Hello Everyone, This is my first post as I am a new collector/bullion investor. I just recently bought a full set of NGC MS69 American Silver Eagles and received them today. I'm very excited to have the set and continue adding to it in the future. I bought the set with a nice wood slab holder box. I researched and found out that may not be the best storage device. I figured for now I would keep them out of the box and store the slabs in my fire-proof safe. I then realized that I had lined my safe with that non-slip toolbox drawer liner. Sure enough I found some evidence that material may be PVC. Took that out. Also I store my handgun in the safe in its plastic storage box. Who knows if that has PVC... what if the safe material isnt exactly inert either... It seems as though everything that may come in contact with the coins may present an unknown danger or maybe I'm being over the top. This is quite frustrating and I wanted to hear everyone else's opinion on my thoughts here.
Welcome to the neighborhood! Coins and the solvents and oils that are used for caring for firearms do not go well together. The slabs do offer a certain degree of protection, but they are not airtight. The molecules of those chemicals floating around in the confines of your safe could have an adverse affect on the coins. Chris
Be sure to buy a decent sized desiccant for your safe. Fireproof safes are famous for getting very musty over time...like mine did.
Some do and some don't. The cheap ones almost always do. I have one that I have owned for 10 years and it never has. But it was quite expensive.
Hello jthrelf, Welcome to the CoinTalk forum. :welcome: There are many good ways to store your slabs inside of one of your safes. I might suggest simply putting the slabs inside of a zip-lock baggie. (You could always throw-in a desiccant pack). Alternately, you can get plastic boxes from PCGS or NGC that hold 20-slabs each. Bother these choices are good for long term archival storage IMO. If you want to have fun viewing the slabs, you can place them 9-to-a-page in Eagle brand 3-ring binder pages. It is important that the atmosphere in the safe be consistently dry & cool (and chemical free). The safe should be in an area that does not change temperature daily & seasonally. Avoid locating the safe at an outside wall or attic where the temperature will change. Stay thirsty my friend.
I put my silver eagles and all of my other coins into "coinsafe" tubes. They are supposed to be more or less airtight. I stick the tubes inside my safe and don't worry about what else is in there. Here's an example:
