Gonna Start a Type Set - Presentation Advice?

[astrostu]

I've decided to jump on the type set bandwagon as an interlude to my Peace Dollar set. I've decided to try to be relatively conservative in grades, going for high-MS for 2000+, low-MS for 1900-1999, EF for 1800-1899, and G for anything earlier if I find it. I've done cost estimates and it should only cost a few hundred thousand dollars to complete, but that's with most major varieties and some of the really expensive stuff (like the 25¢ 1796 draped bust small eagle) and gold. I'll probably start with non-gold 20th century stuff (since I already have most of the cheaper coins for this in MS), which should run me around $1500 for low-MS grades.

 

Because I have yet to actually decide what varieties I want to collect from each series, or even if I want to do varieties (such as rays or no rays on the mid-1800s siver coins), I am not going to go with a standard coin album like the Dansco 7070. I also don't plan on going for any of the expensive stuff any time soon since I'm trying to limit my coin spending to ~$100/month.

 

So my question, as the subject line suggests, is what do you recommend I use to store/present these in? I prefer RAW coins to slabbed, and so I was thinking of going with AirTites, but as far as I know, there's no simple custom album for this type of hodge-podge collection.

 

Am I just being , or is there an easy answer here?

[Bruceswar]

I still say use a Dansco 7070, but only fill the holes you want. This leaves alot of room for play. You can even cover up what it says and make your own type set boundries. Per say cover up the quarter slots and put 4 Washington Quarters if you so choose. I say that just for a storage space and it still makes for a cool display. You can do with the holes as you please. That is my advice.

[mikesartifacts]

I agree. The Dansco product is well made. I have built 2 sets of Buffalo nickels in the same album over the last 10 years, and it still looks good. Just be sure that when you seat a coin in its hole (especially a MS or Proof coin), that you carefully push it down far enough so you do not get any slide marks on the obverse of the coin. You figure that each slide is opened 6-8 times, so if you are careful, it works. If you are not careful, you can net grade 60 a gem coin in a wonderfully short time. As for presentation, you can't beat a Dansco album, as it can help even non coin people really appreciate the beauty of American coinage when they are all displayed together. The coins come to compliment each other... The other thing with an album is it becomes more goal oriented, as there are holes that need to be filled.

 

As for changing or customizing the designations/descriptions it can be done. The lettering can be carefully scraped away with an exacto blade, and then you can find almost an exact copy of the font Dansco uses in a rub on letter, available at most art supply stores. I believe it is called Lettraset and they last for years. I'll post pictures later of my customized Dansco albums soon, it does make for a good presentation.

 

It is the best presentation, I think, as long as you can live without certified coins. Heck, I like probably several others here will crackout a coin if it is destined for the album.

[MorganMan]

Just be sure that when you seat a coin in its hole (especially a MS or Proof coin), that you carefully push it down far enough so you do not get any slide marks on the obverse of the coin. You figure that each slide is opened 6-8 times, so if you are careful, it works. If you are not careful, you can net grade 60 a gem coin in a wonderfully short time.

 

For a 7070, The BEST way to put the coins in is to put ALL coins in one slide in at once. Just keep them in flips until you have all of them. For example, I have all coins for my half dollar section except for an Oregon trail comm I am trying to get. I have them ready to go in, and as soon as I get the Oregon, I will slide the cover out, put all 8 coins in, make sure they are below the surface, them slide the cover back on. That way, you minimize any surface scatches on the coins, As some have also said, give the album a quick shot of air when you remove the cover to clean out any residue.

 

 

 

MM

[TomB]

If you are determined to display the set raw and without an album, you may want to buy a velvet-lined dealer's display tray that has pre-formed 2x2 squares throughout. The coins may then be placed raw, within glycine baggies, in mylar 2x2 holders or in Kointains each in its own pre-formed 2x2 square. Alternatively, you may want to do more research into the Dansco 7070 option and I have previously written a WYNTK article regarding building a US type set using the Dansco 7070.

 

Whatever strategy you decide on for display, I think you should carefully examine how you will build the set and what the coins will look like together. A few statements that you made in your opening post require further thought, in my opinion, before you jump into this project. The first is your desire for low-end MS pieces for 1900-1999. While you will likely have nicer MS pieces as the century moves on, the inclusion of low-end MS pieces for earlier dates can make the set look scruffy. Oftentimes, an MS60 or MS61 coin will have less eye appeal than an AU55 or AU58, will cost more than the AU piece, may be more difficult to sell when the time comes to turn individual pieces over and will have only a small amount of additional detail vs the AU example. Therefore, I generally encourage folks to think about an attractive, problem-free AU example instead of an MS60 or MS61. Similarly, many MS62 graded pieces are really just AU58 coins that are either white or that have decent luster. If you buy these coins you will then be paying MS prices for an AU coin and many folks will realize it is an AU piece upon trying to sell it at a later date. I will not discuss your budget since the cap on it would strangle you on certain pieces, but you have yet to decide what it is you want in your set.

 

Good luck!

[pendragon1998]

Well, all I'll say is that if you're wanting to put together a $200,000 collection on $100/mo, it'll take you 166 years and 8 months to do it. I'm assuming that you're going to up the ante after school

[astrostu]

First, to be honest but blunt: It's not that I'm ignoring the majority of advice, but I'm really not a fan of the Dansco albums in general. I know that's blasphemous on this board since most people love 'em, but I'm just not a big fan of 'em.

 

So one thing I learned lately is that if I'm going to shoot down an idea, I should present a solution of my own. I am a big fan of AirTites. So I was thinking that what I could do is go with DirectFit AirTites for the last 150 years (and I'll be starting with post-1900, anyway), and for storage go with their storage box. I like Tom B's advice about the velvet-lined dealer display box for when I actually want to display parts of the collection as it builds up. So I have a few questions 'bout this: Does anyone have experience with the AirTite storage boxes? If so, I see that they are made for the 6 different outer-diameter AirTite sizes ... is that just what cards they come with by default, or is the box a physically different size? And third, what do people think of this idea? I think it will offer me the most customization for this collection, but I'm still open to input.

 

 

To answer a few specifics:

 

Tom B - I hadn't thought that MS-60/61/62 would be more scuzzy looking than an AU-50/55/58, but that makes sense now that I think about it. For the post-1900 era stuf, I thought I'd go with "uncirculated" because I can pull a fair number of stuff from circulation now and it's all bright and shiny and practically MS-60. I guess what I actually meant was what you said, that I'm looking for effectively attractive, "practically" no-wear coins. Trust me, if I see a coin that a dealer's marked AU-55 and is $200 less than a nearly identical coin marked MS-60, I'll go for the AU-55 . Similarly, I'm trying to convince myself that this is a type set, and hence I don't need the most expensive example from a given series for it, just a representative sample, so the most common-date (AKA generally cheapest) specimen will do, especially as the dates trickle back through the ages.

 

Michael - Yes, my math obviously does not add up to me completing this project within my assumed lifetime. The $100/month budget is for this year (though I increase it when the Mint comes out with their proof sets) and the immediate future, and I'm assuming that it will increase once I start to make more money.