Small Coin "cabinet" Build Thread

Ok so I've posted a few questions lately about various coin storing topics. I've gathered enough info and done enough research, weighed my risks, and come up with a plan.

That being said I've decided to start a little build thread and hopefully I'll remember to take pictures and update this as I go.

Ultimately, some day, I'd like to have a larger floor standing cabinet that will hold supplies, books, and then have coin drawers at the top. But for now, I've come up with a fairly cost effective and acceptable (for me) solution.

So here we go:

This is my starting point - it's an art supply storage box, the drawers are about 8"x14"x1/2"



Step 1 will be to apply 3 layers of shellac. Why shellac? Through some research and after reading some laboratory results from the united states forest lab, shellac is a good compromise between being able to seal in VOCs from the wood and also not give off much VOC itself.

If you don't know, shellac is made from the secretions of the Lac Insect which is made into flakes and then dissolved in an alcohol base. Therefore, once applied the finish off gasses rather quickly. Estimates range from 1 week to 1 month depending who you ask.

In the study, shellac was found to block an average of 83% of water vapor in a high humidity storage environment. more coats = better results. Water vapor is made of 3 atoms (2 Hydrogen, 1 oxygen). So it's a very small molecule, meaning that if it blocks water vapor, it should also block many other molecules. Take sulfur dioxide for instance, it is also made of 3 atoms.

So for those reasons, I've chosen shellac. I understand there's still some risk of off gassing and what not, the idea here is just to mitigate as much of the risk as I can.

In addition, I plan to open up the back of the storage box to allow for better airflow.

That's all for now, I'm hashing out further plans but this post is getting long and the box hasn't even shown up yet. So ta ta for now

 

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I like the idea! Also, you can ultimately build it into (make it part) of a floor cabinet when you get to that point. What will you use for inserts for the drawers, if any?

 

A local craftsman builds these from 3 drawers to what ever you want

 

That's pretty cool, looks like the lock secures the glass top part to the bottom. Looks nice.

For the drawers I'm planning to use some EVA foam (like the stuff that comes in coin snap locks) to create sections/dividers and then I'm thinking of using velvet flocking over the whole bottom of the drawer. Originally I was considering felt. Haven't decided yet. I don't plan to have many if any raw coins in here.

 

First, it’s a neat project; I like it. However, rate of diffusion of gases through solids depends on more than molecular size. For example, both oxygen and carbon dioxide diffuse more rapidly through shellac than water vapor even though they are bigger molecules than water (see ref below). One thing, which is probably not a factor here, is whether the gas reacts chemically with the solid. Another thing is whether the gas is attracted or repelled by charge or polarity to the solid molecules but does not react to form a new compound. Even more complex, the microscopic of arrangement of molecules in the solid, things like crystals and channels, can affect the diffusion of specific molecules. I have no idea whether volatiles from the wood in your cabinet would penetrate shellac faster than water vapor. Likewise regarding diffusion through other coatings like urethane. However, volatiles will penetrate shellac much slower than through air.

Cal

Permeability of Shellac Coatings to Gases and Water Vapor. J Ag Food Chem 39:824, 1991. This article must be read carefully because, irritatingly, different units were used for water vapor versus other gases. According to the article, as a water vapor barrier, shellac is better than cellophane or nylon but not as good as polyester, polyethylene, or polypropylene. And for oxygen and carbon dioxide, shellac is a better barrier than cellulose acetate, polyethylene, polypropylene, polycarbonate or polystyrene but not as good as nylon or polyester. Alcohol-based shellacs were better than water-based shellacs. Bottom line: shellac is just fine to use.

 

Shellac in my opinion the best furniture finish. And I don’t use that premixed junk either. Make fresh from flakes. I go through a LOT especially with the amount of polished hardwood furniture I sell

 

I wonder why so many old time collectors and experts refuse to use wood coin cabinets? Maybe they don't wish to ignore history and the risk.
As far as shellac goes, just smell it and decide if you really want your coins around it. I'm more of a fan of a nice modern safe.

 

Oh, good information. I definetly didn't dive that deep into it only because I was looking for a comparison mostly and the best info I could find was the study by the US Forest Lab.

I know there's much more to it, as you've mentioned. I think of my choices, shellac is going to be a better option and I found an article where it was recommended by someone who deals with museum artifacts.

Oh I have a modern safe as well....the pricier stuff goes in there (of which I have very few). Also the smell in shellac is largely due to the alcohol and actually once the alcohol off gasses it's known to produce far less VOCs than alot of other finishes and is recommended to people sensitive to that sort of thing. Time will tell, I have a couple 1 gram silver bars that will be living in there in raw form as guinea pigs.

As far as why so many "old time collectors" refuse to use wood cabinets. Alot of times it's because of a lack of knowledge on WHY they were bad. Obviously there are many who are knowledgeable as well. If I wanted a wood cabinet and was concerned, I'd be going straight to solid mahogany as the wood. I'm not storing $1000 worth of silver in here, it'll be 75% clad, copper, bronze, etc.

 

Smell goes away. It’s dissolved in alcohol. And is food safe. I think they were afraid of wood cabinets causing toning (god forbid) I’ve seen a couple 19th c coin cabinets for sale over the years including a beautiful ca 1840 English mahogany example a couple years ago I didn’t buy them as they weren’t practical with most of my coins slabbed and wouldn’t fit the compartments

 

I greatly respect your position and opinion on this however, I offer a rebuttal. Being a bit of a gearhead I can offer up another analogy here. If I had a fully restored numbers matching 1969 Ford Mustang that would fetch easily 6 digits at Barrett-Jackson I surely would have a spotless, fully insulated, climate controlled garage with CCTV and an alarm system. However, if instead I was driving around a Yugo I might not even bother to roll the windows up when it rains.

My point being, I'm not putting high end coins in here. Heck I don't even own any, my 1oz Brittania's are probably the most expensive thing I have and they were only $30.

Also, by following the notion that all wood, liners, glue, paint, humidity, etc etc etc is "harmful" to coins, then the only suitable way to store coins is in a vacuum. Coins are going to be subjected to things that may or may not cause toning (desirable or undesirable). So then we must chose how much risk we are willing to take and how well we can mitigate that risk.

I don't feel my safe is much better of an environment to store coins in than this project will be. It is more secure for sure, but again that's why I keep my silver bullion and a few other nicer things in there.

It sucks alot of the fun out of collecting coins if you treat everything like it's the dead sea scrolls. Like anything, you have to adjust your approach based on the individual situation.

That's just my view on it. Also this will be a fun experiment, I'm willing to sacrifice 1 gram silver bars to see if they start to tone/tarnish and it'll be my "canary" warning me that I should move out my nicer stuff that I may have in there.

Lastly - I hear many wives tales such as "everything has been tried, nothing works" except I've seen no 1st hand experience or actual examples. Don't get me wrong, I KNOW there are many things here that are well documented as causing issues. Raw coins sliding on wool felt for example, or coins stored resulted in toning over time (sometimes very desirable, sometimes not).

 

Exactly, I think many people take a "purist" approach and that's totally fine. But I really think it's an effort in futility to try and eliminate all possible potentially harmful factors.

 

Oh and I certainly am aware of what happens when you keep a coin in poor storage conditions. I received the American Eagle below from my grandmother who had it in a cheap old laminated press board jewelry box looking thing since the day she got it, she gave it to me last year. It obviously has tones, with some wierd colors presumable from whatever chemicals off gassed and snuck into the "air-tite"

 

Hold on a minute. Eagles are notoriously known for toning very quick and in all different storage options. Yes even in so called airtites. That is a coin that you can't put on any type of storage as the reason.

 

Oh for sure, my grandmother wasn't really a collector but she worked for Littleton Coin for over 50 years. They often gave gifts at the end of the year, this was one for 2007. She just tossed it in her little storage box thing. It's in my safe now.

 

I agree. Terrific toning!!

 

Well I'm back with a small update as I work on my project. The storage boxes came and I knew they had dividers but what I didn't know is that they are glued in. So a little work with the hobby knives and I was able to get them out with minimal damage to the drawer bottom.



Then it was time to mark up my layout. The spaces are 2-1/4" wide by 2-1/2" tall. Each gap is 1/4" for the foam. This was largely dictated by the size of the drawer and fitting things in the way I wanted. I figured once everything is together the spaces will be a bit tighter than measured anyway.



Then it was time to slice up my EVA foam into 1/4" strips and get it in the drawers.



I've got 2 drawers to this point so far. 3 to go for the first cabinet/box. I want to complete 1 before starting the other (they stack). If it's not gonna work out then I can give the other one to my daughter for her colored pencils.

Next step will be 3 coats of shellac over the entire thing.

 

Looks Awesome! Can't wait to see the final product.
Question though? What about the height? Still figuring out how the project is going to finish up.

 

You mean the height inside the drawers? They are a half inch deep, so even once the the velvet flocking is in there should be plenty of room for 2x2 snap holders which is most of what will be in there I think.

EDIT - Snapped a picture with a couple snaplocks in there to show the drawer depth.