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Author Topic: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe  (Read 4365 times)

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Offline Tracy Aiello

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Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« on: December 28, 2018, 09:27:20 pm »
I currently store my coins in archival quality coin flips. When I read Ancient Coin Collecting v. 1 by Wayne Sayles I noticed that in his discussion of trays and flips as storage methods he states “...the more your coins have a chance to breathe clean fresh air, the healthier they...will be.” (p. 158). Granted, this sentence was at the end of a paragraph focusing on storing coins in PVC flips and how such coins should be checked frequently, but it got me thinking about flips in general.

If you store your coins in flips do you ever take them out of the flips not just to handle them, but in order to leave them outside of the flip for a certain amount of time so that they can breathe the fresh air? I find myself doing this but I wanted to get the opinion of others.

Thanks in advance for everyone’s input.

Tracy

Offline JBF

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Re: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« Reply #1 on: December 28, 2018, 09:36:54 pm »
nope, never have left them out to breathe.  I used to use a mahogany box, but didn't have the information stored with the individual coin.  I think that if you use good flips, things should be okay.  Although I think the edge of a mylar might be able to scratch a gold coin if you are not careful.

Offline Meepzorp

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Re: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2018, 12:33:37 am »
Hi folks,

I use Mylar flips too.

I do this for space reasons. I have such a large collection. If I stored them in trays or wooden boxes, they would take up much more space. By storing them in flips, I am conserving space.

I think that trays and wooden boxes are very wasteful in terms of efficient use of space. I guess that they are okay if you have a small collection. But they are not practical if you have a large collection.

Meepzorp

Offline PMah

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Re: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2018, 10:29:16 am »
Meepzorp is certainly right with respect to storage of the entirety of a very large collection
I am a big fan of trays for presentation -- they are just visually appealing to me.   And they are very useful for researching and organizing, especially if you (like me) rarely can finish a project in the time available, and need to put the coins aside for a while.  Trays make it easier to pack up and start where you left off.

Also, the space is not as much of an issue as you might expect.  A really nice Abafil case can hold over 500 denarius-sized coins; the same number in flips and boxes would take up almost the same size carrying-case.  If you have a broad collection with a lot of size variables, then it gets more complicated to use trays. 

You might consider getting a set of trays in a storage case as a complement to flips and boxes.  Some manufacturers make a stackable system that can expand as your needs change.  They are more expensive per tray, nor as pretty as Abafil, but you don't buy capacity until you need it. 
Trays make coins look nicer!:
Be Well, Stay Healthy, Support your Local Numismatic Club

Paul 

My Gallery: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album

Offline JBF

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Re: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2018, 05:51:58 pm »
Trays are nice, and I think they present an opportunity to compare and contrast for someone who is knowledgeable.  People who are knowledgeable largely don't need the tags to tell them what they are looking at.  But, showing off an entire tray to someone not familiar with the coins can be a little overwhelming.  Flips keep the tags with the coin, and limit the overload at anyone time.  (My trays in the mahogany box have circular cutouts, which is not as convenient for including flips with the coins.

Of course, tags are not as transparent as those used to them would like to think.  What is, for example, SR 333, it is rather esoteric to the uninitiated, if you think about it.  Or for that matter, where in the heck is Erythrae (besides just "Ionia"), or Metapontion?  If you don't.  Part of the purpose of the tag is to put as much relevant information on it as is possible.

Offline orfew

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Re: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2018, 11:11:05 pm »
I prefer Abafil trays inside a case for my coins. They display well and they are transportable if necessary. For coins not central to my collection I store them in white paper envelopes inside a red box.

Offline JBF

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Re: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« Reply #6 on: December 30, 2018, 12:13:34 pm »
But in any case, I have never heard of allowing the coins to 'breathe' apart from clearing them out of bad PVC flips.
As I imagine most are aware, Polyvinyl Chloride outgases chlorine and that can mix with water in the area forming HCl or Hydrochlorice acid, particularly bad for bronzes.  Ouch!

Offline Tracy Aiello

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Re: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« Reply #7 on: December 31, 2018, 11:48:09 am »
Thank you JBF, Meepzorp, PJM, and Andrew for your responses. I went to the Abafil website and did a little poking around in the section on trays. I will have to do more research for when the time comes that I want to move to trays for storage.

Offline SC

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Re: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« Reply #8 on: January 01, 2019, 03:43:46 pm »
I used to use archival flips, but moved almost all of my collection to trays.  I was lucky that there were lots of used trays available fairly cheaply when I lived in Vienna. Check with any coin dealers you know to see if they sell use ones.

I have a fairly large collection and so it is stored in 128 trays plus another 58 drawers in 5 coin cabinets.

SC
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Offline JBF

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Re: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« Reply #9 on: January 05, 2019, 02:26:14 pm »
Another possibility is small, acid-free paper envelopes which contain individual coins.  A tag can be kept inside, or you can write descriptions on the envelopes. 

This might allow coins to "breathe more."

Offline Meepzorp

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Re: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« Reply #10 on: January 05, 2019, 02:54:41 pm »
Hi folks,

A major problem with paper envelopes is that, as they age, the seams have a tendency to split open. And the coin can fall out.

Mr. Lindgren used to keep his coins in paper envelopes, and I purchased many coins from him. I experienced that "seam splitting" problem with many of his paper envelopes. They were so old (in some cases, several decades old) that they were disintegrating. I transferred his coins to Mylar flips.

Meepzorp

Offline Enodia

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Re: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« Reply #11 on: January 05, 2019, 05:16:04 pm »
I use mylar flips for my coins, which i then store in binders. I like having the coin and all relevant information all in one place.
However the smaller fractions can slip out if you aren't careful, so i put those in small poly bags and then put them into the flips. I've been assure that these bags, which are designed specifically for coins, are archival and safe, and I have never seen a bad reaction from them. To be sure though I don't use them with my bronze coins, but they are usually large enough that the bags aren't necessary anyway.

- Peter

Offline JBF

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Re: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« Reply #12 on: January 05, 2019, 07:19:14 pm »
and sometimes mylar flips can crack through normal use especially at the "hinge" between the two pockets.  Mylar can scratch gold if you're not careful.  But, I do use mylar flips for my coins, but have my electro-types and replicas in small envelopes which is how I got them.  I have never had a problems with envelopes, but mine are not 40 years old.  Again, it is important to get acid-free.  If you want to handle the coin (physically) each time you get it out, it might be easier to use envelopes.  If you want to just look at the coin, then mylar flips are probably easier.  And there is of course, mahogany box and trays, or the often despised slabbing, which I mention only to be complete on the list.

I have comic book bags that are called mylar, a soft plastic but unlike a mylar flip.  If you could get the soft rigidity of a PVC flip, with the inertness of a mylar flip, that would be best.

For small coins in mylar flips, it is often useful to keep them in kointains, or little polypropylene bags.  Kointains can be useful if you are concerned with a thin coin snapping in two.  For larger, thin coins, something like micro-membrane boxes can be useful.

I have seen people keep coins in notebooks, but it seemed to me that the 'pages' were soft PVC.

Offline stevex6

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Re: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« Reply #13 on: January 06, 2019, 10:06:30 am »
I store my coins in PVC-free pages and then I store the pages in 3-ring binders (this allows me to keep my coins along with large photos and/or extensive information associated with each of my coins) ... then I store the binders in a large gun safe

However, unless I'm examining and physically handling one of my coins, I don't let them breathe too often (they all seem fine with their current living arrangements)

Oh, and my dog (Larry) likes to oversee the whole operation

Offline Tracy Aiello

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Re: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« Reply #14 on: January 06, 2019, 01:38:16 pm »
Thank you everyone for the additional comments/advice. So much information to mull over.

I currently do not have a large collection (about 35 or so coins), so my flips are displayed in a curio cabinet. Hopefully that collection will grow and I’ll need to figure out other storage options. I like the elegant look of trays. I also like Steve P’s suggestion of a binder with PVC-free pages; a very nice way to keep coins and their documentation together.

Tracy


Offline dougsmit

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Re: Coin Flips As Storage: To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
« Reply #15 on: January 08, 2019, 04:09:05 am »
I know the old paper envelopes had a problem splitting with age but I thought that was because they were made of high acid paper so very popular in the 1930's (ever wonder why some books are hard to find in good shape?).  Do we have any reason to expect the current crop of paper envelopes to last better?  I have paper envelopes from before WWI that are in fine shape.  I have other paper collectibles from the mid 1800's in even better condition.  All paper is not equal. 

 

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