Where & how to store your coins in a safe environment?.

Absolutely !!

 

There are several impulse or heat sealers on the market - some of them can be viewed - HERE (scroll down to the bottom of the page). But if you use these things there is something you need to keep in mind.

Anytime you use an airtight container to store your coins you have to be careful about temperature changes. Say your storage place for the coins has an average temp of 65 deg. (like in a metal safe ) - if you remove the coins and the room temp is 80 deg. - then condensation could form inside the airtight container and get on the coins.

A non airtight coin holder allows the holder to breathe thus reducing the chances of condensation inside the holder. But any coin holder will be subject to condensation if it is subjected to rapid changes in temperature. That's why it is just as important to maintain consistent temperatures for coin storage as it to protect them from other elements like light and particulates in the air.

 

Coins should ALWAYS be stored with silica gel packs. But for the packs to do the job they are designed to do - the coins and silica packs must in some kind of container for the packs cannot absorb all the moisture in the air of a room. In other words - if you just store your coins in an open cardboard box with a silica pack inside - it won't do any good because the air in the room will circulate through the box as well.

The best way I can describe the system is this. Coins should be in some sort of individual holder for each coin. Then the coins may be placed in small boxes or trays - and the small boxes or trays placed into a larger container like a safe, an ammo box, a Rubbermaid or Tupperware container etc - any kind of box that has lid that can be closed up & sealed. Silica packs do an excellent job of absorbing moisture in the air - but they HAVE TO BE used in small enclosed areas.

Now - when you say some coins may be contaminated, what do you mean ? Contaminated by what ? Post a pic of a coin that you think is contaminated.

 

Annie -

This sticky stuff - is it a greenish color by chance ? It sounds to me like some of your coins have PVC on them - that is not good. If it is in fact PVC it is very, very bad and must be removed.

That brings an even more important question - are these coins in plastic flips ? And if they are in flips are these flips soft and pliable ? If they are - that is the source of the PVC contamination.

But to answer your question - yes you need to place a silica pack in each carton.

 

They keep on selling because they are cheap to use.

 

Yes - you could use 1 40 gram for the 4 cartons. But you can't just leave the cartons in a cabinet and expect the silica to work. That's like leaving the cartons out in the open in a room of your home and expecting the silica to work. You have to store things in an enclosed space like a large Rubbermaid bin with a snap on lid - something like that. It has to be a container where the air cannot freely circulate.

 

There is some truth to that - but I guarantee you that if the non PVC flips were cheaper - those would be the ones they'd use

 

Yes - any but the rechargable type have to be replaced. How often depends on how humid it is at your home. It could be 2 weeks - it could be 3 months.

That's the nice thing about the rechargable packs - they have a small window in them that allows you to see the color of the silica granules. If it is blue - it's fine. When it turns to pink you need to recharge it.

I don't like to guess when it comes to the safety of my coins - I want to KNOW it is still working.

 

Any or all of them. It can also cause the coins to corrode.