Hello, as most of you know I'm helping my 9 year old son, Preston, start his coin collection. I took him to a coin shop yesterday and he found some foreign coins (along with the various Canadian coins he already had) that he wanted to put in 2x2's in binder pockets. How do I know that this method is safe AND how should he continue to care for his coins with this method of storage so they don't become spotted and/or lose value?
Cardboard 2X2s are ok for circulated and cheaper coins . For your ans your sons best coins I'd invest in a little better holders such as Intersept Shield or airtites . IS 2X2s are made of hard plastic and has a anti corrosion insert , I use them for all my better coins . Airtights are round and I prefers the square holders . If your sons coins are circulated as I said 2X2 cardboard holders should be fine as long as you keep them in a relatively dry spot . Also check your coins at least every couple of months . The use of silica gel containers will help too . Good luck with you and your sons collecting . I'll get a link where you can buy coin products at a resonable cost . One are not to skimp on are books of the coins he's most interested . http://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/products/intercept-shield-2x2-holders/
Since Preston is at a very early stage of his adventure, and will probably be anxious to show the coins to others and handle them, a very inexpensive method until you are ready to invest in better, expensive ( as you get more and more coins ) is to buy some small polyethylene bags with a ziploc in the craft section of Walmart near the beads supplies ( at least in my walmart). The only package with a label in my house is this info. 2x3 in reclosable bag, E12-9 Dept. 19 barcode 8267600655. A package of 100 was a little over a dollar or so. They have smaller sizes that are less expensive. First , it not the most professional thing, but Preston or his friends can handle, cough on them, put them in their pocket, and the coin is as safe as in 2x2 cardboard in my opinion. The plastic is safe, and if one squeezes the air out before zipping, they are safer from corrosion. I have had some go through the laundry with no leakage. If you have a group of small bags, you can put them into a regular quart ziploc bag, to keep them together. Marking pens write on them quite well. Jim
My 2 cents. Put the coins in mylar flips which are easily labeled for reference. This allows your son to take them out and hold them whenever he wants to. The reason is because he should be taught to admire the beauty of a coin and how to properly hold one. If he messes up a few it shouldn't be the biggest deal if they are modern. Your son should learn the process of grading the coins too. All this involves in holding a coin properly, which is out of a holder and through a loupe. Down the road when he is more knowledgable he can use airtites and hard plastic holders.
Right on. The only problem I foresee is that I have no clue which ones are valuable and should be put in the 2x2's and which ones should be stored airtight or in flips. Obviously I want to keep the ones of value in the present condition so when he's older and can appreciate them more they will have maintained that condition. What kind of container should the binder be placed in to avoid moisture? What material is better for flips? Mylar, vinyl? Will it eventually eat the coin? Sorry for so many questions, I just would like to purchase the right thing the first time as opposed to getting him all set up and finding out that we've done the wrong thing.
Mylar is a good material, you can usually tell when the holder is not that easy to bend. They call the holder SaFlips. Vinyl is the ones you want to avoid, they're more bendable and sometimes smells like a shower curtain. Most reputable brands will state that they use mylar or polyester which are the same. As far as value goes. The only thing I can say is to google it or check on ebay's finished auctions. Otherwise you can make a list in the Whats it worth? section and maybe someone can help you. And unless the area you live in is pretty humid, the album is fine stored in a cool area away from sunlight.
Right on. Right now we are searching pennies. Mainly because they are cheap for me to invest in if he doesn't want to dump them right away. He seems to want to keep them all. I think the next thing I need to do is figure out which ones are worth keeping and coax him to dump the rest to invest in some more rolls to search. I see a research project in Prestons future
No, I don't own stock in Zip Loc. But some stores have them in 2 gallon size, I buy them for my diamond cutting laps to keep them from getting contaminated, and they also fit some of my binders, one very large one handles 3" notebook type binders. Actually any container rated for food products with a snap on type lid would work. I throw some bright shiney new cents into the container to react with any gases before they reach the other coins. Works for me. Jim
