I accidentally purchased one of the original Beistle Unique Coin Holder album covers off of eBay a while back mislabeled as Wayte Raymond 2 2

[Mr_Spud]

I purchased what was called a Wayte Raymond album in the auction description off of eBay a while back that has a cover that appears to be one of the original Beistle Unique Coin Holder album covers. I bought it because it appeared unusual and just now realized they are identical to the covers pictured in the late David Lange’s book. I purchased the book a few years back but am just now started to read it thoroughly and trying to start to Identify what I have in my collection. I have a few dozen Wayte Raymond albums and a couple hundred boards that I have been picking up now and again over the last 20 years or so. The album came with Wayte Raymond boards in it (I can tell because they state Wayte Raymond on their reverse) but from what I’m reading in the book, the cover is one of the original Beistle ones.

I’m planning on reading up on the best way to store these to preserve them for the future, I’m thinking either Tupperware with desiccant packs designed for holding the relative humidity at either 32 or 49% RH (these are the 2 choices I’m finding on Amazon that are used for storing musical instruments) or maybe with Argon. I’m still trying to read about preserving rare books, some say store at RH between 30 and 50 but others say inert gas is best so I haven’t decided which options would be the best. If anybody knows, or has any advice that might help, please let me know. I want to preserve these the best way possible.

Here’s some pictures of the album I purchased off of eBay:

 And, for reference, here’s a picture of the page in David Lange’s book with the pictures that make me believe the cover I purchased is from an original Beistle album:

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by Mr_Spud
Typos

[Just Bob]

It does appear to match the picture in your book. Does the book show any Wayte Raymond covers that look similar?

Cool pickup, regardless. 

[Henri Charriere]

I believe the best people to consult would be those who are engaged in this activity, book preservation, actively on a professional bssis.

That means NARA, The Library of Congress and the New York Public Library for starters. The NYC's Municipal Archives which stores the city's earliest maps and documents--even the branch of the New York Public Library's (or the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office branch should be able to supply useful leads. Any person, society, institution or library, public or private, ought to be very helpful in this regard. They are charged with maintaining detailed maps of each of the five outer boroughs before they consolidated in 1898 (before the Brooklyn Bridge was built) to become the City of New York.  The introduction of coins complicates the matter somewhat but these are the people intimately involved in preserving historical objects of significance on a daily basis.   My feeling is they would be delighted to display their skills developed over time and experience.  Who knows, maybe your Eureka! moment will allow your better half to allow you to attend Orlando F.U.N. with her blessing.  🤣

[J P M]

Very nice, I look for old coin holders whenever I go hunting the shops. The nice ones are hard to find. Lots of broken bindings mostly.

[Mr_Spud]

On 6/13/2023 at 10:39 PM, Just Bob said:

It does appear to match the picture in your book. Does the book show any Wayte Raymond covers that look similar?

Cool pickup, regardless. 

The book doesn’t show any other covers that look like this. It also says that the first thing Wayte Raymond did when he took over the distribution of the coin albums was to redesign the cover to a wrap around binder. 

[RWB]

Consult David W. Lange's books on coin boards and albums. His work is the authority on this subject.