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Some handy tips to store your banknote collection


Lotus07

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Several times I've heard from some collectors that they have trouble with storing their banknotes in a proper way, so I thought that you guys might appreciate it if I would share my view on how I store my notes.

 

Personally, I like to hold my banknotes in my hands so I can view and admire them better. Unfortunately this doesn't really help to preserve my notes since human hands are always full of gems and bacteria. So having a some sort of plastic protection like an album would probably the most suitable solution for preserving your beautiful banknotes. The only downside of this is that good-quality albums are always expensive. I don't have anything against albums and sheets because they display banknotes in a very fine way, but paying 50 USD for an album that only holds notes worth 30 USD is simply a little too much trouble for me. But I still would like some sort of protection for my banknotes!

 

Anyway, after some time searching on Ebay I found a Chinese dealer who sells 'banknote sleeves'. They are made from clear plastic and they come in 4 different sizes, in a pack of 400. These sleeves are probably the best thing I've came across so far because although they are quite thin, they let me hold my banknotes in my hands without me damaging them. Also, a pack of 400 costs less than 10 USD and they are shipped with free world-wide shipping! Probably some of you are already familiar with them, but I have never heard of them before. They came in a couple of days ago and personally I am very satisfied with the sleeves. Here's how it looks like when they have banknotes in them:

 

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The sizes are: 85x175 mm, 75x175 mm, 70x150 mm and 60x130 mm.

 

Coincidently, I had some old videotapes laying around and I figured that the hard shells in which the videotapes are stored would make a perfect 'album' for my banknotes. The shells are also very practical when you are on a fair and quickly need to store your purchased notes somewhere. By the way, no dust can enter the shells unless you open them, which makes them again very useful.

 

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But unfortunately I have some banknotes that have a larger size than 85x175 mm, so I need to store those notes in a 'real' album:

 

opbergen%20bankbiljetten%201_zpswb6biexn

 

Not that it really matters to me, because the cost of the album makes up for the money I have saved on the sleeves!

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  • 2 weeks later...

400 sleeves for $10 ? What material are these made from ?

 

Some plastics can damage banknotes. I pay $39 for 100 sleeves made of MYLAR, The material used for these holders is biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate,and is the choice for the Smithsonian and Library of Congress for long term storage of archival materials.

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I think I've seen some dealers use these sleeves, Steve. If they're what I think they are, they're thinner than what you have, which is why they're cheaper, and they don't come with a flap, but with an open end instead. I prefer the flap because non-UNC notes can get caught on the opening and cause damage if you're not really careful. I had specially made sleeves created out of polyester directly from a sleeve manufacturer (for those that don't know, polyester is a generic type of Dupont's Mylar - polyethylene terephthalate, but not made by Dupont) that I got at a specific size of my choosing for about $17/100. That is at 4 mil thickness (~100 microns). I would guess these are 2 or 3 mils. I've seen as high as 6 mils in currency sleeves.

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Yeah, I gotta side with Steve on this one. I am skeptical of their quality.

 

Regardless, I love the idea of the VHS cassette holder but will it have fumes?

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  • 4 weeks later...

The quality isn't very high on the sleeves, but it'll do. I store them straight up in the cassettes, so the notes don't fall out. They're pretty solid though, as long as you grab them like you would normally grab your a note, nothing will happen to them. They're especially very useful for UNC notes, but for older, more worn out notes they tend to get a little bit more flexible. I agree it's not the best way of storaging them, but for me as a low-budget collector they do just fine! :)

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Yeah, I gotta side with Steve on this one. I am skeptical of their quality.

 

Regardless, I love the idea of the VHS cassette holder but will it have fumes?

They don't have fumes I'm afraid, but I open them regularly, so the notes get 'fresh' air every now and then.

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  • 8 months later...

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