New to Airtites, install process?

When putting a coin in an airtite with a foam ring, do you put the ring in the airtite, insert the coin, then close the cap? Or do you put the coin in the foam ring, then insert the combined result into the airtite and then close the cap? I am brand new to this process and tried both ways and can't decide which works best...

 

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put the foam in first then the coin

 

I make sure the foam ring is in the holder first because I think less fingerprints will have the change on getting on the face of the coin.

 

I'm using gloves, so hopefully fingerprints will not be an issue. I'm putting half dollars into H38 sized holders with the appropriate sized ring. What I'm finding is that with the very tight fit (as designed, no doubt) the foam will sometimes "roll" on me, making it difficult to get a clean look. I've had to do some coins multiple times to get a clean finish. Just wondering if there was a trick that I'm missing.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

 

How do you store your coins once they are in the air-tites? I've been wanting to put some of my higher grade raw coins into air-tites for a while but don't know how I would store them afterwards.

 

I have used Airtite Album they have some drawbacks annoying use of Velcro and hard to get airtites into the slots but no other better option.

 

I'm just getting started. I've seen albums with pages that hold air-tite coins, but I started with a couple of these:

http://www.air-tites.com/air-tite_coin_storage_boxes.htm#.URqA3R2Yt8E

The car inserts come in different sizes and colors. The boxes hold up to 20 of the cards. I purchased some of the burgundy and some of the black cards for my first trial. I thought the burgundy might look more "luxurious" but after seeing them I'm thinking a regular black would work fine. They also have a dark blue and some other colors.

I don't know if the boxes will end up taking more space than albums or not. I just knew I wasn't going to try to keep a stack of airtites without something to store them in. The boxes have little feet on the bottom and matching "nubs" on the top so when they stack they are fairly stable, meaning they don't slide off of each other too easily.

I imagine you could also get tubes for certain sizes of airtites.

[Edit]
Yes, tubes are available

http://www.air-tites.com/cap-tube-coin-holders.htm#.URqB3x2Yt8E

 

I've noticed this too sometimes. I just take it all apart and try again, until I'm happy.

 

I'm practicing with less valuable coins, but this concerns me. I thought I should handle any more valuable coin with gloves to avoid finger oils and whatnot. Now even gloves will cause problems?

 

I first blow out any dust from both halves of the airtite. Then I rinse the coin with acetone, transfer to a Kimwipe and put the coin into the airtite (with the ring already installed) without ever touching it. Personally, I'm a strong believer in using acetone to remove any light surface contaminates before they are tightly sealed for potentially decades of storage.

 

Thanks for the input, I'm learning more every day from this site.

I've been doing that as well.

 

Yes. Alternatively you can put the foam ring around the coin first, then put it and close the cap, but I find the way you first mentioned easier and less risk of damaging the coin that way. Be sure to wear gloves to avoid getting fingerpints on the coin, and hold it by the edge besides.

 

Badthad, Could you please explain this acetone bath you mentioned? Your private storage is full btw....

 

I use the accompanying Cap-Tubes that hold the airtites. Seems to work well and relatively cheap also

http://www.jpscorner.com/coin-tubes.html#cap-tubes

 

It's more a shower than a bath. LOL I simply hold the coin by the edges (no gloves) and rinse both sides with reagent grade acetone using a transfer pipette. Then I drop in into a Kimwipe.

 

Gloves are just fine, so long as your hands are clean and dry, and so are the gloves. Even with the gloves on, only hold the coins by the edge. I've never had problems handling coins this way, even proofs when I had to put them in airtights or mylar flips for submission.

No matter how careful you think you are, holding coins with your bare hands is always a bad idea. And you're never as careful as you think you are.

If you've never heard of any professionals or collectors holding coins with gloves I'm not sure which ones you've talked to. I've never heard of anyone with any kind of experience in handling coins not using gloves. But you're right that gloves shouldn't give you a false sense of security (any more than wearing a seat belt means you don't have to be careful while driving); even with gloves on you should handle coins carefully and only hold them by the edges.

 

Gosh darn am i happier every day i don't deal with modern bu coins and their ultra sensitive nature. Fwiw i have never seen a major dealer use gloves, even handling million dollar bu coins. Just clean hands and being careful.

I will go back to getting my hands dirty playing with my coins now.

 

Why do I feel a fight coming on???