US Type Set building

I would recommend against putting high end coins in a type set album. In a slab the risk of damage and unwanted toning is minimal. Meanwhile in an album, there is very high chance of discoloration and depending on how much you like to look at your coins there's the chance of the plastic insert damaging coin surfaces as it slides.

When I first got my dansco 7070 album I put all of my best coins in. This included a BU red Indian head cent and a BU red wheat penny. Two years later I noticed that both coins were a lot darker than when I put them in. So I took them out, put the wheatie in a Library of coins album (it was a 1956 so not as valuable) and put the 1903 IHC in an air-tite. The IHC is Red-Brown now but I still consider it part of my type set.

This is why I cringe when I see people cracking RB or in some cases RD large cents and related coins just to put them in albums. They usually do not tone like that in modern PCGS & NGC slabs. And you can't dip copper coins like you can with silver.

Still, albums are fun for circulated coins. Then again just be careful not to scratch them up with the plastic slides.

Plus, slabs are actually a nice way of displaying your coins, and they are much easier to sell (especially online). They are relatively easy to store and almost air tight. Sometimes you get the added bonus of a green bean or professional photography.

 

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Here's a screenshot of what your registry set looks like when you're on the new site (standard new version). There are 3 pages to scroll through. When it's time to add one you hit the plus sign on the right. See coins lets you browse what's eligible for that spot and what the points are worth by grade. You can have more than one coin for a spot and select which one you want to count. If you click the pics on the left you get nice full size pics. Again, these are my own pics. Most people seem to rely on NGCs, but I like coin photography.

 

Here's an example of a Washington quarter's page from my type set. The top two are for the same slot. I liked them both. One's blast white and ones toned. I decided to use the toned one and never got rid of the other one. They're the same grade so they're interesting to look at side by side.

Then as I stated earlier you can do more things with it. The 1999 Washington $5 gold commemorative in the middle I put there because that was very nearly the design the Washington quarter could have been but was not picked. They decided to honor the original designer by using the unused design on a $5 gold commemorative in 1999 on the 200th anniversary of the death of George Washington. It doesn't count in my NGC registry but I count it as part of my type set personally, and makes for an interesting conversation piece if I show someone the quarter's page. Slabs+albums+online viewing availability was the answer for me. I hope you find this helpful.

 

With the edge toning or complete darkening of some of my silver coins from my DANSCO album, I am presuming there is no 'fix' for this problem on them..??

 

For the silver coins you can use ezest (I get mine on Amazon for ~$15 a jar). That should remove any coloring. I actually find the color on the morgan attractive.

Once you get it I would recommend watching this video and following the instructions VERY closely. I would not dip it for more than a few seconds.

 

I have been on the NGC registry for many years. I was able to take the award for best set for the gold coins, 1795 to 1933 for one year. That was year I bought the last coin i needed to finish the set, a 1796 No Stars Quarter Eagle. The coin caught the "really big guys" by surprise, and I was able to be #1 for one year.

My type set, including the modern issues, is usually ranked #3. I try to keep it 100% complete, but this year they have a couple of Washington Crossing the Delaware coins that might be hard to find certified. With the 2021 Silver Proof set selling for $105, I'm not sure how many the mint will sell. It also might be hard to get a certified coin for $20 or less, which is how it's been in the past.

I have no interest in buying two 2021 Silver Proof sets only to bust one up to have the one coin certified. I want one set for my Proof set run.

 

Interesting video. Thanks for posting it.

 

Great job with that type set! I've looked at it many times. Didnt know you were on CT. That's quite a feat.

 

YoloBagels, I've used E-Zest sparingly but don't think it will be used on any of these album darkened coins! I may try the MS70 product, but still taking these under advisement. Not sure the investment in these warrants NGC's conservation process. I may contact them and send them some assessment photos.

 

Don, I'm in virtually the same situation... just returning to the hobby after doing other things since the late 80s, only to find a brand new world of internet, grading companies, a bull market, auctions... the list goes on. It's fun navigating a new hobby (or is it an "industry") but thankfully coins are still coins, which is perhaps why we love it. I've been anxious over how to best collect in albums after accepting the fact exceptional grades or values should be slabbed. I appreciate finding this post since I don't personally know any other collectors and the LCS isn't very helpful or willing to engage. For me, it's nice to buy certified coins so you can trust what you are getting but at first I was loath to crack anything out. I decided to be willing to crack out a few modest coins to fill my type set album and Morgan by date set. I figure they will be in the albums for decades for me to enjoy. They may tone some but if they are MS63 (average) or below, I'm not too worried since I'm not buying to flip them. If I need to sell someday or upgrade a coin, I can get them reslabbed. I also prefer to buy ANACS or ICG slabbed coins to break out, knowing the ICG coins may be overgraded. If nothing else it will be interesting to compare against NGC or PCGS someday. But who knows, by the time I need or want to sell, even those companies might be replaced by God knows what. AI grading?? My biggest question right now, however, is which album to use as my primary US Type Set including gold. Intercept or Dansco... Needless to say, I'm passionate and glad to be back into numismatics. Onward!

 

You must not like the Lighthouse slab album I posted above in post #23. These give you flexibility to expand without being limited to a Dansco or something else that physically touches the coins and can tone them.
The Intercept Shield album is the only option I would use if I had to do a set of unslabbed anything. I still use one for Buffalo nickels. I know so many people are in love with Danscos but they don't make them anymore. There's got to be a reason for that and it's probably because they're outdated and not made of favorable materials which cause unwanted toning. They don't even have plastic slides to protect MS coins from getting finger prints on them. IMO, the stuffs to valuable to use a cheap album.

A US Type set is an expensive proposition and the most value a coin can have is being left in a slab. I know you stated you don't care but if you're seriously going to dive into a type set, you probably don't want to crack out over half of it. Most stuff is not as common or in as good of shape as Morgans. For example just having a trade dollar certified as genuine is important. Many pieces are very hard to come by, straight graded (not cleaned) in ANY grade.

There's been a lot of stories on here over the years and I've read more than one of people regretting cracking coins out. It costs over $30 a piece to get stuff slabbed using the cheapest option these days. It's like burning $30 cracking anything out and throwing away the protection that someone else paid for. I just can't advise it.

 

They're in production again. They relocated from Cali to Washington and then got shutdown by lockdowns for 6 months

http://www.danscousa.com/

Dansco albums have plastic slides

 

What brand binder and binder pages are these? Looks like a great solution

 

My mistake. Maybe the new ones are better.

 

Lighthouse albums with slab pages:

https://www.lighthouse.us/collect-c...TxEL750lJSp5QyKCxKFnIHmLlh4eS7eIaAo2TEALw_wcB

You can get whatever pages you want to use in them. The binders I got will comfortably hold four slab pages with nine slabs per page as posted here. A fifth page won't work. They are bulky but if you can store them they're a nice way to still be "album like" with your set for personal viewing. Then as I mentioned earlier, I use the NGC registry type set as my guide and have all of the images and info to easily look at them online, from anywhere. If these albums didn't exist, I'd probably just use Intercept shield boxes and still be happy.

 

I just ordered two Littleton albums with sleeves for slabs to hold two other personalized sets I'm building- coins with Bison and Indigenous people (tough sets actually). They are mostly in higher grades or otherwise scarce (Hawaiian 50C Comm and the Gold Buffalo for example). I look forward to seeing how they look.

And I'm still hedging on what to do with Type albums and albums in general. I use Mint Set token in place of the slabbed Key Dates in my Dansco 8100 Lincoln set. I really do enjoy albums but haven't totally committed to cracking out for my US Type Set(s) or Morgans by Date. I've only busted three ICG so far to see how it feels. One was a 1877 Trade Dollar graded AU55 that looks cleaned and over graded to me (which I knew when I bought it). But I thought at least it would be authentic. The Kennedy 50C has some great toning that I really like. I have a few others from other grading services in hand that I still hesitate on. We'll see.

 

Thanks!! I'm on it.

 

For me, I am shying away from albums as a storage device for any of my coins although I still have several DANSCO albums full of them. My main focus is finishing my US type set with the best quality coins my budget allows, at over 70 years of age. I am housing my raw issues in Coin World Premier slabs along with TPG coins I acquire. This way I can continue to study and enjoy these coins much more carefully and individually without wrangling around and deteriorating an album. Each to their own, actually. Another thing is there are some coins that are not covered in the context of a single album that can be added to the type set. Some of the ugly toning my DANSCO album did to my coins will also be replaced with better looking issues and I'll sell off those to someone who can appreciate them. I may look into conserving options by the TPG's for a few of them then have them graded/slabbed.

 

Decision Decisions... and good luck with what ever you choose. I started with a Whitman folder in '62... got serious with a Dansco in '72, but disliked their missing types/varieties. Switched to the more inclusive Eagle Type Set album (technically deficient and thankfully discontinued). I now have them in 84(no gold) Lighthouse Quadrum Intercept snaplocks, in a 6-page Lighthouse Grande binder. Very customizable but lacks labels. Unable to afford the remaining types but still having the "bug", I started going for first-years, but that's too frustrating, i.e., do I buy more?, do I swap out my BU '54 seated dime for my VF '53?, et al.. I catalog my coins in a Libre Office database having 33 fields. It's great for creating queries and data entry/display forms with pictures. I'm too old now and MUST stop. What a long strange trip it's been, but I'm grateful, be so too.

 

RogerC, thanks for injecting your comments.
I not only move my DANSCO holdings to the Coin World Primer slabs but slip each one into a Guardhouse Shield Coin Slab Protector Bag and then the coins are placed in a Coin World Premier Coin Holder Case - Storage Box. 3 of these will cover all the coins mentioned in the DANSCO 7070 album, except for the rarer issues not mentioned in there. The ability to make and insert the labels for each coin is great cuz you have the info about the variety, date of purchase, coded cost and whatever other info you want right with the coin.
Don