How to Store Your Coins Properly to Protect Your Collection
Coin collection is a valuable hobby for many reasons. In order to protect your investment from hazards that could deteriorate your valuable coins, proper storage is essential. Storing your coins in a jar, in humid or fluctuating temperatures, or in an area where acidic materials can leach onto them can diminish the value of your coins and leave them tarnished or damaged.
A number of storage options are available when it comes to your collection, each with advantages and disadvantages depending on your own personal preferences. Read on for several coin storage ideas to keep your collection in pristine condition.
Individual Coins
Especially good for valuable, uniquely sized, or notable coins in your collection, the following options allow you to store each coin in its own individual container.
Coin Flips
These small coin holders come in many sizes and provide a way for you to view an individual coin from both sides. Coin flips resemble a small, clear, and foldable book and are typically made from cardboard, paper, Mylar, vinyl, or other plastic materials.
Coin Holders
These holders resemble small and round box-like containers fitted to the exact size of your coins. Coin holders snap around your coin and permit you to stack or rest your coins together without them touching one another.
Multiple Coins
Coin storage options are available for individually packaged or stored coins and unpackaged coins that are part of a larger collection. These are excellent ways to store and organize your coin collection for easy access and viewing.
Albums
Much like storage options available for other collection types, such as trading cards or photographs, coin collection albums feature clear pages in which you insert coins to shield them from the elements to create a book-like solution that can be flipped through with care.
Folders
Coin folders are a great option for beginners with a smaller collection, as well as for more established collectors with subcategories of coins placed in a single folder. These folders have individual indentations where coins are held tightly in their slot within the folder.
Tubes
Typically made from plastic materials, coin tubes are capsule-shaped containers that hold coins in a stack or row. Coin tubes generally hold coins that are inside individual coin flips or holders.
Capsule Cases
Coin capsule cases are boxes that store both bare and individually stored coins, whether in flips or holders or in columns, stacks, or rows. Bare coins can be stored next to one another in capsule cases with small foam separators for added protection.
Whole Collection
After your coins are safely stored in individual containers or as a collection, your chosen storage method needs a secure home of its own.
A Safe
In addition to protection from loss and theft, a safe shields your coin collection from many of the elements that could result in damage. Many at-home safe options are weather-sealed and can be temperature controlled to ensure ideal storage conditions.
The Bank
If you can, the most secure storage option for your valuable coins is within a safety-deposit box at your bank or credit union. These boxes are in a controlled, locked vault with the insured institution, and only you will have access to the contents of the box when you need them.
Metal Shelves
A less secure but still adequate storage option is metal shelves. These shelves provide a safe storage spot for your coins, as wooden structures and furniture are a source of acids that could otherwise damage your collection.
For additional questions on care and proper storage for your coin collection, get in touch with the professionals at Rocky Mountain Coin. We can help you to find the best storage solution for you and your precious coins.
