I am selling some coins for a friend, and he gave me some old Whitman folders with coins in them as part of the group. Many of the Washington quarters and Mercury Dimes in them had black stuff all along the edges which looks really bad. This made me worry about my own coins. 1. Is the black along the edges caused by the albums? 2. Is this just a problem with silver coins or with all coins? 3. Should I take my coins out of these folders? Keep in mind, my coins are circulated and I'm not worried about things like hairline scratches and anything that has to be seen through magnification. But I don't want my coins turning all black.
I don't use them, but all albums tone coins. I've heard Doug and others say Whitman folders are the worst for toning coins. Occasionally the toning is attractive, but most of the time it's just ugly tarnish, as you've described.
I think they're bad for pretty much everything. To make the albums, they apply glue all across the backing sheet before it gets attached to the cardboard with holes. When you stick the coins in the slots, they not only become moisture traps, but the glue interacts with the metal over time. I use a Dansco album because I like it, but it has dangers as well. I'll be storing it in a sealed plastic bin with a dessicant come the humid season.
Only thing I use the old Whitman cent folders for are 2 end coin from a bank roll. 90% of the time there cast offs anyway!!
Honestly, if you're set on the album format - either an Air-Tite album with the coins in Air-Tites, or 3 ring binder, archival quality plastic pocket sheets, with the coins in Air-Tites or some other kind of hard plastic holder. Regular paper/cardboard albums, of any kind, are about the worst thing ever invented for coins in my opinion.
I know this has been discussed before, but to refresh my memory, what is wrong with the cardboard 2x2s? When I read discussions on this topic, I get the impression that the detractors are in a whole different level of collecting than I am. I know that if you have beautiful, mint-state coins that you are going to have graded, you want to take special precautions with them, but for the collector who has average, circulated coins, what's wrong with 2x2s?
In simplest terms, why use anything that can harm your coins - regardless of their of their condition ? That just doesn't make sense to me.
