I'm wondering what the forum thinks of how well Air-Tite holders protect silver coins from toning and other environmental damage. Anyone care to weigh in on this? thanks!


Doug

Air tite only keeps away from the external air damage - as in, if you packed your coins in a damaging enviroment - it might do the completely opposite as you trapped harmful gas inside But I am sure that you don't live in like... a smoker's room.

Nevertheless, it is very cost effective for most coins, as well as if your particular coins are not too expensive. If they are, you should send them for slabbing! Don't the TPGs slab coins in such a way that the coins are actually vaccummed and the air inside is almost inert?

I've never bought an air-tite....yet.....but I prefer them above all else The best air-tite is a free air-tite But, like GX said, they are not "air-free" but "air tight" which means that it will keep contaminants out (and keep contaminants in just as well).



No.

Slabs are, for the most part, sonically sealed. The Sonic (not the Hedgehog) sealing process uses ultra sound frequencies to vibrate the two portions of the slab together, creating an amount of heat, that will cause the two sections to seal together (without melting) into one piece. Vacuum packaging would require a suctioning and would have to be done much like a shrink wrap would be done. The sonic process could not take place during a vacuum process becuase the two pieces in the sonic process have to fit precisely (thus there would be no room for the vacuum suctioning). In this effect, the air-tites are just as safe from environmental hazards as a slab so long as the air-tite is kept closed.

With regards to contaminants during "packaging", the slab would "theoritically" be best since you would expect the TPG to use a true "clean room" to conduct their packaging.

I have an American Eagle in an airtite for 18 months now. It's lying on a shelf in my living room, every now and then fully in the sun, and other moments not.

There's not the slightest sign of toning.


I haven't got many coins in airtites, but I do like 'm as they protect a coin very well. Not only environmentally, but also physically: they're easy to pick up etc. without worrying that the coin might get damaged.

the only disadvantage (apart from the price) is that I haven't found a good way yet to store / show coins in airtites yet. An album would get too thick, boxes are not convenient whenn looking for a specific coin. A nice solution would be a coin cabinet, but those are a bit costly.....

T_3 - I agree that the cabinets are quite pricey. I think Sylvester uses them for his coins. I would think that coins in a cabinet would be well protected by air-tites. One of the things that coins in cabinets have suffered in cabinet slide marks from the draws being opened and closed.

That's a good looking cabinet.

This is the total info:



Ten Drawers, 13"w x 7"d x 3/4"h inside
Overall: 17"w x 10"d x 13 3/4"h
$675 w/o doors, $770 with doors





for the record : I don't have a coin cabinet

For the record, I'd spend my $770 on coins rather than the cabinet.

Mine are kept in this.

If the room you're in when putting your coins in airtites is reasonably low in humidity, airtites will do a fair job of protecting against toning. Bear in mind that you'll need to avoid getting your skin oils or any other contaminant on the coin while placing it in the airtite and the holder will serve your purpose pretty well.

I like airtites for coins I am offering for sale because they allow the buyer to hold the coin and examine it without damaging the surfaces. For coins I'm keeping, I prefer regular cardboard/mylar 2x2s and pocket pages.

My bias is more in favor of toning on silver coins, so the protection from toning isn't my main focus in using airtites.

One method that may work for you is the use of standard cardboard and wood jewelry trays with the flocked injection molded inserts. I used those when selling coins at flea markets and they worked well. The trays stack in a fabric tray carrier and can be labeled on the ends. There is also a slightly more expensive injection molded plastic stackable tray which is good for stacking on shelves. They make a locked stack which doesn't topple easily.

This supply house has a good selection of trays and inserts:

wooden tray:
http://www.fdjtool.com/store/showitem.asp?...DTR1000&store=5


inserts:
http://www.fdjtool.com/store/showcat.asp?cat=340


stackable tray:
http://www.fdjtool.com/store/showitem.asp?...DTR1100&store=5


There's this little cabinet which eliminates the need for trays or carriers and will accept tray inserts:

http://www.fdjtool.com/store/showitem.asp?...DTR1882&store=5


Or, a larger one:
http://www.fdjtool.com/store/showitem.asp?...DTR1883&store=5

Or the travel case I mentioned earlier:

http://www.fdjtool.com/store/showitem.asp?...DCA1272&store=5



I've been buying from these people ever since I started in the jewelry business and have found them to be solidly reliable.

Ah, that price is a lot more interesting than the one I posted.

I'll browse that site a bit more.

Thanks for the link

Interesting stuff, 28Plain, thanks. I never thought in this direction.... I'm afraid the shipping would be killing for me though, so I better look for a local supplier of similar trays / inserts

Erik,

Try here (www.predecimal.com). Although he is a Brit, he is based out of Germany, and ships from there. Tell him I sent you!!

Yep, his prices do seem really cheap to say that they're handmade from hardwoods. He makes the cabinets for the British Museum as well.

Yep, I found that buying from a jewelry supply house is much cheaper than what coin supply companies had, and were usually more practical solutions to display and storage problems, too. Check your local jewelers' supply houses. They probably have similar trays and drawer cabinets at much better prices than the museum or bourse quality collectors' supply companies.

Despite the name, Air-Tites are not airtight. They are however my holder of choice and I highly recommend them to anyone.

Anyone here using kointains?

If so, what's your experience?

thanks Ed! I tried some of the stackable jewelery trays for my slabbed coins and they work great! The ones I've found have dividers so the slabs fit perfectly and don't bang around into each other. i'll take a look at your other links too!

Doug

I haven't used kointains, but have seen coins in them. They look as though they would be cheaper than airtites as a means of displaying coins for sale, but they didn't really appeal to my taste for the way the coin looks in them.

That company had tray divider inserts which fit a regular cardboard 2x2 and made my coin display very easy to maintain when I was flea marketing. The divided compartments are 2 1/8 x 2 1/8 if I remember correctly. They also had divider inserts which held the small dime, cent and nickel airtites and were available like the trays in white or black.

One of the inserts looks as though it would fit kointains perfectly.

I really like the Air-Tite holders. Some of my coins have been stored in them for 12+ months with no harm done. They've been placed everywhere from a closet, window, computer desk, etc. VERY happy with them until you want to get the coin out to photograph or something. Suckers are hard to get apart.

I tried kointains, and quickly discontinued their use. Needless to say, I did not like them. They are (or at least for me they were) VERY hard to get to snap together correctly, their edges kinked or tore easily, and when I was successful, they made the coin look cheap, like a couch covered in plastic cheap.
That was my experience with them.

I've got hard plastic versions of those, and yes, they make the coins look like something sitting in grandmas living room. I only use stuff like that for my non-us coins, which are just stored in boxes under my computer desk. I also store the non-US stuff in those soft plastic flips, ya know, the ones that discolor your coins after a year or so. Honestly, I've never had a bad dicolored coin come out of one of those, I've stored some in them for 4-5 years with absolutely no toning, and others for 6 months with some interesting golden toning. Nothing that distracts really because all my non-US comes outa the 10 cent bin for the most part lol. I think I have about 1400 non-US sitting by my feet right now lol. About 700 in flips, the rest in bags. Yes, I do have enough time to put that many in there lol. Ah, summer break.