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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;marid3, post: 1362332, member: 35968&quot;]When I re-discovered my coin collection last year after decades, I found it moldy and sticky – boxes covered with exploded bottles of home-brew, perhaps a year earlier.&nbsp; I spent the next few days carefully washing coins and discarding many, many folders, boxes, flips – almost everything but the coins.&nbsp; Starting fresh, I looked for ways to store/display my collection.&nbsp; I offer these experiences and opinions to hopefully guide someone doing an internet search just as I did about a year ago.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>My Use-I’m not done with my collection, so I’ll be adding missing coins, key dates, and upgrading – money and time permitting, so I want to interact with my collection.&nbsp; I want to occasionally show coins, but mostly ‘manage’ the collection.&nbsp; While I might someday sell some ‘extra’ coins, I’m not a seller, and I don’t have to transport my collection.&nbsp; How you use your coins changes everything, so my advice is to consider that first.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Note – when looking through my 30 year-old collection, I had some coins ruined (mainly zinc pennies) by storing in cheap plastic and bad folders.&nbsp; Most new products are ‘archival’ safe, but check.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Folders – I had these as a kid, and will buy them for my son in a couple of years when I give him ‘extras’ to start his own collection, but these offer neither the protection nor the display I want, so I decided against them.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Plastic – Individual plastic containers seem ideal for truly valuable coins.&nbsp; I have a couple of very nice coins, but – and this was hard to come to terms with and admit – my collection just isn’t that ‘valuable’.&nbsp; Granted, I have a LOT of silver, but the value of most coins isn’t that much over bullion, so the expense isn’t justified for me.&nbsp; In addition, they don’t provide the display or tactile feel I want.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Flips/Other – 2x2 flips are a nuisance for me – staples, sorting, writing on them.&nbsp; Plastic 3-ring pages/binders seem cheap compared to albums.&nbsp; I definitely use flips – for my good extras, but don’t want them for my ‘A-team’.&nbsp; &nbsp; I use red boxes for the good, extra flips.&nbsp; I use plastic tubes for the junk extras.&nbsp; Using internet coin stores, you can get a LOT of supplies for very little money.&nbsp; I purchased a pack of 100 flips and 5 tubes for each coin type (x2 for pennies), storage boxes, gloves, and some other small supplies for under $40 incl. shipping.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Albums – I like these the most, but at $15-25 each, this can quickly get expensive.&nbsp; However, it’s a one-time purchase, and only one book per series of coin, because I store extras as noted above.&nbsp; I like that I have them on a bookshelf – two shelves and growing, and I can reach for them, show them, do some research, pick an empty slot or a coin to upgrade, and go to ebay easily.&nbsp; For me personally, albums have to do two things:&nbsp; 1) display my coins well, and 2) make it easy to easily remove the plastic shields so I can add or replace a coin.&nbsp; I’ve now purchased hundreds of dollars of different albums, and can attest that not all do these tasks equally well.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Happy coin collecting!&nbsp; Let me know your thoughts!</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Next Post - Albums Reviews[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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