Recently in Storing Your Coin Collection Category

We picked up an impulse heat sealer (seen above) recently (on eBay for approx $95) and have been testing it sealing coins into pages and flips. A heat sealer can be used to seal plastics such as Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene (PE) and Polyethylene Terephalate (PET). We purchased a heat sealer so we can use it also to seal complete pages as well as the flips themselves. So far we have had excellent results. It uses inductive heating so there is no continuously heated element using less power and is safer to operate than a sealer with a continuously heated element. It simply heats a thin aluminium wire by induction for a short period depending on the setting selected and cools rapidly. It is a very simple and quick process which does not seem to emit any vapour or smells. These sorts of plastics are generally stable and dont contain any chlorine or softeners so when they're heated they don't release noxious vapours (unlike PVC).

We sealed Saflips which are made from PET. These are double pocket flips. The second pocket is for a paper insert for labelling of your coin but we've found using it for a second coin and cutting the flip in half is a very cost effective storage solution. The cost of saflips is comparable with the cost of cardboard 2x2's so using them for 2 coins halves this cost. When sealing a coin in a saflip you need to ensure the coin isn't too big or bulging in the flip. The area to be sealed needs to be flat to allow for a neat airtight seal. Below are coins sealed into a single 2inch x 2inch Saflip.

The heat sealer we purchased was a larger size which will seal up to 40cm. This would be perfect to seal in a whole page of coins without even the cardboard 2x2 or flip. Just slot the coins into the 20 pockets in the page and seal along the top of each row. Of course then the coins can't be removed or changed position without destroying the page. If you have a complete set or are happy with how the coins lay out then the cost for safe storage will be minimal. If you store the coins directly in the page with no 2x2 or flip then that cost is removed also with an acceptable option. When sealing the page as shown above, just sealing the opening in the page is not always the airtight option. Neither of the Purple Penny, Ultra Pro or BCW Polypropylene pages will give you a proper airtight seal as they are not sealed completely around the entire coin pocket. Storing a coin in a 2x2 will not give you an airtight seal, sealing the Saflip is the only option for an airtight seal.

It is usually very difficult to get accurate information out of dealers or suppliers about what their coin accessories are made of. Often it is just assumed that they are coin safe because they are sold by these people specialising in everything numismatic.

Even if you have some idea about the materials it still doesn't equate with the actual product and buyers are just left confused.

We recently conversed directly with one of the biggest numismatic suppliers in the world to get accurate information about the products that they distribute around the world.

Here is what their US representative replied,

"Dear
The lining of the 2x2" coin holders is made of Polyethylene (PE) - not Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). PE is vinyl-free and has no chemical softeners or acids.
Generally, products that come into direct contact with coins are non-vinyl. However, the products for 2 x 2 holders that are listed all have vinyl pages.
Sincerely,
Kathy"

To decipher this information for you cardboard 2x2 holders are safe for coin storage but when you put them in vinyl (pvc) pages then you're in trouble. The pvc starts to deteriorate and produces acids that leach through the PE (similar to Mylar) and damage your coins. Coin pages sold as numismatic accessories from this well known supplier are pvc (vinyl) so therefore are not the appropriate form of storage for your collection. An alternative to 2x2 storage in pages are vertical inserts to place the coins directly into and these inserts are then fed into the vinyl pages...again, not an appropriate solution.

The storage method you decide on really depends on what coins you have, what their value is and if and how you want to view them.

Of the 2x2 options available we only use staple 2x2's and not adhesive 2x2's because of the risks of the holders opening and also the adhesive adhering to the coin surface and leaving residue on the coin. There are 2 types of staple 2x2's widely available in Australia.

These are:

1. Lighthouse available in a white box with blue design containing 25 holders
(has lighthouse on top tab)

2. Renniks available in clear plastic boxes of 50 holders
(has crown on top tab)

We have found the Renniks holders to be a better alternative because the window material is thicker and therefore more protective of the coin. It is not prone to tearing as we have found sometimes occurs with the Lighthouse one's. It's always wise to ensure there are no cardboard dust particles on the surface of the 2x2 when holdering up your coins as they may cause spotting on your coin over time. This being said, both these types of 2x2's are good options for bulk coin storage in polypropylene 20 pocket coin pages in polypropylene albums. Remembering it is unwise to store any of your collections near PVC.

Another option for use in 20 pocket coin pages is 2 inch by 2 inch "Saflips". These are only available in the USA however a good coin dealer may get them in for you. These are double pocket coin flips. You can put the coin in one side and heat seal it in if you wish. The other side folds over and has a second pocket which could house your coins' description or information you wish to record. They slide easily into 20 pocket coin pages but do have a tendency to be a little loose -hold the page upside down and it may fall out. For this reason as with any coin holder we recommend your album have a slip cover so if a coin does come loose in the album then it is easily retrieved and not lost.

The material used for both the Saflips and the windows in the cardboard 2x2's is Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) . It is a polyester material which used to be called Mylar which was just a brand name used by Dupont. It is often still called Mylar by a lot of people.

Some album pages and 2x2 holders are made from plasticised or unplasticised pvc. It is important to steer clear of these options. If in doubt then ask for clarification from your supplier or dealer.

"The important thing when selecting holders is to buy ones made from the right materials - ask the supplier exactly what it is made of - if he doesn't know, shop elsewhere. Safe materials include polyester, polyethylene (food grade), polystyrene, polypropylene & Plexiglas. PVC, whether it is plasticized or not is not acceptable nor is acetate. The one acetate exception that I have found is Kointains - they are made from an acetate & appear to be very stable - I don't think the recipe has changed in over 50 years - I think they're a great little holder for certain applications." http://www.cointalk.com/t51602/

If you have expensive, rare and valuable coins in your collections then it's worth considering other options. We have found air-tite capsules are good. Kointains are another option but the inserts are punched for US sized coins and not Australian coins. After careful consideration of everything the approximate $30 cost of submitting a coin to PCGS for slabbing might well just be worth it for piece of mind, coin security and guarantee of authenticity the slab provides. It also provides a sound base for reselling your coin if you choose to do so.

These options bring storage questions back into review. Hard plastic HDPE pages are available that house round capsules and slabs so these can be stored in albums.

We've recently had our own completely 100 % PVC free coin album pages designed and manufactured, you can read about these over at the Purple Penny Coin Accessories website. Our pages are 100% polypropylene, which is a naturally pliable plastic that is very stable and contains no softeners that can leach out onto your coins. They are not the only polypropylene coin holders available on the market, nor are polypropylene and PVC the only materials that are currently used to make coin album pages.

Because of the current interest in the market in storing your coin collection safely (perhaps in no small part to this blog) some album pages are currently being sold as "archival safe" that clearly are not. We know of one page type being sold as archival safe and acid free that is nothing more than a common PVC album page. In the interests of working out what your coin album pages are made from I thought it might be worth discussing the main types of album pages you can find.

Polypropylene Album Pages

Currently the three main types of polypropylene album pages you can find on the market are the Purple Penny album pages mentioned above, Ultra Pro album pages, and BCW album pages. The BCW and Ultra Pro album pages are made from quite thin material and are not very rigid. The Purple Penny pages are made from thicker material and are of comparable rigidity to PVC album pages. Lets look at some of the physical characteristics of polypropylene.

Colour: Colourless
Odour: None
Elasticity: Moderate
Friction: Low

Essentially polypropylene album pages are crystal clear, the plastic is quite 'slippery' to touch, and the material shows good 'stretching' before it will tear. A key thing to note is that polypropylene pages are odourless.

PVC Album Pages

By far the most common album pages on the market, these pages are what you most likely have in your coin albums (shame on you!). They are typically made from thick material (up to 0.2mm thick), are quite stiff, and hold even heavy coins very well. A key thing about PVC to realise is that in it's native state it is not 'soft' or 'flexible', it is in fact a very stiff material with a high modulus of elasticity. Did you know that almost all water pipes and drain pipes in the modern home are made from PVC? Yes the hard brittle white plastic pipes you see on building sites are PVC. So how can soft, flexible coin pages be made from PVC? By the addition of softeners, most typically pthalates. Lets look at some properties of PVC.

Colour: Colourless
Odour: Strong
Elasticity: Limited without softeners, good with softeners
Friction: moderate, can be 'tacky'

PVC album pages are colourless, and quite 'stretchy' and soft. They are not difficult to tear especially when trying to get a 2x2 into an undersized pocket. A key indicator of PVC album pages is the odour. If you've ever opened a new inflatable pool toy you know what this smell is, it is very distinctive and is a combination of the PVC itself and the added softeners. Another indication of a PVC page is in the marketing of the page itself, if it is described as 'soft' then it's almost certainly a PVC page.

Mylar Album Pages

There is one type of album page available that comprises of an outer PVC sleeve into which Mylar (trade name for PET plastic) inserts are placed which hold the coins. Coin holders made form Mylar are distinctive, mylar is quite hard and brittle. It is however odourless and completely inert, and makes an excellent coin holder. SafeT Flips are made from mylar and are an excellent coin holder that is very popular on the US market. One can only wonder why a manufacturer chose to put perfectly good mylar coin holders into a PVC sleeve.

HDPE Album Pages

One last type of album pages you may find on the market are blow moulded type album pages that snap together to hold various types of coin holders. This is the sort of colourless plastic you'll find in toy packaging that protects the toy while allowing the greedy child to see exactly what they want. HDPE coin album pages available in Australian include pages to holder coin slabs and Eagle 2x2 coin holders. HDPE can be a colourless mechanically strong material, but when used to make album pages it is hard with limited flexibility. This is why it is generally used on pages that hold heavier rigid coin holders.

Conclusions

Firstly, don't believe the hype. Either from us or from others. Read, educate yourself, and draw your own conclusions. If a seller says a page is PVC free or 'archival safe' don't take their word for it, look out for that distinctive odour, that 'tackiness' that PVC coin pages show. If you want to know what a page is made from ask the supplier of the page, if they've got nothing to hide they'll tell you. Don't be fooled by buzzwords like 'acid free'. Use your eyes, your nose, and your hands to make your own judgements, and make sure you get the truth about the page. It is, after all your coin collection, and it deserves to be stored in stable, inert coin albums and pages that will not affect the quality of your coins.

PVC facts

PVC is short for poly vinyl chloride. It is dangerous in it's basic form and needs lead to stabilize it for production. We know lead is highly toxic during the life of it's product and during disposal. PVC is extremely heat unstable and has been known to decompose during manufacturing. PVC contains approx 30% (by weight) of Chlorine. We know what damage chlorine does to coins and to our environment. To make pvc into usable products it has to be made flexible and softer by the addition of plasticisers. These plasticisers are called phthalates which are known carcinogens -yes, they cause cancer! These plasticisers leach out of the pvc product and onto your coins and into the environment. PVC is non-recyclable due to it's chemical composition. It's all these harmful chemicals and decomposition of the material that make pvc unsuitable for long term coin storage.

Polypropylene (PP) facts

Polypropylene is a neutral plastic containing only 2 elements Carbon and Hydrogen. Polypropylene doesn't use any dangerous chemicals in it's production. Polypropylene sheet is manufactured from propylene monomer which is a relatively safe gas. This gas is a waste product of the petroleum industry and used to be burned off contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. This means that the more PP made and used in products helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Polypropylene is an extremely heat tolerant and stable plastic making it a suitable alternative in all climates around the country. Polypropylene is 100% recyclable.

In summary there is CLEAR evidence that PP is a safer, non-toxic and environmentally friendly alternative to the obsolete technologies that gave us plastics such as pvc. Polypropylene is also the preferred product for storage use in the Australian National Archives!

It's time we moved into the future with our collecting and commit to removing all the damaging pvc from our collections and storing them safely with the use of polypropylene pages and albums.

There are a number of different types of 2x2 album pages that you might pick up from your local coin dealer or supplier. They are often unlabeled, sold per page and who would know where they came from.

I would say that most, if not all of these pages are made from pvc which is a nice thick sturdy material to protect your coins in their 2x2's in the page then in the album. They might be a nice thick protective material but the pvc itself is not suitable for coin storage. It can actually do irreversible damage to your coins spoiling them.

I know the blog team have been going on quite a bit about the pvc issue, but it isn't just us, take a look here. Again, here is an article showing exactly what pvc damage is. If you have a read of it and think there is a cure I have bad news for you, the Blue Ribbon substance mentioned is a CFC and known carcinogen and cannot be purchased in Australia due to its' toxicity.

PVC 20 pocket album pages are typically about 170 micron in thickness. Other album pages that are available in Australia are BCW branded pages imported from the US. These are selling on eBay Australia quite cheaply but buyer beware. These BCW pages are 110 micron thick and are a thinner coin page giving less mechanical protection that traditional coin pages. The imported Ultra-Pro pages we sell are manufactured in the USA and are also available at outlets throughout Australia. These pages are manufactured by the millions for the US sports card, game card, and coin collector market. Ultra-Pro coin pagea are 140 microns thick and a suitable (and much safer) alternative to the traditional PVC pages found in the Australian market. We have these available in our shop. These however only suit 3-ring binders which are not a particularly popular size in Australia. The Purple Penny team will soon have available an Australian made 20 pocket Coin page made from archival quality acid free polypropylene. We are having these pages made by an Australian manufacturer exclusively for The Purple Penny. These pages will be the thickest non PVC coin page available at 150 micron thickness and will suit 3 and 4 ring binders.

Have you considered your storage options for your prized collections? You've probably read our previous posts about storage methods, there's lots out there to choose from. Albums you currently have in your collections are most likely made of pvc. We've covered in detail before how pvc albums and pages can irreversibly harm your coins causing erosion to the coin surface and a green slimy appearance to your coins. This will ultimately render your coins worthless.

The solution we've found is polypropylene. This material is acid free, environmentally friendly, recyclable and most of all won't break down and harm your collection. This material is used by the National Archives of Australia and approved for long term storage of those important items that you want to preserve forever.

The Purple Penny team have embarked on a campaign to rid the numismatic world of pvc and we've started with coin albums. We currently have available a 40mm 3-ring polypropylene binder with slipcover for $32.95. If you're not comfortable buying from our shop then you can head over to eBay. These coin folders are PVC free, acid free, and metal free. When teamed with PVC free coin album pages and quality non-adhesive 2x2 coin holders these folders are a true archival grade storage solution for your coin collection. The folders and slip cases are made from durable black textured polypropylene and the rings made from ultra strong glass fibre reinforced nylon. The corners of the folders will not split like other ring binders with plastic coated cardboard covers. You can also purchase the albums with a pack of 10 polypropylene 2x2 album pages that you can use with staple 2x2 holders for the ultimate storage solution.

These folders are shown below:

Here's a quick tip. Do not hold your coins in 2x2's together with rubber bands. Why? The mylar windows will be pressed hard against the coin surface and chemicals will leech through the mylar from the rubber band to the coin causing toning of the coin. I first read about this a while back on the now defunct Aussie Coin forums and quickly undid all of the bulk 2x2's I had held together with rubber bands. I've been telling people not to do it since. A short while back someone on the PCGS World and Ancient Coin Forums disagreed with me and told me that mylar is permeable in such small amounts as to make my theory rubbish. Rather than argue I kept quiet and thought perhaps I was wrong.

Well now I read on the Coin Community Forums that someone has seen exactly the same thing! I've quoted the whole post below with the relevant area in bold. There's a direct link to the post here, it probably wont stay live for long though.

Up for sale are 8 beautiful 2008 "Inaugural Year" Austrian Vienna Philharmonic Silver 1oz Coins. BU Rebublik Osterreich 1.5 Euro Face Value 1 Unze Feinsilber First Euro Denominated Silver Bullion Coin

Each coin will come in oversized 2x2 in bubble mailer

I also have 2 Ugly Toned 2008 Philharmonics. Occurred from using rubber band to hold 2x2s together (toning is on one side of coin) Bullion is Bullion Right!

So there you have it! Don't wrap up your coins in 2x2's with rubber bands. They can cause your coins to tone, and tone quickly, this example shows 2008 coins toning in little more than a year!

We've talked a lot about storing coins properly so they dont change their condition over time, you can read a lot of articles about storing your coin collection in the archives. We've talked about various types of holders, we've talked about not using PVC coin pages, and we've talked about how to use the different archival quality coin holders. One thing we haven't talked about is the folders themselves that hold your coins what are they made of? I'd bet you a dollar if you go get your coin albums right now and take a look at them that they are almost certainly PVC! Almost all of the commonly available albums designed for coin collectors that are available here in Australia, primarily those from Renniks and the Numis albums are covered in PVC. Really the only dedicated albums that are not covered in PVC are the push in coin albums like those available from Dansco. But of course those push in albums come with enough problems of their own.

So what's the solution? Well right now there really isn't one. Just look long and hard at your folders and keep an eye on the marketplace, there may be PVC and acid free coin folders available soon.

If you're collecting the special mint mark, privy mark and counter stamp dollars released by the Royal Australian Mint or special releases from shows you'll see that they're issued in a folder as shown below. Each year is a different folder and during the year there are different marks on the coins denoting their origins.

I thought I might share my method of removing the dollars from these folders with you. Before I learned this trick I recall it was a tremendous effort to try and remove the coin without damaging the folder or the coin. This method removes the coin quickly and safely so you can store your coin in a staple 2x2 away from the elements. The folders that the uncirculated dollars come in are not sealed from the elements therefore are prone to toning or environmental damage.

Tools for this little trick are simply 2 toothpicks. Slide each toothpick one at a time gently in the folder opening up each side of the coin. You can use the edge reeding on the coin to grip the toothpick and ease the toothpick out, this will roll the coin gently out of the holder. Then using your gloves you can place your coin into the 2x2 holder and staple it up. Very simply and without fuss it is easily done!