One of my first coin purchases on eBay was a bunch of Lincoln's that came in a few pages of slider holders similar to the ones you describe. I didn't know it at the time (being a n00b), but they were covered in PVC gunk... eventually I just had to dispose of them. I think you did the right thing!
For the life of me, i struggle why the German manufacture Lighthouse continues to promote and sell this same PCV laced material. Its their core business and they should know better. At the very least, make a 2 x 2 4-holed compatible sheet for 2 x 2's and let the educated consumer choose the method they want.
Well just recieved a reply not very detailed I am afraid LOL but to the point!! Dear Steve, thank you very much for your email and your interest in our LEUCHTTURM articels. Yes you are right our coin sheets contains PVC!!! Have a nice day. Best regards, Elena Kern Looks like I am going to have to find some new albums
Boo. If those sheets contain PVC, I would have expected some explanation of why they think the material is OK for coins. As I mentioned before, some say that both soft and hard PVC should be avoided, while others say that only "soft PVC" is problematic for coins. But in case that was basically the entire reply, it does make sense to stay away from their products ... Christian
I agree, its a shame however. The quality of the things they make is second to none, its just the components they use to make their products that bite.
So why all the complaints. They did say have a nice day. Also, sent their Best Regards. Just how much do you expect? And remember they could do as the Chinese do and make them out of Lead.
LOL Please Carl not when I am drinking tea :whistle: Yep that was the reply in its full form LOL any one who speaks and writes German fancy having a go, they might get a better response :thumb:
Have not contacted the company, but I posted a message to a German language coin forum earlier today. http://www.emuenzen.de/forum/pflege-reinigung-und-aufbewahrung/53013-leuchtturm-und-pvc.html You may recognize the words in italics. No responses over there so far. Christian
Hmm thanks all, seems like several people have had the same coin page problems. I'm going to go ahead and punch new holes in some of my "good" pages and use those instead. It's all I can think of.
Picked up a local coin shop paper (Phoinix) in London at the weekend and they were offering some of the lighthouse albums for sale, now in the write up they say the pages are acid free!! perhaps the person who got my email at the company did not realy understand what I was getting at with my question?
In that German forum somebody (who has some problems with coins that have been in older Numis sheets) just posted a more detailed reply he got from Leuchtturm: http://www.emuenzen.de/forum/585536-16-post.html You know that those Numis sleeves consist of two parts: the "fixed" sheet with the punch holes, and the "movable" inner parts that hold the coins. According to that reply, the outer part does contain softeners. The inner part, which is in direct contact with the coin, does not. He had also asked about what to do with "better"/more expensive pieces, and they recommended capsules instead. Leuchtturm told him that the tone of the coins may change for a variety of reasons; they even offered him to look into this particular case; for that he would need to send them the sleeves and maybe 2 to 3 of the coins that had been in them. Guess I am safe to continue to do what I have done - keep some in boxes and some in albums. But I wonder how much more expensive the Numis sheets were if they replaced PVC by PP or some other plastic. Cannot really be that much, or can it? Christian
As far as I can tell, many manufacturers of "generic" albums, no matter where, still use PVC for their products ... Christian
