whether the coins are going to be "happy" in their trays. Is where you live extra high humidity?

Take your time, they are your coins and it is your money!

 

You mentioned keeping your notes with the coins.
Be careful of the inserts that you get. I have a mixture of circular and square. The circular ones are very shallow and of course you are limited to the notes you can keep with it. The first pic shows the 16mm circular insert, mainly for my iddy biddy Greek coins, but a really thick coin has to go in a larger tray.

I have 22mm square inserts for things like denarius sized coins:

The largest 35mm for things like sestertius etc



From these measurements, you can see why I use a circular label to go with each coin in the tray.

The aluminium case that I have (for the good stuff) have 2x2 inserts. I keep quadrum capsules in there (because they look cool) and you can keep a 2x2 note under the coin if you want to. I didn't want to keep some notes in the index box and some in the case, so they all go into the index box.

And by the way, I got the different size inserts because you can store more coins per tray! The circular capsules in the picture are "extra deep" and can hold a coin about 4mm thick.

 

That's a terrific idea guys, digital catalog (or printed copies) with physical indexes, like in a library. Keeps it neat, while easy to access/modify.
I guess it would be ok to just label the trays this way, and use the column and row counts for indexing.

Since lighthouse and lindner have different dimensions, I must go one system or the other. This seemed actually a harder choice, they each have pros and cons, and company locations. I'm more leaning towards Lindner though, despite it will be more trouble to get them in the US, they seemed to have more variants.

The locker kind of setup isn't necessarily for me. I don't carry them anywhere, and I'd much preferred a tray cover instead of individual capsules. Had always dreaded closing and opening capsules.

As for inserts, think I'll start with a mixture of different types, but mostly the top type on P's stack, smaller squares, they seemed the most versatile. Hopefully lindner has the dark blue color available for those, but wouldn't be a deal breaker if they didn't.

My dad collects watches and he had always been telling me to switch to trays, more formal he says I just like the easier access. Albums were fine for stamps and cards but trays for coins felt more "right".