Greetings everyone. I have a general overall question for the collective knowledge base here at CT. How do you store and organize all of your coins?? When I first stared cataloging my small world coin collection, I simply made small paper open-top envelopes for each country and put all the coins for that country in the envelope. I have a small open box where I keep the envelopes. For the countries that had a LOT of coins, I used a hard plastic container (no lid) to put all of the coins in. My US State Quarter Program collection has been kept in old plastic film canisters, mainly because that's what I had at the time. Each canister housed the entire year (5 States), and I've since made another canister for the Territories quarters, and now larger plastic containers house the America the Beautiful series.... I also collect pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, halves, and dollars that I receive as change and ask for certain items from banks. This collection is also kept in either homemade open-top envelopes or some sort of plastic container. My collection consists of multiple coins of the same year and mintmark, too. Not just one of each. Some coins I have 10 of the same thing. One day my kids will inherit their own sets of things (assuming they're interested of course). So, with an ever-growing collection of multiples of coins, and a mix of homemade envelopes and miscellaneous plastic containers, I want to get more professional and official with my collection's storage and organization. I've looked at the 2x2 cardboard mounts as well as the CoinSafe square coin tubes, and I'm thinking I'd like to use these for the more professional storage options. The 2x2's would be for lower number world coins, and the coin tubes would be for pretty much everything else. That being said, how should I organize my collection, especially the quarters since there are so many varieties? One tube per year? One tube per state? And how do I organize a vast year collection of pennies? Would you do one tube per year (which would be a lot), or one tube per 10 years? Obviously, the more detailed of an organizational system the more tubes I'd need, which can quickly get very costly. Then there's the whole labeling system, which would come after figuring out organization/storage. How do you organize/store your collections? Are there other storage options I should be looking at? Please let me hear some ideas so I can get a better understanding on storage/organization, so I'm not drowning in little envelopes and plastic containers of coins! Thank you!
@dave_in_delaware It sounds like you have quite a few options that could be available to you. JP's Corner has quite a few storage and cataloging possibilities that might be suitable for you. http://www.jpscorner.com/ Chris
I use an assortment of holders for all my coins. I use airtites for exceptional raw coins. I use tubes for circulating coins I keep. I buy boxes of 100 tubes and keep them separated by mint mark and year. I use 2x2 cardboard flips for varieties and errors so I can write on them. I use coin envelopes for the coins that are going off to be graded. I only use plastic flips to mail coins. I also incorporate folders and albums. Except for the coins tubes, which I leave in the box, everything goes in the blueprint cabinet I received for free.
I use Dansco for each of my denominational collections (cents thru dollars). I then use storage tubes for extra silver & collectible coins, until I get enough for a roll. Then I roll them up and store them that way. Anything special, collectible silver, or higher priced raw coins I keep in air-tites. But...I'm starting to run out of space myself.
You know, a fun option for 2x2 or flips are old slide storage cases. Perfect size, hold about 75-150 or so depending on which case you get, and you can find them at local thrift shops for a couple bucks. They aren't air tight, but it does make it feel like you're a spy loading secret materials into a case...(or Dexter with his "souvenirs") That being said, my nicest coins are graded and are in NGC storage boxes. Middle of the road coins (coins that are much too nice to be "tossed" in a bulk storage container, but not really nice enough to get graded) are in 2x2. Bulk silver foreign coins are in Lock-Tite containers with desiccant packets. US coins that I have multiples of (like my 1937 S Washington Quarter Hoard) are in plastic coin tubes. Paper money from my grandmother's hoard that I bought are in sleeves and then a storage box. All of this is guarded on an island with a moat around it. The moat is filled with Nile crocodiles with friggin' laser beams attached to their heads. If you make it past the island, a loudspeaker blasting Sir Paul McCartney's "Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime" presents the final almost insurmountable obstacle. If you get past all that...nothing but CAPTCHA check screens with illegible text.
For my ancient collection I created a database in Microsoft Access. Each coin gets a unique number that I write on the insert that goes in the flip. The coins are stored in numerical sequence together. I have different reports in Access so I can look up different things about the coin. My ancients are stored in Saflips and placed in a the red cardboard boxes that come with the Saflips. My token collection is in Excel. I'm thinking of making an database for it as well but I'm undecided. I want to put them in binders and have started this but it's not coming that well.
If you have NGC or PCGS slabs, there are effective storage boxes for both. Unfortunately, they are not interchangeable and both are worthless for ANACS slabs. Raw coins I intend to keep go into Air-Tite containers. For inventory, I use a program called US Coins. Very easy, logical way to organize. It's for a MAC and can't tell you whether they have one for Windows.
My 'system' for storing and organizing coins is not readily understandable by even me. So when the day comes when the kids have to figure it out I will be watching from beyond in total amusement.
I've looked at the websites of JP's Corner, Wizard Coin Supply, and iHobb. They have nice selections of storage options. I also want to get pricing from my local coin dealers, too. That'll be a visit to one during the week (10 minutes away from where I work), and the other probably on Saturday (farther away from home). I also have coin folders that came with coins already inserted. The folders aren't full but they gave me a decent start. I don't have anything "exceptional" or worth a lot. Sounds like you have a large variety of storage choices. I'll have to check into Dansco, too. I have all "middle of the road" coins. Nothing I own needs to be sent off for grading. Sounds like your methods are simple. I like simple. (Now, as far as your security system....) I've cataloged all of my coins and paper currency in Excel, categorized by denomination (worksheet tabs). I can customize each worksheet as I need to. I'm pretty proficient with Excel so that was the go-to program for my needs. I'll have to check out the Saflips, too. I have no slabbed coins, nothing graded by any grading company.
For me finding different storage options was my best option. I tried keeping track of my collection in spreadsheet form and I failed miserably at that venture. So it was easier for me to use different forms of storage to organize my collection. I am probably to the point though that a spreadsheet for my graded coin collection is needed. Doing it that way won't be such a daunting task for me. The albums and folders I keep are an easier way for me to see what I have or don't have. I can quickly pick up a folder or album and look for the missing hole. Of course I only use this method with my modern coin collection. Modern coins are cheap enough I can have two coins. The coins in the folders and albums are for the most part not the best coins I have. The best raw coins I again use airtites and to some extent 2x2 cardboard flips. As far as the boxes of tubes goes, I bought a box for each denomination. The tubes are labeled and color coded. In some cases such as cents and nickels I have two boxes for those denominations. The tubes mostly house circulating coins I keep. I do buy a lot of bagged coins from the mint. These also get housed in tubes if they don't get put in an envelope to be graded. I find the tubes are the cheapest option for coin hoarding. Storage of coins is a daunting task. It took me a couple years and a couple reorganizations to come up with something that worked for me. Still, it feels unorganized at times. But, I can find any of my coins and I can tell you what I have or don't have. Like I said the one thing I have failed at is an inventory list. That really should move to the top of my coin to do list. Hopefully, everyone's suggestions will help you in your collecting endeavor.
