I'm a coin roll hunter and over the years I've built up a small stash of uncirculated OBW rolls that I've held onto. My question is whether I should keep these coins in their original bank wrapped paper or not. I'm finding conflicting advice on the Internet. Some say it's bad to keep them in that bank rolled paper because it will eventually damage the coins. On the other hand, others say the rolls are worth more if kept in their original wrap because collectors place a higher value on rolls that are still in their original wrap. I'm also guessing that error coin hunters might be more willing to pay for a roll that is in it's original wrap. What do you guys think? Should I leave them in their bank wrapped rolling paper or transfer them to coin tubes?
Bank-wrapped rolls and Mint-wrapped rolls are two different things. Some people place a premium on the Mint wrappers, but anyone who pays a premium for a bank wrapper is acting foolishly. Chris
Other than a safe, you might want to try gun ammo boxes, the large plastic ones that have a seal on them. Along with some silica packs to absorb any moisture. These are not all that expensive and are available from places like Sportsman's Guide, C.H. Kadels and Bud K. All of these are online and also have catalogs. Disclaimer...I am not promoting nor do I have any business relationship with these companies. This is just for your information.
With recent coins, absolutely... However, for the OP's sake, it's worth adding that this does not hold true as a blanket statement for older issues. Twice in my life I stumbled upon someone smart enough to have saved them in larger numbers (50+ years ago) and to say it worked out well would be putting it lightly.
I could go along with that Books. But the key is being one of the people who bought the rolls when the coins were new, and then saving them for 50 years or more. But as a caveat for people who would, today, consider buying old rolls, ya never really know what you're getting. People kind of make the assumption that when they buy an old roll that they are getting a roll of uncirculated coins, but that is often not the case at all. The roll can easily be 50, 60, 70 years old, and yet have nothing in it but circulated coins, and well circulated at that. And it is not unusual for those selling these to put an unc coin at each end of the roll as an enticement. And for that matter it's not even difficult to make fake old rolls, to print up your own paper rolls, age the paper, and then sell them as old original rolls. But back to the OP's question. What you're finding is correct, the paper rolls can indeed prove to be harmful to the coins. But there are several factors, different variables, involved. First of all, these rolls you're talking about, how old are they ? I'm asking for a couple reasons. One, they may not be uncirculated coins at all. Two, even if they are uncirculated coins and if they've already been in those paper rolls for several decades then the coins may well already have unattractive toning on them. Three, no matter how you choose to store them may not matter at all because of how the previous owners stored them. Do you see what I'm getting at ? No matter what, you really don't know anything, not anything at all because when you buy rolls of coins you are buying a pig in a poke - every single time. And that's kind of what Chris was saying - the wrapper is meaningless. Even if you buy rolls directly from the mint those rolls may be filled with nothing but dogs, coins that you may as well just spend. It is only when you open the rolls that you can ever know what you have. And it is then that you decide how to store those coins, assuming of course that you will keep any at all.
I have hundreds of OBW rolls that I have kept intact in their original wrappers due to the inherent value of the unknown. I don't keep rolls from the mint, but I do keep rolls from banks that have the bank name on the wrapper. In fact I collect different banks, and trade folks for ones I don't own. Indeed you must be careful when you purchase the rolls to be sure they are truly original, and after a bit of experience you will learn what to look for to identify rolls that have been tampered with, searched, re-wrapped, etc. I can examine a roll and with 90% certainty tell you if it's original or not. That goes up to 99% under certain conditions. Of course it is never 100%, but 99% is pretty good. To address the OP's question about whether or not to open the roll, whenever I by an OBW roll I go through a decision process to decide if I should open it or put it away as-is. My primary factor is if I believe it is original with >90% probability. If so, then it is really tough for me to justify opening the roll, even if it's a date that might produce varieties I'm interested in. Note that I only collect older rolls (mostly LWC) so that tends to inform my decision. Older OBW rolls are getting more difficult to come by, so I consider destroying them with the intent of better preserving the coins somewhat foolish. For storage, I simply put them in airtight boxes so they don't have fresh oxygen around them. I suppose this might increase the concentration of sulphur (from the paper outgassing) but I'm not too worried about the toning impact. A little edge toning isn't so bad anyway. One final note...opening the roll will expose it to dust and contaminants which will fall on the coin surfaces. This is a much bigger threat to the coin surface than keeping it in a stable situation within the paper roll. I have opened some 1955-S LWC rolls that were so pristine they were essentially as-minted, but that were destroyed by the small amount of dust in my viewing environment. Each coin now has spots forming where the dust landed. It took 15-20 years to see the damage, but by then it was too late. Don't ruin your coins in the questionable belief that removing them from the original paper and placing them in plastic will somehow better preserve them.
I keep mine in the square, plastic roll holders with a piece of tape around the seal-edge. I then put those into thick, freezer freezer type bags with a desiccant pack and, finally, into tupperware. Mo Layers = Mo Betta!
Well I'll give ya this much, you're right about one thing - there will always be plenty of those people who were so accurately described by P. T. Barnum. Thing is, in today's world most of them buy lottery tickets Which by the way are completely useless until you actually look to see what ya got !
Thanks for all the responses. Just to clarify, I'm talking about OBW rolls which I obtained directly from the bank, not a third party. I coin roll hunt and about once a week I stop by bank and get a dozen or so rolls of coins. You can always tell whether they have given you rolls from a box of new coins vs. a box of circulated coins. If every roll they hand you has a clean bright uncirculated coin at both ends you can be 99.99% sure they came out of a box of new coins directly from mint. Typically I will break open just one of the rolls to confirm that, and it always holds true. So what I'm really talking about is getting an uncirculated roll of 2016-P pennies today and saving them. Fifty years from now, will my son be glad I kept them in their original rolls or will he open the rolls and find that the coins are destroyed? From what I'm hearing there could be some toning but the coins should not be destroyed beyond value. I think I am going to keep them in their original LOOMIS rolling paper.
Yes... that's it exactly, and is the exact scenario referenced in my previous post. "Every single time", huh? I didn't just fall of the truck, Doug, and while I was born at night, it wasn't last night. You are, without the slightest doubt, categorically wrong with the "pig in a poke - every single time" comment, even if true a great majority of the time. I don't pretend to know of your experiences and would much appreciate it if you would extend the same courtesy. I'm certainly not suggesting one approach such things blindly or while allowing themselves to see only what they want, but it's also wrong for you to paint with such a wide and absolute brush. I'm well aware of the unfortunate realities behind many of the so-called "OBW" offerings, particularly on eBay, and have many times written of the pitfalls and/or foolishness of taking them at face value, but this in NO way means such rolls do not exist. Due diligence, especially if a retail buyer not dealing directly with the original source, can go a long way towards a positive outcome when the "right" opportunity presents its, and really is as simple as that.
Books the only part of my response that was directed at you, or had anything to do with you, was that first short paragraph. That said, please tell me how if you buy a roll of coins you can possibly know what exactly is in that roll - until you open the roll to find out ?
Knowing who you buy from, along with what it is you're buying, and trusting that person's integrity. Again, I'm certainly not saying not suggesting anyone assume the vast majority of such offerings to be anything other than what you've said, but only that genuine original rolls do exist. I'm also not saying great care shouldn't be taken as this should go without saying, but only that one shouldn't paint with such a wide and absolute brush.
Yeah, and I understand that point. But the fact remains, no matter how trusted and respected the person you are buying from is - THEY don't know what's in the roll either - unless they have opened it, or rolled it up themselves. But either way you still don't know - you are merely trusting them. I'm not disputing that original rolls exist, not in any way shape or form. I'm not even suggesting that people don't buy them. The one and only thing I'm saying is that you don't know, with certainty, what's in it until you open it up.
