My family just recently gave me a coin collection that included about 15 old Whitman coin books. They include half dollars, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. I have duplicates of each particular book. Some are full and many are incomplete. The common factor between all the books is that all the coins are very discolored. Is this from the ink on the pages or is it from fingerprints when the coins were pushed into the slots? What does this do to the value of the coins in the book? Almost every single coin in the book collection has color to it.
The Whitman books were really designed for collectors that got their coins out of change, so the discoloration is probably all from circulation. I had a few of them myself when I was a kid, and you could still get silver in your pocket change. A collector of MS coins, purchased from dealers, wouldn't cram his specimens into a Whitman book. What you're looking at is circulated coins.
:welcome: Welcome to the CoinTalk forum. The older Whitman folders do cause toning over long periods of time especially if the storage environment (temperature & humidity) changes repeatedly over the time. Sometimes the toning on BU coins can be attractive. In my experience, the toning in those albums just makes the coins darker and somewhat less attractive to my eye. I've got plenty of coins in those old folders & just keep them in the folders making sure to keep the storage environment as constant as possible. The dimes in your photo appear to be circulated and their value is their bullion content.
BTW, a bad storage environment might be in an attic or by an outside wall or window. Those areas can experience large temperature & humidity changes daily. A better location would be in a cool dry environment such as a good vault with desiccant located toward the center of a home (away from the furnace room) :smile If you have a chance, please post some of the other coins in the collection.
Thanks for the replies. There are a couple coins that are still in great condition. Would it be wise for me to pull them from the books and store them in a protective case. Some of the halves look to be in mint condition. The coins that are silver pre-65 seem to be the ones that discolored the most. Alot of the post 65 to pre 75 in all the books look to be mint condition.
They've been kept in a safe with silica gel + a de-humidifier in it in the center of the house. I will try to get some pics together and post the collection. I've never really photographed coins and all I have is a cell phone camera but I'll see if I can get some good pics.
You can do what is necessary on a case by case basis. I found that removing a couple coins from a Whitman toned book made the set appear less attractive. You can never find replacement coins with the same toning.
mhenry - Even if you forget all about what the sulphur laden cardboard of those folders could do to the coins, take a look at the paper in the bottom of one of the empty holes. What you are looking at is a layer of glue, that was spread across the entire piece of paper before it was glued onto the piece with the holes in it. That glue is what your coins rest against in those folders. And under the right (or should I say wrong ?) conditions, that glue can be very harmful to the coins. Now you tell me - should you get your coins out of those folders ?
new pics of collection by request There is nothing real special that I know of in the collection. Mainly what I have gone thru is the silver coins. There are bags of indian cents, and wheat cents that I have not looked thru yet. I don't know much about them so I dont really know what to look for. I will study up on them before I tackle that job. This is some of the silver coins I have found that was given to me in this collection: (29) 1965-70 kennedy half dollars 40% (14) 1964 kennedy half dollars 90% (2) 1921 Morgan dollars (3) 1922, 23 Peace Dollars (2) 1946, 52 Booker t washington half dollars (2) 1943, 45 walking liberty half dollars (32) pre-65 washington/liberty quarters (10) war nickels (46) pre-65 merc/roosie dimes Other notable coins are: (45) 1971-d eisenhower dollars (4) old british cents (40) 2000-2001 sacagawea dollars. 1 - mint roll (2001) (32) 1979 susan b. anthony dollars (250+) wheat cents (100+) indian head cents (100's) of pre-1960 nickels (30+) old buffalo nickels (big cup) of old foreign coins from all over... havent really looked thru them. don't know what to look for...
Well my first goal is to absorb some information and learn from those of you who are knowledgeable and learn what I have in my collection. I do not have the money to purchase coins to build the collection so I will probably pick coins or series that I can find in circulation. I'm leaning towards building a silver stack as of right now until I learn more about what I'm doing.
If I were you, I'd get a copy of the Redbook and the Cherrypicker's Guide and go through the collection with an eye toward key dates, varieties, and higher grade coins.
I purchased a 2013 Redbook off ebay last night. Will start examining individual coins when it comes in
