Sorry for causing the Dansco album shortage... [243 Albums + Two Discoveries!]

AlbumNerd · April 13, 2023 4:08PM

What started out as a small album collection for my coins has turned into a full-fledged preservation project as I dove into the history of the Dansco Corporation and its storied history in numismatics and coin preservation. I have previously documented my journey in two prior posts...

Part 1 [January 2022]

Part 2 [August 2022]

...and my collection has since jumped up to 240+ albums! I made it my goal to collect and preserve one of every Dansco album ever created. During this journey, I made two interesting discoveries. The first was that Dansco was the original manufacturer of the United Nations F.A.O. albums during the 1970s. The second is Dansco's connection with Nevada's Casinos' transition from silver dollars to gaming tokens.

UN FAO Albums

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization used to run a program where they coordinated with UN members to produce coins specifically to bring attention to worldwide food insecurity. Dansco produced a variety of colorful albums for the UN and collectors. I only learned of this when reviewing an old pdf report from the UN FAO office where the commissioner was warning collectors about Dansco being six months behind production. [Some things never change!] Photos of the albums are detailed further below.

Casinos and the Silver Crisis

The second discovery was that Dansco worked with the Franklin Mint and Nevada Casinos in 1965 & 1966. As the United States was moving away from using silver in circulating currency, Casinos faced a crisis as they had relied on patrons using silver dollars. With silver being withdrawn, Casinos found themselves with patrons who would rather hold onto silver dollars than spend it. Casinos worked with the Nevada State Government and the Franklin Mint to move over to non-silver Gaming Tokens. To commemorate this occasion, Dansco was commissioned to produce albums in 1965 and 1966to house the first 500 Silver Proof Tokens, 500 Full-Proof Tokens, and 500 Proof-Like Tokens. I suspect these albums were then given to politicians, casino owners, and those who were instrumental in this transition.

Dansco's connection with Nevada Casinos and the United Nations has been lost to time. Very little mention of it can be found online. But now it is known again

My Collection

In the details below, I have documented every single album in my collection with photos of every page. The process took me a few months to comb through and document each album. My hope is that this can serve as a resource for collectors who want to see which Dansco albums are out there and what the insides of each album look like. You'll notice some oddities such as albums labeled for the Littleton company and Federal Coin Fund, along with a few custom albums Dansco has produced over the years. Along with some custom albums I've made myself. Enjoy!

US Typeset

Dansco [#7070]

US Cents

US Nickels

US Dimes

US Quarters

US Half Dollars

US Dollars

US Silver & Gold

US Commemorative

Tokens & Casino Chips

MISC & Currency

Cards & Sports

Foreign Albums

Australia

Canada

Fiji

Type [#7350]

Great Britain

Guatemala

Type [#7230]

Ireland

Israel

Japan

Type [#7460]

Mexico

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Type [#7235]

Palestine

Panama

Type [#7451]

South Africa

Crowns [Custom]

Switzerland

Swiss Confederation Type [#7500]

Vatican

Various Years [Custom]

Foreign Misc

United Nations F.A.O Albums

Continental Line Albums

Stamp Albums

Misc Custom Albums

Misc Folders

I hope you enjoyed my detailed collection of Dansco Albums! It has been an immense joy collecting these albums over the years and diving into the history of numismatic albums. I have met a ton of great people during the pursuit of this preservation project. Collectors from all over the world have reached out to help connect me with impossible-to-find albums.

I still have a few albums left to complete the collection! Please let me know if you come across these!

#7240: Cuba Type
#7338-1: Australia 20 Cents
#7338-2: Australia 50 Cents
#7340: Australia Two Dollar
#7360: New Guinea
#7373: Ireland Florin, Halfcrown
#7450: Hong Kong Type
#7452: Republic of Panama Type
Nielsen #I-100 Israel 1960-1968
Nielsen #I-200 Israel Commemoratives 1958-1972

Continental Line Albums [Red]

Canada Type
Czechoslovak Republic Type
Duchy of Luxembourg
German Colonies
German Republics Commemoratives
Republic of Austria

Cheers!

Dug13 · April 13, 2023 4:19PM

Thank for your tireless efforts.
Job well done!

braddick · April 13, 2023 4:44PM

Excellent!
What a fantastic way of collecting.
I appreciate your research.
If I may, I'd like to ask a couple of questions:
For the budding new collector of these, which albums of American coins are scarce and which
Are they downright rare?
Is condition a significant factor in collecting these, or are some so rare finding them in any shape is a worthwhile
purchase?
Is the Littleton brand of spin-off Dansco albums worth perusing?
I've seen the occasional Littleton Dansco-type set album (with the photos of the coins between the pages) and wonder
if it is a scarce album or somewhat easy to obtain.
Thanks!

AlbumNerd · April 13, 2023 4:57PM

Hey @braddick, here are the answers I know

For the budding new collector of these, which albums of American coins are scarce and which. Are they downright rare?
The absolute hardest-to-find albums in my experience have been both the Foreign albums and Foreign Continental Line albums. These are the ones that only pop up once every few years on eBay. Probably the hardest-to-find album has been the Neilsen-Porter albums for Israel. Dansco partnered up with the Neilsen-Porter company back in the 1960s to produce Blue albums for Israel and Palestine. According to WorthPoint, they have only popped up for sale a handful of times in the past 10 years.

Is condition a significant factor in collecting these, or are some so rare finding them in any shape is a worthwhile
purchase?
Some are so rare that I must bite the bullet and go for them. More often albums that go for sale tend to be fully filled out, which makes their purchase price so much higher.

Is the Littleton brand of spin-off Dansco albums worth perusing?
The only difference I've seen between the Littleton Dansco spinoffs is different wording on the album description and lettering on the spine. As a Dansco collector, it made sense for me to go after these albums to complete my collection. But for the average coin collector that needs to house their coins, I would suggest just purchasing the cheaper available Dansco album in a condition that is acceptable for you.

I've seen the occasional Littleton Dansco-type set album (with the photos of the coins between the pages) and wonder
if it is a scarce album or somewhat easy to obtain.
The Littleton Dansco albums are definitely harder to obtain and are rarer. But I do not get the sense that the coin community places a higher premium on those albums.

braddick · April 13, 2023 5:08PM

Which of the U.S. variations are worth pursuing?
Not to necessarily place coins in yet rather collect for the sake of having the album itself.

Smudge · April 13, 2023 5:18PM

Have you filled them?

AlbumNerd · April 13, 2023 5:34PM

@Smudge said:
Have you filled them?

A lot of the modern albums are filled!

@braddick said:
Which of the U.S. variations are worth pursuing?
Not to necessarily place coins in yet rather collect for the sake of having the album itself.

I would say the #7070 Type is a must. Then any foreign albums. I'd also suggest the UN FAO and Casino Gaming Token albums are worthy of themselves just for the history it represents.

ThreeCentSilverFL · April 13, 2023 5:39PM

That’s a lot of albums

ricko · April 14, 2023 7:49AM

WOW!! What a collection!! Thanks for the picture, links and information. Amazing project. Cheers, RickO

erscolo · April 14, 2023 8:47AM

You have a problem...but you already know that.

1630Boston · April 14, 2023 8:48AM

@erscolo said:
You have a problem...but you already know that.

what @erscolo said

Overdate · April 14, 2023 8:57AM

I notice the inside cover of the 1909-1958 Lincoln cent album states: "The 1943-47 cent weighs 2.70 grams and the composition is zinc-coated steel. The original alloy is resumed in 1947." I'm wondering if this wording is the same on all these albums.

Grantu · April 14, 2023 9:01AM

I think I saw this collection when you posted it on Reddit…oops I guess that reveals my age a little. I’m willing to bet there are a lot of members here that don’t even know what that is. 😂 Awesome collection by the way!

Bikergeek · April 14, 2023 9:41AM

Love this! Some would say you have a touch of OCD. My own OCD tendency, having once acquired the albums, would be to FILL THEM ALL!!! hahahah

So, you aren't what I'd call a "serious" case... yet.

Nice job!

jmlanzaf · April 14, 2023 10:03AM

buy the coin not the album.

Steven59 · April 14, 2023 11:07AM

A heck of a collection - Congrats.

seanq · April 14, 2023 12:24PM

@AlbumNerd said:

Israel

Agorot-Pound Series II: 1969-1975 [#I-110]
Type [#7600] [Old Version]
Type [#7600] [Updated Version]
Type: 1948-1955 [#7601]

Probably the hardest-to-find album has been the Neilsen-Porter albums for Israel. Dansco partnered up with the Neilsen-Porter company back in the 1960s to produce Blue albums for Israel and Palestine. According to WorthPoint, they have only popped up for sale a handful of times in the past 10 years.

So I have a tangential question about the Israel albums. Whitman also made some Bookshelf albums for Israeli coinage for the R. P. Nielsen Company. The two I have are the "Arogot - Pound Series I 1960-68", numbered I-100, which dovetails with the Series II album that Dansco produced. The other in my collection is the "Commemoratives Volume I", numbered I-200, which covers higher denomination coins from 1958 - 1972.

I have often wondered if there were others in this series, as these are the only two I have ever seen offered. Your information has me thinking that the Neilsen Company moved their business to Dansco after these two albums were produced. Have you done any research into these albums or the Nielsen Company?

Photos of the Whitman albums are below.

Sean Reynolds

Tramp · April 14, 2023 1:02PM

@AlbumNerd
There's a coin shop in Des Moines Iowa that has a hoard of Dasco albums and single pages when I visited that town in October '22. However, I cannot remember which coin shop it was. There are only a few coin shops in Des Moines; Capitol Coin, Coins Stamps N Stuff, Central Iowa Coin and Bullion. Definitely wasn't Christopher's Rare Coins.

Let me know if you score anything you were looking for.

Good luck!

Steven59 · April 14, 2023 1:09PM

@Smudge said:
Have you filled them?

I don't see the shelves bending...........

bagofnickels · April 14, 2023 2:48PM

Wow! That's quite an impressive collection. Thanks for sharing it. If you've filled even half of those that's even more impressive.

scooter25 · April 14, 2023 4:48PM

Are they filled though?!

AlbumNerd · April 14, 2023 4:51PM

@scooter25 said:
Are they filled though?!

A good amount are!

AlbumNerd · April 14, 2023 8:46PM

@seanq said:

@AlbumNerd said:

Israel

Agorot-Pound Series II: 1969-1975 [#I-110]
Type [#7600] [Old Version]
Type [#7600] [Updated Version]
Type: 1948-1955 [#7601]

Probably the hardest-to-find album has been the Neilsen-Porter albums for Israel. Dansco partnered up with the Neilsen-Porter company back in the 1960s to produce Blue albums for Israel and Palestine. According to WorthPoint, they have only popped up for sale a handful of times in the past 10 years.

So I have a tangential question about the Israel albums. Whitman also made some Bookshelf albums for Israeli coinage for the R. P. Nielsen Company. The two I have are the "Arogot - Pound Series I 1960-68", numbered I-100, which dovetails with the Series II album that Dansco produced. The other in my collection is the "Commemoratives Volume I", numbered I-200, which covers higher denomination coins from 1958 - 1972.

I have often wondered if there were others in this series, as these are the only two I have ever seen offered. Your information has me thinking that the Neilsen Company moved their business to Dansco after these two albums were produced. Have you done any research into these albums or the Nielsen Company?

Photos of the Whitman albums are below.

Sean Reynolds

This is a really interesting question! The only info I found regarding Nielsen's partnership with Dansco comes from a comment left by the late David Lange on the E-Sylum from the Numismatic Bibliomania Society

https://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n48a11.html

""I also took note of the album for coins of Palestine. It's not possible to see much in the photos, but I recognized it as one I have in my collection of coin albums. It was custom produced by Dansco for R. P. Nielsen in the 1970s. There is no reference to Dansco, but instead it is marked "Nielsen-Porter, Inc., Houston, Texas." A publisher number of P-100 is also included.

There is a second album by and for the same parties titled "ISRAEL AGOROT-POUND SERIES II 1969-1975," and this is publisher number I-110. These albums were produced a few years after Whitman had printed the first two albums in the series, I-100: "ISRAEL AGOROT-POUND SERIES I 1960-1968," and I-200: 'ISRAEL COMMEMORATIVES VOLUME I." Both of these were custom printed in Whitman's "Bookshelf" album format of 1961-77 and were published by the "R. P. NIELSEN COMPANY," with no mention of Porter or Whitman.

I don't know why Dansco was chosen over Whitman for the two later emissions, but they did appear right about the time that Whitman was phasing out its Bookshelf line in favor of the still-current "Classic" line. Another possibility is that Nielsen and Porter went with Dansco because their custom titles may have complimented Dansco's own standard albums for "Israel Type" (7600) and "Israel 1948-1957" (7601), which held all coins by denomination and date.

All of the above-mentioned albums are long out-of-print and quite scarce. The two standard Dansco albums bring strong money in the secondary market, yet the Nielsen albums don't attract much attention. They are by far the rarest of the lot and should be worth more, but potential buyers perhaps are turned off by the lack of a brand name. For any collectors who may be seeking an album for coins of Palestine during the British Mandate, a current line of albums by Arabiancoins.com that is comparable to Dansco in quality includes this title: http://www.arabiancoins.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=33&zenid=snacdcmp2dmuu2s2v3p8uk0ee1""

jesbroken · April 14, 2023 9:22PM

Congrats, now thats a library.
Jim

Mr_Spud · April 14, 2023 9:24PM

That’s a really great album collection, very impressive!

braddick · April 15, 2023 2:30PM

How scarce is this album?

AlbumNerd · April 15, 2023 3:02PM

@braddick it's not that rare as I see it come up on ebay often

Sorry for causing the Dansco album shortage... [243 Albums + Two Discoveries!]

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