COLLECTORS AS CARETAKERS FOR THE NEXT GENERATION
Protecting Your Coins is Elemental
Since the dawn of time, people have tried to keep items of value protected from the elements and, thereby, remaining in pristine condition. This, of course, is a difficult matter, as it is impossible to know if succeeding generations will even care about what was important in an earlier time.
Coins were first struck in Lydia, a small country on the Aegean Sea, about 600 B.C., and there is little doubt that collecting arose soon afterwards. How would coins have been kept in those days? The most valuable would have been stored in linen or some other type of cloth, but the majority would simply have been placed in a small leather bag.
The bag would have been kept in a safe place or perhaps buried in a jar in time of war or domestic upheaval. Accumulations have been found by archaeologists that are almost certainly collections of coins.
Today, we think of modern mints as producing coins for collectors, but this is hardly a new phenomenon. Human nature being what it is, there is little doubt that wealthier Romans who lived in the vicinity of the mint at Rome made an effort to obtain all of the different coins for each emperor. Nero would have been a special favorite because of his reputation.
One of the most famous emperors of Rome, Caesar Augustus, is known to have presented interesting coins to his circle of friends. Other rulers no doubt did the same though we have no definitive literary records as proof.
It is unlikely, however, that the ancients had any special way of preserving coins.
The finest and rarest pieces would perhaps have been wrapped in small pieces of cloth while, ordinary coins were stored in the usual leather bags. It is possible, and perhaps even likely, that coin cabinets, such as were used from the 16th century on, might have existed in ancient times, but if so we have no direct knowledge of them.
The middle ages saw a rise in coin collecting, primarily among royalty and the wealthier classes. The poor and small middle classes of medieval times had enough trouble finding money for food and lodging so that collecting coins was not an option. It was not, for example, until after 1850 in the United States that coin collecting reached out to the growing middle class.
From the 1500s through the early 1800s the storage of coins was generally restricted to coin cabinets, consisting of several vertical drawers. Those who could afford to collect coins during these years also had the resources to own a cabinet; the drawers were arranged so that coins or medals fitted loosely into individual compartments that accommodated various sizes. Museums, such as the prestigious American Numismatic Society or the Smithsonian, still use this method as it is the easiest for researchers and specialists to find a given coin or medal.
The primary change in coin cabinet design, however, is the nature of the cabinet itself. In earlier days only wood was used but today they are generally of metal, such as stainless steel.
The rise of collecting after 1850, especially in the United States, called for new ways to store coins and medals. Coin cabinets were still available to those collectors with ample funds at their disposal but the collector of lesser means had fewer options. Proof coins, for example, were likely kept in the tissue paper normally wrapped around such coins when sold by the Philadelphia Mint.
Cigar boxes were also a useful way of storing coins, though this allowed only for a bottom layer of coins.
Paper envelopes were soon used, though usually handmade. Machine-made envelopes were not used all that much before 1900 though the practice slowly spread into the 20th century, when it became common.
A lesser-known practice that was used in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was to coat valuable coins with a thin layer of lacquer so that they would not be damaged by the environment or the ever-present danger of mishandling by non-collectors. One of the more famous practitioners of this kind of protection was King Farouk of Egypt; the North African climate was not all that kind to some types of coins, especially copper, and lacquer kept such pieces in a pristine condition.
Those acquiring lacquered coins usually have a desire to remove the coating, but this should be done only after careful investigation of the risks involved. Improper removal can lead to damaged surfaces, and the removal is best left to someone knowledgeable in this field.
Beginning in the 1920s, coin boards became available to the collector of small means. These were usually for Indian Head cents, though Lincoln cents were soon added to the list. These were handy for collectors, as they showed what dates and mintmarks were missing, but also carried a drawback in that the backing was glued to stiff cardboard, and the coins rested against the glue, often leaving unsightly marks.
By the late 1950s there were improved books which held the coins between pieces of clear plastic, allowing the pieces to be viewed. These books were used for a number of series, including type coins and dates runs of such coins as the Mercury dime.
At the same time, collectors also put their coins in the tried and true 2x2 paper envelopes. The coin was first put into
an inert plastic sleeve and then put into the 2x2 envelope. It made keeping track of the collection much easier.
It was also common practice in the 1940s and 1950s for beginning collectors to clean or dip their coins in a mild acid solution. In many cases, the effort actually damaged the coins because copper pieces, in particular, should not be subjected to harsh chemicals. The long-term result was often an unsightly coin that suffered diminished value.
The increasing number of counterfeits became a serious problem, leading to the establishment in 1972 of a grading and authentication service under the auspices of the American Numismatic Association. This, in turn, led to the creation, in the mid-1980s, of additional third-party grading services, such as PCGS or NGC, which encapsulated the coins or medals in sealed plastic containers, called “slabs” by nearly everyone.
The current proliferation of counterfeits from China has forced an even greater reliance on grading services. Because of these Chinese counterfeits and other considerations, the present trend is to slab just about any specimen of value, not only to determine value and authenticity, but also for the long-term protection of the coin or medal.