How do you present your collection?

I store my coins in mahogany coin cabinets. The one on my avatar is a late 19th century Spink cabinet.
I think hand made cabinets are a work of art in their own rights and when combined with a collection it gives an aura of prestige. Some of the mahogany used in older cabinets is now extinct or banned so they add value.

 

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I'm pretty basic in my storage. Probably just used to doing it this way from collecting baseball and basketball cards when I was a kid.

 

The antique cabinet in these video is almost identical to another cabinet that I have. Spink is still using it after all these years

 

I admire those who take the time to make attractive displays but like some others I'm the only one who looks at my coins aside from posting them here. I keep mine in 2x2 flips with inserts in blue plastic Whitman boxes. I store these in a rather large safe bolted to the concrete foundation of my house. If someone wants to steal them or my other valuables they will have to work for it.

 

I am coming onto this thread a little late, but I am re-evaluating how I store my ancients. What sort of pages are you using? What are you using to print the descriptions? Are the coins just loose in the pockets? If I have missed the answer to any of these questions I apologize.

Your presentation looks really nice.

LS

 

Please excuse the quality of the attached “down and dirty” pic that I just very hastily snapped using my iPad. I now store - and carry with me everywhere I go - my entire Roman Imperial coin collection of twenty coins (that I feature in the current CT “Parameters for your Collection” thread) in my Messager Bag (MB). Coins are contained in archival quality paper envelopes together with accompanying attribution tags (tested for pH suitability) and, in turn, strips of three vinyl flips cut from standard commercial sheets that fit neatly in my MB. I write a generic coin description on the outside of each envelope so that I can identify them easily.

I now carry my MB with me wherever I go thus providing me with boundless opportunities to examine and fondle my coins as I wish. As I also carry my iPad with me wherever I go, I can research my coins (mostly via my web pages) at my pleasure. I have numerous opportunities to do that during our frequent (and lengthy) Doctor visits these days. Of course, I also carry all of my essential IDs and Credit cards in another pocket of my MB.

Edited to reflect better descriptive text.

 

My physical storage method is disorganized compared to the nice options seen in this thread. I have a coin cabinet with felted drawers, where the coins are divided into rough groups (Roman Republican, Syracusan Greek, etc). There is no info physically present with my coins. However, I use the Google Keep Notes app on my phone to store a virtual catalog of the coins, complete with numismatic and historical notes, purchase info, etc. Every coin is tagged to reflect the exact place of issue, as well as the larger family of coins to which it belongs. It takes 2 seconds to find an exact coin via search or family of coins by applying a tag filter. All the data is backed up to the cloud. The Notes app applies so perfectly to keeping a virtual catalog that it enables my otherwise sloppy storage method. But hey, who doesn't love a coin pile?

 

It is interesting to see how others store / display their collections.
I have most of my coins in a vault at the bank. This does 2 things: more secure storage and puts them above my home elevation of 14' above sea level (which was below the surge levels of the last two major storms).
I take a box in the top row of lock boxes at my bank.

I try to display my coins at local coin shows. I am not sure how many go ooooh and how many go - what is that?

I have been collecting long enough to go through 3 computers. Some of the pics and write-ups are on two older versions I do not use. I bought an external drive, and plan to use that when switching in the future.

I have a few, and it was great to find pics of them on your web site. Maybe you could use some space for sold items.

 

It's dawned on me reading this that the Internet might increase the demand for collectibles like ancient coins, as people can show off their collections more easily to others around the globe (rather than having no one living nearby to share it with). Probably not a good thing for prices unless you're selling!

 

I keep my slabbed coins in PGGS/ NGC boxes. I still have many proof coins in original presentation cases/certificates. My other coins are in saflips (2X2) These I have in three leather binders. I always keep the auction data tags/ plus make my own data labels/ as I used to do for my butterfly collection.
John

 

Wow! Oodles of neat coins! I keep my coins in trays. What if I am to present a collection I favor the virtual tray. It is both time consuming and tedious. I love it for comparison sake. Like my little collection of the Romano-Persian Wars


It also works if you want to show off a collection of Cholan and Sri Lankan Medieval Coins.


Virtual Trays aid in showing a whole lot of weird stuff.

 

One can never get used to seeing that.

 

New level unlocked:
Seeing some neat coins that I never knew existed!
I really dig that Pegu, Mon Kingdom coin with the Conch shell (or snail?) and temple

 

Almost all of mine are in the bank in boxes in flips except for some of the most-recent purchases. The few coins at home are in Abafil trays. For all my coins I have physical photos on 5x8 cards and digital photos in files on the computer.

Over the years I've had a few serious collectors over to talk coins and mostly they do not want to see my coins. Several times long ago I brought a box home for one friend or another to look at that didn't get looked at because he preferred to talk about buying and look at a box of my coins for sale. Far more than they want to see my coins they want to see something they can buy that they could turn into their coins.

That's okay. I spent years collecting alone and learning from books and articles. I appreciate my coins because of what is in my head. I don't (and you don't) need the approval of others. Sites like CoinTalk have changed things; we are not so isolated any more and others can click that they "like" our posts. However, your ancient coins connect to history and what you know about them regardless of whether anyone near you, or on CoinTalk, appreciates them. The important thing is that you appreciate your coins.

 

really nice!!! what software are you using to create these virtual trays?

 

@AussieCollector - you have unleashed an impressive thread with your OP and photos of elegant presentation. Interesting to see the diversity of systems , and admire the stunning coins presented (or "artifacts" to be inclusive of @rrdenarius weights and scales, @Andrew McCabe "aes grave in bag format"). @Cucumbor - are those all alexandrian in the tray with your Hadrian hippo? the set is enviable.

I like the ease of access of the traditional, wood cabinet & trays for presentation and have a mahogany cabinet by Peter Nichols, purchased in the 1990's while living in the UK. Although he has since retired, his business continues (FaceBook page).

Lately I have been adding circular tags to the drawers on acid free card stock made with a 1"/25mm paper punch. I keep old flips, letters, and other provenance in a 3 ring binder, using photo corners to hold in pages (another archaeic technology choice).

On the computer, I have an excel inventory and a file folder loosely organized by type (Parthian, Republican, Roman, Greek...) to maintain images, electronic receipts, eBooks, etc.

Trays are grouped generally by type with the exception of a "Large" category. Tray themes undergo evolutionary transformation about every 5-10 years with mass extinction events (sales via auction house) and Cambrian explosions (purchasing sprees). As the photo above illustrates - order and rationale for what you find in the trays is loose - although there is usually some logic to it e.g. the reverse on Septimius Severus in the photo is PART MAX PM TR P X (with captives).

 

I use an iPhone 5s to take the pictures and ms paint to cut crop and size the O/R image eye balling the size. Then I use pixlr.com (free) to spray paint the black background around the coins. When I place the coins together I scale them by eye and scale in a US cent for relavence.

@Nvb congrats on the new level unlock. (Feels good right?) if you go back and search for posts on the coins in the tray most have lengthy write ups right here on coin talk. I love coins of lost civilations.

 

People are sleeping on the man purse. Excellent idea you can keep all sortsa goodies in there. I call it a European side bag, or messager bag, but we know what it really is.

 

Thank you @Ancientnoob - I didn’t know what to call it, that is what it was sold to me as - I like “messager bag” and that is what I will call it in the future. I guess I am a Dinosaur lost in the present age

Added: I have edited my original post to use “Messager Bag”.