A few notes on albums and album collecting

[Hoot]

As most of us have mentioned before, we enjoy album collecting alongside our pursuits of graded stuff. We've considered the limitations of the blue Whitman albums and others, but what about some of the better albums currently marketed? I, for one, like the Intercept Shield albums (although I also use other brands), but with that said, I thought I'd share some of the shortcomings I've found.

 

I could rattle on and on (as some of you know!) but for now, I'll start with three and add to this list in the near-future. If others have additions or comments about any other album systems, I'd apprciate hearing it.

 

I now have 10 varieties of Intercept Shield (IS) albums for collecting several modern series. Although these albums are excellent in many ways, their designs were poorly thought out in many cases. The following are some observations on the albums I have and what I think were hastily thrown-together album designs.

 

Lincoln cents:

 

The album is 8 pages, each page having 36 slots (6x6). One of their better thought out albums, but there are still some confusing features. The album is called “with proof only issues,” which indicates that San Francisco minted coins from the year 1975 were only made in proof and slots for these coins are found in the album. Why? Shouldn’t the album include proofs for ALL years they were made, or rather for such a long series, shouldn’t there be two separate albums, one for business strikes and one for proof/SMS coins? Speaking of SMS coins, there are no slots for those in the album. And one proof that they left out is the 1981-S type 2. They have the ’79-S type 2, but not the 81. This is confusing. Also, now with the discovery of the various reverses for the 1998-2000 coins, and their inclusion in the Red Book, shouldn’t those be included? After all, they include the ’60 and ’60-D small and large dates, as well as the various metallic compositions for 1982. There are probably too many errors in the series to include them, but they included the 1922 plain. That coin is for the specialist and should be removed from the album. The album in its current format goes through 2007. If they split the album into one for ALL proofs/SMS and one for business strikes, then expanding the years though 2009 as a minimum would be possible. Why 2009? Because with the current craze for changing our change (I’m all for it), the Lincoln cent as we know it will likely change then too, on the 100th anniversary of the coin and the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth.

 

Buffalo nickels:

 

This, in my opinion, is the best of their albums. It’s only 2 pages, each page with 35 slots: 5 rows with 6 slots and the bottom row with 5 slots. In this album, the odd 6th row does not matter, as the series is so short. The type 1 and 2 1913 issues are included in the album as are the two major collectable errors: the 1918/7 and 1937-D 3-legged buffalo. I suppose that they could have included more errors and expanded the album a bit, but those coins are really for the specialist and, IMO don’t belong in the album. I’m also glad that proofs were not included, as they are strictly for the specialist in this series.

 

Jefferson nickels:

 

One of my obsessions in collecting is the Jefferson nickel series. This IS album is the worst designed of all the ones I’ve looked at. It has 5 pages with 35 slots per page, including dates 1938-2002. The coin count per page is unnecessarily odd for this series, as there are 5 rows with 6 slots and the bottom row with 5 slots (to match the buffalo nickel album?). The current design is “with proof only issues,” which indicates that San Francisco minted coins from the year 1971 (different date from the Lincoln cent) were only made in proof and slots for these coins are found in the album. If IS had included the following issues: proofs prior to 1971 (23 coins), reverse of 1938 and 1940 coins for the year 1939 (an additional 3 coins), the SMS coins of 1965-67 (3 coins), and the 1982-S type 2 proof (1 coin) (they already include the ’79-S type 2), these additions would have been a mere 30 slots for the basic complete series through 2003! With the addition of a sixth slot in the bottom row on each page, the complete set could then have been accommodated by only one additional page in the album. Moreover, IS could have added the two types of proofs for 1939 and 1940, as well as the 1943/2 overdate. The Jefferson nickel design is going to change this year, something probably not well anticipated in the initial design of the album. However, the last dated slot in the album is for a 2002-S proof and there is but one extra slot. This was poor planning, even for the current format. By adding the extra slot per page, they could have had dated slots though 2004, and in 2001, when the album was first produced, there was no reason to anticipate the series ending in 2002. Maddening.

 

More later...

 

Hoot

[EVillageProwler]

Hmmm... Interesting thread. Actually, I just didn't want your effort to languish!

 

EVP

 

[TomB]

I like your thoughts on these. I use Capital Plastics "albums" for the coins I collect in raw, MS series. They are much more bulky, as you might assume.

 

By the way, your avatar matches a Buffalo that I own, is that coin yours? Also, what's the date/mint and what does the obverse look like?

[Leothelion]

The cost of technology plays a major role in someone's pocketbook. When someone wants to create a new holder or album, just guessing here, but it may take $250,000 to get the ball rolling. And if that doesn't add up to a quality product then that's what we get stuck with. So the best album, holder can be measured by how much money was invested in the developement of that product and on the reputation of the company.

 

I can find at least one thing wrong with just about every coin product out there. So there is no real surefire way of protecting your coins. Someone said the only way was to embed the coin in a cube of clear lucite where all sides are at least a half inch thick. After years of suffering the turmoil of how to store and catalog my coins, I've recently went to the 1 and 1 half mylar cardboard staple holders and hopefully the safest pages. They hold 30 coins and eventually I'll get the certified slab pages and when I'm done this album will be two feet thick and weigh 75 lbs.

This reminds me of a time when I was cleaning and there was this box of nickels on the floor and it was heavy, probably weighed over 100 lbs. One of my sons where passing through and I had him pick up the thing and place it on the desk. A short while later my other son came through and I had him put it back on the floor. This was getting interesting as they had struggled lifting the box. Next my 12 year old daughter managed to lift it on the bed. Then the wife comes in and wants to lie down and rest so she asks me to move the box but she's the impatient type and moved it herself. So I had a time of my life that day watching everyone move this heavy box and so, life goes on.

 

Leo

 

 

[SarasotaFrank]

Hoot:

 

A noble effort. I have a large number of intercept shield albums, and I like them for many reasons and dislike them for others.

 

Call me a sucker, I like the dark green and the outer album holder.

 

I greatly dislike the fact that these are porrly constructed, in that the printed page easily separates from the core material. Further, I do not think they are drilled well, and the coins don't fit well.

 

What really irks me is how in the larger albums, the pages "bow" as they are filled. My Kennedy and Washington quarter albums look like canoes.

 

They seem to be selctive in the coins selected for inclusion. Some popular specials like the the 22 plain cent, but no 42/41 cent.

 

More later as well.

[Oldtrader3]

I use mostly Capital holders as well, although not exclusively. Have always been fond of the appearance of coins in Capital holders. I also have a couple Dansco holders which always worry me on scratching the coin surface while using the slides.

[Dermott]

I wish WISH that the Intercept shield would come out with a Lincoln Wheat only book as well as one for a major US Type Set.

 

I also wonder why they (and Dansco) added in the 1922 "Plain", but not the 1955 Doubled Die into the books. I would expect to find either both included or neither one (i.e. a non-"unintended" variety set).

 

It makes sense with the Buffalo Nickels because they put in the well known (i.e. you find the prices for them in mainstream price guides) varieties, but they put both of them in... not just one of the two.

[SarasotaFrank]

yet, the Intercept Morgan Dollar book includes a single 1878 entry - no distinction between eight and seven tf - which kept me from using it.

[Hoot]

Well I just got a note from Intercept Shield. Their note indicated that the albums are currently manufactured outside the U.S. and that they are trying to change that situation. Their response to my inquiry (which was about the Jefferson nickel album, as you might imagine) said that they are looking into manufacturing blank albums (albums without slot labels, I suppose). I think this is fine, but it seems like a potentially poor answer to the question of what was left out of the album, especially when considering Jeffs that will have their design chaged later this year.

 

Wish I had that 250 grand to start up my own company! (I'd spend it on coins if I did!)

 

Hoot

[SarasotaFrank]

Hoot:

 

Many of the Intercept albums I have stop at 2002 - Roosies, Jeffs, Kennedy's - I understand the remove the possibility of added sales if they had gone on a few extra years, but sheesh - the albums are full and there are no second editions in sight.

 

I complained to intercept regarding the bowing of pages - nevr heard a thing

 

nothing like a blue whitman album.

[Leothelion]

There are page dividers made with the same technology. ONCE I relocate them, I was thinking of adding them to my portfolio coins.

 

Leo

[Hoot]

And now, the dime albums (Intercept Shield) I have...

 

Mercury (Winged Liberty) dimes:

 

Why did IS use the colloquial title of “Mercury” dimes instead of their proper title? Seems odd to me, but that’s a pretty minor point. The album is but 2 pages, 42 slots per page (6x7). The last row in the album is blank. For this series, it seems that they should have gone ahead and included the classic error of 1942/1 for both Philadelphia and Denver coins. That still would have left 4 blank slots. To their credit, they included the 45 micro S.

 

Roosevelt dimes:

 

Another album of “including proof only issues.” This simply makes no sense. I suppose this phrase abbreviates “including issues where the unique coin for a given mint for that year was a proof and no business strikes were manufactured,” but how odd can you get? This album is four pages, 42 coins per page, and the last slot in the last page is (as SarasotaFrank noted) 2002-S proof! What is REALLY goofy about that one is that from 1992-2001 there are slots for the silver proof AND clad proof! NOW think about that “including proof only issues” phrase; obviously expanded to mean “including issues where the unique coins for a given mint for that year were both silver and clad proofs and no business strikes were manufactured.”

 

Okay, what’s this album missing? A page for sure. If a single page had been added, they could have included the following: ALL proofs (15 additional coins of 1950-1964, as the San Francisco Mint only produced proofs from 1968 onward), SMS coins for 1965-67 (3 additional coins), and the 1981-S Type 2 (they included the Type 1!). There are enough errors in this series as to make them difficult to select for placement, but the Red Book lists the 51-S/D, the 60 DDO, the 63 proof DDR, the 64-D DDR (I actually have one of these that I found in a bag of dimes!), and the 82 plain. So, even if all of the above were selected, an extra page would have 18 blank slots! Perfect for continuing the series how-so-ever the Mint may choose to manufacture them! And who doesn’t need blank slots in an album anyway? Cheap, cheap, cheap.

 

More to come, Hoot

[Leothelion]

There are page dividers made with the same technology. ONCE I relocate them, I was thinking of adding them to my portfolio coins.

 

Leo

 

I FOUND IT! Link

Does anyone have these and know the size of the dividers. Also can they fit regular 3-ring binders? And do the Littleton's slipcovers fit the same.

 

Back to you Hoot!

 

Leo

[Leothelion]

Hoot

This is probably a bit trifle but wouldn't the 42/1 dime be considered a specialist coin so to speak and be left out as it should be?

 

Leo

[Hoot]

Hoot

This is probably a bit trifle but wouldn't the 42/1 dime be considered a specialist coin so to speak and be left out as it should be?

 

That's probably true. One could certainly make that argument for all of the error coins in any of the series.

 

If the albums each had a few blank spaces at the end, then adding error coins or whatever could then be at the discretion of the collector! (Duh ).

 

Hoot

[JD-migration]

Eagle Holders & Albums

 

Collect anyway you want and put them in the 3 ring binder pages made for the Eagle 2x2 holder. Leave spaces where ever you want, for whatever you want.

 

Great product for coin protection that can be made even better for small coins by putting the coin in a Kointain before placing in the Eagle holder. I do this with my copper to preserve the red. If you have a collection with raw and certified, Eagle also makes a certified slab page that will fit in the same binder.

 

I like 'em

 

[EZ_E]

re: Eagle holders.

 

I really like the Eagle albums to hold slabbed coins and proof & mint sets but the 2X2 holders don't do it for me. There is a plastic strip which goes across the face of the coin which becomes scratched with use. This really obscures the viewing and will even make an ms 70 coin look bad. Additionally, I have a page (20 slots) filled with US mint medals which split down the seam. The slots do work well for holding 38mm and 40mm dollars, tokens, medals, etc. housed in an air-tight plastic holder, however.

 

It is definitely a mystery as to why Intercept Shield does not have a type album. I'm sure that it's probably in the works. Does anyone know how long the Intercept albums have been on the market?

 

 

Victor

[Hoot]

Does anyone know how long the Intercept albums have been on the market?

 

Victor - the IS albums have been on the market since the first part of 2001. In that time I also wrote them to ask if they would come up with an album for their 2x2 holders. John Albanese wrote back in June of 2002: "Dear Mark-We are currently in the planning stages for an Intercept album/binder that will hold our 2x2 holders as well as many other collectibles e.g.,slabs, baseball cards, post cards.... We will be adding a "new products" page to our website shortly. Thank you for your interest in our product. John Albanese" Since then, very little has changed. Still no album for the 2x2 holders. Perhaps they've had trouble with their manufacturer. Hopefully, they'll come around.

 

Hoot

[Leothelion]

Still no album for the 2x2 holders.

 

Hoot

This is probably a silly question but because the IS 2x2's aren't exactly squared, I'm wondering if the shorter IS side can fit into a pocket of a 2x2 page. I only have the 1 and 1/2 X 1 and 1/2 pages so I don't know.

 

Leo

[Hoot]

Okay, my final installment to this thread about Intercept Shield albums (now I've gotta find another set to pick on!)

 

 

Washington quarters:

 

Yet another album of “including proof only issues.” This album is slightly better designed than others in the series, although there are some deficiencies. As with the Roosevelt dimes, from 1992-2001 there are slots for the silver proof AND clad proof. They also included the BU and PF silver clads from 1976. If they were going to include the silver proof issues from 1992-2001 and the silver clads of 1976, then why didn’t they include the proofs from 1936-42, 1950-64, and the SMS issues of 1965-67? We’re talking 25 more coins. How would this have affected the pages in the album? First, there are six extra slots in the album, and since the pages are 4x6 = 24 slots, then the addition would have required 1 more page. I feel particularly strongly that the 1965-67 SMS coins should be in every applicable album, and they are included ONLY IN THE KENNEDY ALBUM!!! This is glaringly stupid in this album, given the extra slots. Also, the 1981-S type 2 proof is not included (although the ’79-S T2 is); yet another glaring deficiency.

 

Washington statehood quarters

 

There are two flavors of this album: (1) the entire set, business strikes only, from 1999-2008; (2) complete set including proofs 1999-2003. The former is a bad idea, especially given the fact that the U.S. territories and D.C. will likely have their own quarters in 2009. What makes this a bad idea is simply “not enough slots” for the potential extra 10 coins. As for the latter, this is a good album. It’s missing no necessary slots, but how the hell could a person have gone wrong? Well, here’s how: just wait for the next edition! The 2004-200? Will likely be only through 2008. We’ll see. If they make that blunder, the album will be minus about 20 slots (a full page).

 

Walking Liberty half dollars

 

One of their best designed albums. The album is for business strikes only, but they could have included proofs if they wanted to (just 7 coins), as the album is 4x5 slots per page (20 slots), 4 pages, with 15 blank slots at the end. (Probably not many people would choose to put their proof coins in this album, but some may so choose, especially with proofs that may have some form of damage to them or those that were circulated). The album does include the obverse and reverse mint mark varieties of the 1917 D and S coins.

 

Franklin half dollars

 

Only two pages of business strikes; 4x5 = 20 slots per page. Plain and simple: why didn’t they include proofs? This would have required only 1 more page with 14 labeled slots. Proofs in this series are not unaffordable for album stuffing and would have improved the album, as it’s a bit meager.

 

Kennedy half dollar

 

The last I own of Intercept Shield’s badly designed albums. At first glance, this album seems alright: 4x5 = 20 slots per page, and proofs through the entire series, including the different metallic forms of 1976 and from 1998 on. But the album includes only 6 pages and stops at 2001 with 2, yes two, extra slots! They could have AT LEAST included labeled slots for the 1981-S T2 proof (yes, they included the 1979-S T2 proof) and the 1998 satin proof! But! add an extra page, and they could also have included the 1964 AH variety proof. Oh, and those pesky 2002 coins, and 2003 coins, and …….

 

 

 

This concludes my immediate rant. Hoot

[Leothelion]

Still no album for the 2x2 holders.

 

Hoot

This is probably a silly question but because the IS 2x2's aren't exactly squared, I'm wondering if the shorter IS side can fit into a pocket of a 2x2 page. I only have the 1 and 1/2 X 1 and 1/2 pages so I don't know.

 

Leo

 

The short side is 49mm and the long side is 52mm. A typical 2X2 measures 49 by 51. At least that is what the one in front of me measures. The 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 I use are a tight fit the first time but they do loosen up some after awhile. So my guess is that a IS 2x2 would be a very tight fit but may work.

There.....I've answered my own question.

 

Leo

[DWLange]

Speaking of Intercept albums, I recently purchased an album put out by Jem Companies. It appears to be the same product as the Intercept Shield album, but it's titled The Coin Collector, costs several dollars less and does not include the slipcover. Both brands have similar titles available.

 

I have no interest in promoting these albums, as I collect all brands, whether good or bad. I'm just wondering whether you folks have noticed the Jem ads. I also wonder what the I.S. people think of this seeming clone.