What are your favorite coin albums for raw coins? Whitman? 2x2's with plastic sheets in a 3 ring binder? Those are the two I'm considering. Others? I have a Liberty Walking Whitman folder. But 2x2's give more flexibility and you can write notes for each coin. My next album may be for silver Roosevelt dimes. Starting out cheap while I learn more! I'm thinking of Peace dollars also. A lot more affordable than Morgans.
I have Whitman/ Dansco albums for the coins I am collecting sets of. I find the 2 X 2's in the plastic pages a bit heavy and cumbersome to deal with. Many of the other coins, I keep in 2 X 2 inert flips. I have a few in Capital Plastic holders. I prefer the albums because they usually have the basic info on the pages and you can always make your own insert list to keep with the album for details if you want.
You'll find that the 20-place plastic pages for 2x2's will stretch as soon as you start moving coins around to make room for others. Once that happens, the 2x2's will have a tendency to fall out. ~ Chris
Thanks. You and Chris have sold me against the 2x2's in plastic pages idea. I like albums. Do you store the flips in any kind of organized box or something?
Whitman also shows both sides. Is there any pro/con comparisons between these two? Dansco has slipcases available I see. I guess Whitman does not.
I have them in coin storage boxes that I bought that are also acid free so as to reduce the unwanted discoloration of some of the better coins. It is not a perfect system but it keeps them in something that stores easily.
I would use the Dansco for higher graded coins as I think they are a bit better at avoiding chemicals used in the albums that would affect coins. I like them both equally. The Dansco's, in my opinion are a bit sturdier.
A lot of my Whitman classic albums had the front cover come detached from the rest of the album when the staple came out.
Be aware too that the Whitman albums will tone your coins over time. I wouldn’t put high quality coins in a Whitman.
They say Dansco’s will tone coins as well. It has to do with the glue used to bind the cardboards. I lost some nice Mercs in a Whitman folder that I started in the 1970’s, so I can speak first hand to that.
Damn! So what to do? And is toning bad? I've read that people like toning these days, unlike back in the '80's.
It depends on the type of toning. All my Merc's toned a fugly black. I wish I had a photo here at my office, but I don't. There is a movement in the hobby toward rainbow toning. I can't see that I have ever seen anyone that likes black toning. And it is a crap shoot. I have heard that albums can produce rainbow toning. I wasn't so lucky.
So.....alternatives? I just started collecting and am using Whitman. Maybe I shouldn't. Then what? Just 2x2's?
Well..... This is entirely a personal perspective..... Filling Whitman books is fun and rewarding. If you are filling books with average quality coins that won't break the bank, I see no harm in it at all. I still have cents, nickels, Roosevelt dimes and state quarters in Whitman books....... Secondly, understand that the Mercury dime book that I had problems with was started in the 1960's. I filled the last holes in that book in the early 2000's. That was when I began noticing the black toning. It was quite literally a forty year process. I think all new numismatists should complete a few Whitman catalogs. It's a rite of passage, but more importantly you learn a great deal about collecting while you go through the process. So I am an advocate of filling Whitman catalogs. By the time you start collecting more expensive coins then you will also be more well versed in coin preservation as well. So don't think this is an overnight phenomenon. It isn't. By all means, fill some Whitman's. I don't know of a better way to learn coin collecting. If you have some pricey specimen's then relegate them to 2X2's or something similar.
OK, thanks for your thoughts. But my first Whitman is going to be not "average quality" like you say, but Walking Liberty MS coins. But maybe I'll be dead before they get toned! LOL. I'm no spring chicken!
Very interesting! Have you done enough research to be confident of what they claim? Maybe I'll return my Whitman and get one of those! Thanks.
