How did REALLY old-timers store coins?
topstuf
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Some of the completely friction-free specimens look like there was a very OLD ....very GOOD ....way to store em.
Envelopes were fulla sulfur. Cabinets moved. Anyone know the storage methods for the REALLY well preserved specimens?
Lacquer maybe? But they are nicely toned.
???????????????????
Envelopes were fulla sulfur. Cabinets moved. Anyone know the storage methods for the REALLY well preserved specimens?
Lacquer maybe? But they are nicely toned.
???????????????????
0
Comments
"poking" through are the letters "C O M P" but backwards as if you held print up to a morror. In other words P M O C, but with the P & C turned backwards. It was most likely wrapped and stored in newspaper for the backwards lettering to be transferred from from print to coin obverse. I put this up across the street a few months back and that was the opinion of a well established poster their. Seems logical. But, from what the response said, was that it was common practice for people to wrap coins in newspaper.
Jerry
wood cabinets, felt and newspaper are not very good choices for reasons already explained in previous posts. I think early pre wood-pulp paper that was not high in sulphur, but that was mosltly out by the Civil War or so?
Best,
Billy
i have some plastic tubes of coins put away in the early 1950s that you can tell have not toned in the slightest. they were heat-sealed, so you know that not ever tape-glue could have affected the toning. this is as close as i've come to truly original coins.
i also have some reference coins from unquestionable obw's. these coins i've carefully stored in mylar containers, & whenever i need a reminder of what truly original coins look like, i pull them out as a refresher.
ANYONE who has genuine interest in truly original coins should spring for similar reference coins.
K S
I thought we were talking about REALLY old timers. Hoever, I agree. I have come into several tubes like that of Franklins and Washingtons from the 1950's - such nice preservation. Now, if there were more bell lines....
Best,
Billy
Some collectors even had cases with hinged glass tops on them too.
They used to line the cases with felt or some other such soft cloth like material.
During these times, regular dusting, wiping off with a soft cloth, and polishing and cleaning coins
as they tarnished and such was normal.
It has been said that Julius Ceasar may have written the first book or paper on coins and numismatics, before he was assasinated.
Yes they had coin cabinets like we see today way back then too.
But up until around 1800 or so, coin collecting was pretty much for kings or royalty types, and the rich.
So they used to have some really nice coin cabinets made for them.
perhap this started with the "kuntskammers" of the great collectors from the 16th and 17th centuries. These were incredible ebony cabinets that contained examples of rare and precious metals and stones, small masterworks in oil on copper (it was expeced you would have certain subjects), small skulls and special items - usually meant for personal enjoyment and not to be shared. The cabinet itself was often painted and adorned with gold and other exotic materials.
Best,
Billy
But there are a few.....VERY few.....bust and seated coins that are PRISTINE and had to be away from friction, sulfur, newsprint, rubber, etc.
I just wonder what. Maybe lead foil. Some used that. But it seems that the oxides that form on lead would not make that good.
I...know.....lacquer works good, but I can't see toning making it through lacquer.
My grandmother passed on a Monroe Doctrine......(whoopee, how come grandmas never got Pan Pacs?)...but....she kept it in the cut-off thumb of a fabric garden glove.
PRE-PLASTIC.....
<< <i>By "old" I mean 19th century and earlier. Cabinets being dusted and even OPENED left hairlines.
But there are a few.....VERY few.....bust and seated coins that are PRISTINE and had to be away from friction, sulfur, newsprint, rubber, etc.
I just wonder what. Maybe lead foil. Some used that. But it seems that the oxides that form on lead would not make that good.
I...know.....lacquer works good, but I can't see toning making it through lacquer.
My grandmother passed on a Monroe Doctrine......(whoopee, how come grandmas never got Pan Pacs?)...but....she kept it in the cut-off thumb of a fabric garden glove.
PRE-PLASTIC..... >>
Hi,
lead was the metal used in the museum and conservation experiments I posted about wood and such outgassing and causing tarnish/tone. It must be fairly reactive. Laquer/varnish in itself is often rich with acids (especially natural resins which would have require the solvent of the day - usually turpentine or other oleoresinous exudate) and is capable of disoloring coin metals - as is also covered in previous posts. Then there is the storage environment itself to consider...
Best,
Billy
They were wrapped in aluminum foil.
How cool is that!!
I'll tell ya it was too cool!!
Katrina
effective means of keeping coins pristine. I don't know when this process became widespread
though. Certainly most coins were kept in cabinets in the old days and these were not a good
way to preserve them.
One would guess that there are many different ways in which coins have been well preserved
and many coins (especially ancients) have enjoyed many of these.
My EBay Store/Auctions
<< <i>They used to use wooden cabinets and cases.
Some collectors even had cases with hinged glass tops on them too.
They used to line the cases with felt or some other such soft cloth like material.
During these times, regular dusting, wiping off with a soft cloth, and polishing and cleaning coins
as they tarnished and such was normal. >>
Kind of like stamp collectors using hinges to put their stamps in alblums.
Jerry
<< <i>One time we got some coins from an antique store, who got the coins from an old timer.
They were wrapped in aluminum foil.
How cool is that!!
I'll tell ya it was too cool!!
Katrina >>
Maybe it was real TIN foil.
Jerry
Museum coin display
Even the Smithstonian did this too. I remember someone posting a picture a while back from the Smithstonian showing a rare gold coin
that had fallen off the wall in a display case.
One of the forum members a little while ago had assisted the museum in removing the coins from public display.
How do they store the coins in the private back rooms?
The coins in the James Watt & Robinson Family Estates best illustrate how most pristine coinage made it into our hands today. Many of those copper coins were bronzed, so they haven't turned while being in the shells.
They were either wrapped in watch papers or an envelope of the type shown and kept in the silvered brass shells.
Click around on this entire site. Of particular note is the silver coin commemorating Trafalgar.
Jerry
I should think this would provide an excellent storage environment, though I should think a mordant size would have to have been used, which would likely be oleoresinous. But then tagain, he shells would be rich in calcium. The stability of Gold has long been known and utilized in the arts.
Best,
Billy
he stored his in paper coin rolls which were kept in steel tool/tackle style boxes. I'm kinda dissapointed the silver roll end coins didn't have more that just a slight toning, no pretty colors.
Everything still looks the same as it did about 10 years ago since I last went through the collection, silver, gold, mint/proof sets and currency included.
I could be wrong, but thats my observastion.
Eastside