Coin Collection Storage Tips Explained:
Knowing how to properly store your coins is an extremely important part of coin collecting, if you fail to store your coins in a protective manner it can damage and significantly decrease the value of your coins. There are many things that can cause damage to coins that are not properly stored. Some things that can damage your coins is coin rubbing which can cause scratches and dings, other things like corrosion and the formation of dark spots can also cause damage.
The first step in storing your coins is make sure you store your coins in a dry place, moisture can ruin the integrity of your coins. The easiest way to store your coins is by placing them in coin flips. These allow you to hand and examine your coins freely without worrying about leaving fingerprints on the surface of the coins. Make sure to use the more sturdy flips. The flimsier flips do not protect the coins as well. There are multiple kinds of coin flips to choose from, there are cardboard flips and mylar flips. Mylar coin flips are great for short time storage and used by many coin dealers. If you leave a coin in a mylar flip for too long it can develop PVC damage, this leaves green spots on your coins.
Another way to store your coins is sending them to a grading company to be placed in a hard plastic protective slab. These slabs are made out of hard protective plastic that shields the coin from the natural elements. The certified coins will usually comeback with labels that identify the type of coin, the year, the mint mark, and the grade assigned to the coin. This is a great way to protect and organize your collection. Professional Coin Grading Service or better known as PCGS and Numismatic Guaranty Corporation or NGC are the two major companies that provide this service. PCGS & NGC both use slabs with ridges on the outside for neat stacking purposes. If you prefer not to stack them you can also purchase a PCGS or NGC box that keeps your coin slabs even safer or place the certified coins in another coin storage box. You can buy these coin storage supplies from most major coin dealers or coin supply companies. But if you choose to store them this way it is recommended that you use the same company box as your slab so it fits properly. PCGS slabs fit well in PCGS boxes and NGC slabs in NGC boxes.
Using coin binders is another reliable and organized way of storing your coins. If you are planning on collecting a set, it would be smart to purchase the sets that are pre-packed in a coin binder or often known as Dansco coin albums. There are Dansco coin albums for almost every type of coin including dansco wheat penny album, dansco quarter album, and dansco kennedy half dollar album, and many more. If you cannot purchase all the coins at once, don't worry! You can buy coin binders for specific collections that keep your coins well protected and they are pre labeled so you can collect as your budget allows.