How do you store your coins?

[Chris Perkins]

Thankyou Juan!

[Peckris]

I store mine in a mahogany cabinet made by Peter Nichols. Its sturdy and a spiffing piece of furniture

Me too! Lovely items to hold a collection. I bought one from new after mentally havering a little about the price at the time but I've had no regrets. Then I got another one from an auction.

[Jake]

Thats a beautiful cabinet , id imagine those would fetch a pretty penny here.As advanced as US coin collectors seem to be i havnt seen anything like those mahogony cabinets.

The most popular method here is Dansco albums , people keep coins of extreme high value in those , i use them as well although i havnt anything all that valuable.

Air tite capsules are also popular , i use those as well for gem bu's and unc's.

Its a good point about the interior not being varnished , without doubt the chemicals involved would "tone" a coin , toning fetches a high premium here which i dont totally understand , its easily faked ..yet they buy them up at much inflated prices.

Which brings me to an observation ive long had but never was clear why it is that so many old US coins are toned , some even like a rainbow others a golden bronze..some people like those.

But looking at old British coins the toning is rarely if ever there.It seems true of other countries coinage as well , so why is it only the US coins achieve this startling level of toning do you think ?

Metal composition is slightly different as pre 1920 UK silver was purer than US , is this why is all i can think.

[Rob]

But looking at old British coins the toning is rarely if ever there.It seems true of other countries coinage as well , so why is it only the US coins achieve this startling level of toning do you think ?

Think AT. You can work wonders with a chemistry set.

[Hussulo]

Natural toning:

but I agree with Rob a lot of the US coins will be AT.

You see some that have only been minted for a matter of a few years yet they have rainbow toning.

I hear the grading services (PCGS, NGC) have tightened up their standards and are body bagging (not grading) many of the colourful coins sent into them.

[Jake]

Thats a huge coincidence Hussulo , i got that exact coin this morning , 1806 halfpenny the coincidence is doubled as i got a Gothic florin yesterday which shows beautiful toning,very subtle and much like yours..im spooked lol

Ill post pics tonight , thanks for the info guys.

[Hussulo]

Thats a huge coincidence Hussulo , i got that exact coin this morning , 1806 halfpenny

Did you buy it on Coins4u.net?

[Hussulo]

As far as US AT coins and TGP's new stance.

PCGS's prior policy was "if we're not 100% sure it's AT, then we'll slab it". As part of their solutions to the coin doctoring problem. PCGS and NGC recently stated that their policy is now "if we're not 100% sure it's NT, we won't slab it".

So expect to see less wild toned coins in their plastic.

[Jake]

I didnt get it there Hussulo , im not sure if ive ever seen that site , ill have a look , thank you.On inspection my example is not as fine as yours,im pleased with it and considering all things its about as fine an example as im likely to come across.

The big grading companies are being held up to the light for inspection here as well it seems , a lot of debate of whats worthy and whats not.It gets a little crazy so i tend to avoid the discussions,i believe a few of the big houses graded chinese fakes recently and slabbed them so its opened the barn door for all kinds of comment and opinion.

[Hussulo]

It is a nice design.

Re Coins4u.net. you can click on the banner on the bottom of this forum.

I've also just sold the brockage florin pictured above. It's a lovely coin and was one of my favourite errors but I have been re-focusing and although I still really like errors I sold most of mine to raise funds for my world gold and fractional farthing coins.

[chris]

all my coins go into plastic capsules then into a 6 tray briefcase. when its full i just get another one, as these coins come out often soi also keep a tray for things i want to leave out of capsules just to tone a little more why. bother with a safe or storage at a bank i know people who just make seceret spaces around the house and hold them there and nobody would be the wiser, just dont loose your memory because that would suck!!!

[Gary D]

I've had a Peter Nichols Coronet for about 3 years now. I had the trays customised to suit my collection 1900-1967 Farthing to Crown. I orininally worked out all the varieties that I knew of but have had to get a couple of extra trays made as more have come along and I have run out of space. I'm just in the process of having a couple more done.

As to security my cabinet is attached to a wall eye with a computer type security cable. I fixed the plate to the bottom of the cabinet by bolting through to the inside. I also have a snatch alarm attached so that if anyone picked up the cabinet, he'd have to be a big lad, the alarm would pull apart before the cable became tight. I also have a brother who is a bank manager so if we go away for more than a weekend the collection goes into his bank vault. Something I would like and haven't solved the problem yet is to get some kind of flight type case that the trays would slide into for tranportation, a cardboard box is a bit crude to carry a 5 figure collection around in.

Anyway I never miss an opportunity to show my collection so I apologize to anyone who is tired of seeing it.

[scott]

i only have those plastic coin holders for the decent stuff, i try and keep lustred copper out as i worry about reactions and such.

they are ideal for my lower budget until i can get some trays or cabinet. but storing farthings and US cents will be hard as i have a fair few of those

as for toning

[Sylvester]

With regards to the natural toning and AT comments earlier, i'm still undecided as to whether it is the case that most are AT. True there's the motive, coins with dazzling rainbow colours seem to attract a premium, but i don't think this means they're all AT. I think a lot comes down to storage and climate.

Many US coins were wrapped in rolls and the paper in the rolls often caused coins to turn all weird and vibrant shades (from what i've been led to believe). Another thing, although not coins I do have a few silver spoons that i've picked up over the years. The ones that are wrapped up and hidden in the dark in a cool environment seem to still be silver coloured, those left out in the open in the kitchen (either in a drawer or in a cupboard) have all tarnished with the full rainbow (and the more you clean them the quicker they seem to retarnish!) I can only put this down to water vapour in the air, what with all the cooking and all. Americans coin albums (Dansco) leave the surfaces of the coins open to air circulating. Whereas coin cabinates, capsules and slabs cut off the air supply and keep the coins in a more fixed environment. Plus many US coins were cleaned with all kinds of chemicals in the 1950s and 1960s when cleaning was the done thing (as it was in the UK to some degree).

[scott]

i have found a few toned circulation coins in old tins.piggy banks. they were about 20 years old

US toning

[Peckris]

With regards to the natural toning and AT comments earlier, i'm still undecided as to whether it is the case that most are AT. True there's the motive, coins with dazzling rainbow colours seem to attract a premium, but i don't think this means they're all AT. I think a lot comes down to storage and climate.

Many US coins were wrapped in rolls and the paper in the rolls often caused coins to turn all weird and vibrant shades (from what i've been led to believe). Another thing, although not coins I do have a few silver spoons that i've picked up over the years. The ones that are wrapped up and hidden in the dark in a cool environment seem to still be silver coloured, those left out in the open in the kitchen (either in a drawer or in a cupboard) have all tarnished with the full rainbow (and the more you clean them the quicker they seem to retarnish!) I can only put this down to water vapour in the air, what with all the cooking and all. Americans coin albums (Dansco) leave the surfaces of the coins open to air circulating. Whereas coin cabinates, capsules and slabs cut off the air supply and keep the coins in a more fixed environment. Plus many US coins were cleaned with all kinds of chemicals in the 1950s and 1960s when cleaning was the done thing (as it was in the UK to some degree).

And the Mint learned the hard way too - there was clearly something they used in the 1973 proof sets that caused a reaction, mostly on the bronze. It is one hell of a job finding a good untoned 1973 set, while 1970 - 1972 are usually good. (The 1973 toning is particularly ugly, too).