Q: How much original packaging do you keep? A: Way too much, apparently.

Weiss

Or maybe just enough?

I posted this Lydian "siglos", arguably the first true coin ever made, in @Justacommeman 's thread about odd-shaped coins. I walk through the internet periodically to see what auction results are on the more esoteric pieces I own and figured this would be a good time for that. When I pulled up my excel files to see what I paid for the piece originally, I couldn't find it I was pretty sure I'd inserted it, so maybe I'd saved a version where I'd removed it for one reason or another.

That got me thinking that I might still have a hard copy of the invoice in my files. Sure enough, down in the stacks, I found not just the invoice, but the original shipping envelope from Harlan J. Berk in Chicago ( @CaptHenway ).

And next to it, I found the original paper catalogue from which the coin was ordered! I put them all together for a photograph and then remembered I'd stashed the original HJB flip when I sent the coin ATS a few years back.

Reunited 16 years later. For some pieces it really is important to keep documentation--especially a raw ancient purchased years ago from one of the foremost authorities on the series. These pieces don't take up too much space. But now that I have digital copies I might toss 'em.

But then again, maybe not. It's hard to be a collector and appreciate full, original documentation

RogerB

Keep the materials associated with your purchase - especially of ancient coins.

Paradisefound

@Weiss ..... that is a nice documentation! It will only enhance the coin upon any presentation ...... especially decades from now.

Meltdown

Someone kept these envelopes for years & years... I'm the new owner now and am thankful that they did
.
.

WildIdea

I tend to keep a lot of this kind of thing. I keep all the receipts, business card and dealer related ephemera I can. Why not? I respect a lot of the dealers I buy from and I think it can add some value to a piece knowing it crossed the desk of a predominant expert.

In fact, some items I stopped even opening altogether! I used to just slit the edge of my Dan Carr pieces, open them up once and tuck it all back in there to be stacked neatly. I feel the the packaging itself will be pretty cool years from now. Really, the online photos are pretty decent and I can look at those. I have several that are gonna be a surprise to someone someday as there still 5-6 that I never opened.

My numis packages from Europe have some neat presentations as well and I have been keeping some of those items inside their shipping boxes as I open them. Not sure yet how I will be organizing some of those sets, but its still pretty cool to have them as I received the pieces.

One vacation trip to Boston my wife and I were staying in Beacon Hill area and hitting all the antique shops. One purchase from a shop that specialized in old prints I arranged to ship. It arrived wrapped in brown paper with the addresses quilled out in fountain pen ink in old english lettering from the lady I bought it from. I don't have the heart to even put a blade to the seam! Its been setting a few years now in my study waiting to be opened. No biggie, I know what the poster looks like. I'll save the joy for a boring day down the road.

I think alot of the little evidence adds context to the piece and will at a min be a valued curiosity to the future owners.

toyz4geo

Gotta love that kind of history. I appreciate the connections intimated by that documentation.

asheland

For an important purchase I would keep all that, too.

topstuf

Great and timeless provenance.

Weiss

I hear you! Here's an example of a seller (in this case Heritage) being very, very, very, very careful with the bill I won:

derryb

Doesn't hurt to also keep and recycle the protective packaging material such as bubble wrap and foam peanuts.

topstuf

@derryb said:
Doesn't hurt to also keep and recycle the protective packaging material such as bubble wrap and foam peanuts.

paint the peanuts brown and save a bundle next Halloween

mannie gray

@Meltdown said:
Someone kept these envelopes for years & years... I'm the new owner now and am thankful that they did
.
.

Those are really cool!

Twobitcollector

Timbuk3

My problem is that I keep everything and anything !!!

Hemispherical

@Timbuk3 said:
My problem is that I keep everything and anything !!!

Agree. Do the same.

ricko

I tend to throw packaging away. I used to keep it, but I moved so much around the country/world that I just could not keep packing/hauling everything. So stopped doing that.
Cheers, RickO

RogerB

I wonder -- If collectors kept more of the original packaging and sent less for repackaging by TPGs/TTGs or whatever, would future people find the coins more interesting?

Meltdown

@Twobitcollector said:

Cool. I've got a few of those sitting around as well.