Saturday, October 25, 2014

Tips for Building an Attractive and Memorable Collection


I try to feature different collectibles in these intermittent blogs, but this week I just want to talk about collecting in general and how to build your own collection.

Collecting is more than just a hobby.  It also involves history, science and a keen eye.  There is no shortage of counterfeit collectibles going around, and it’s important as a collector to know the difference between the genuine article and a fake.  Making sure your items are the real deal is just the first step to making your collection more attractive.
 
How can this be achieved?  It can be done in a number of ways.  More experienced collectors may be able to simply use advanced magnification systems to discern quality and authenticity.  These products can range from simple magnifying glasses, to microscopes and telescopes, all the way to advanced electronic magnifiers and eye-glass low vision aids that contour to someone’s face individually.   There are also ultraviolet lamps, watermark detectors, perforation gauges and other advanced collecting accessories that assist the collector in determining authenticity.

The next thing that can be popularly done is extensive sorting and categorization of your collectibles.  This can be more helpful to people enjoying and educating others about their collection.  When things are sorted, categorized and made understandable for someone who isn’t an expert or professional collector, it makes a collection a learning experience, like a museum or library, and by having interesting, well explained objects, the collection gains an entertaining flair for any hound in the collecting trade. 

There are a multitude of cases and albums that help with categorizing and detailing a collection.  One way is with detailed three dimensional (3D) Floating Frames that give observers and the collector a look at an item from all angles, without the danger of touching a valuable collectible.  Customizable albums and pages can be used to cleverly organize your collection of coins, stamps, postcards, pins and/or old currency.   

There are many options in these categories.  There are Collecto Albums, which are sturdy and meant for high-capacity storage.  Setups like these are sought after by hounds with extensive collections.  There are a vast assortment of labels, decals and stickers for organizing collections as well.
Last but not least, there are all sorts of safes, display cases and chests of drawers that can personalize a collection, adding class and beauty to valued belongings.  There are universal storage systems like the Beba Storage Case, which can be used for a varied assortment of collectibles.  There are also elegant and timeless chests made from wood, acrylic and aluminum that can be used for coins, rocks and many other detailed forms of collectibles. 


One Gold “Mohur” circa about 1841
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Having the right chests and storage units make a collection attractive and informative, and make you proud to display them to friends, family and other interested individuals.  There are many other collectibles that these can be utilized for aside from the ones listed here, like jewelry, perfume bottles, comic books, DVDs, trains, matchbox cars and much more. 

Find these products and more at SAFE® Collecting Supplies.  We offer free shipping on orders $99 or more.  We have been serving professional and amateur collectors since 1953.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Eagles, Eagles, Eagles....we love those Eagles

In honor of my local football team, and their surprise entry (and quick exit) into the playoffs, I thought I would talk about Eagles.  No, not the Philadelphia Eagles.  American Eagles.

Silver Eagles.  Gold Eagles.  The standard bearer in this country for beauty and preservation of wealth through legal ownership of commodity metal.  We love our Eagles.


American Silver Eagle Dollars are the official silver bullion coins of the United States.  It was first released by the United States Mint on November 24, 1986. It is struck only in the one-troy ounce size, which has a nominal face value of one dollar and is guaranteed to contain one troy ounce of 99.9% pure silver.  It weighs exactly 31.103 grams, it is 40.6mm in diameter and 2.98mm thick.  Simply one of the most beautiful coins ever produced.  That is not just my opinion...it bears to the millions that are collected and traded each year.  Take a look at the beautiful design on the coin's obverse which was taken from the "Walking Liberty" design by Adolph A. Weinman, and originally had been used on the Walking Liberty Half Dollar coin of the United States from 1916 to 1947. The obverse is also inscribed with the year of minting or issuance, the word LIBERTY, and the phrase IN GOD WE TRUST.

The American Gold Eagle Dollars are the official gold bullion coin of the United States and was first released by the United States Mint in 1986.  Gold Eagles are offered in denominations of 1/10 oz (16.5mm), 1/4 oz (22mm), 1/2 oz (27mm), and 1 oz (32.7mm) and are guaranteed by the U.S. government to contain the stated amount of actual gold weight in troy ounces. By law, the gold must come from sources in America, alloyed with silver and copper to produce a more wear-resistant coin.  The obverse design features a rendition of Augustus Saint-Gaudens' full length figure of Lady Liberty with flowing hair, holding a torch in her right hand and an olive branch in her left, with the Capitol building in the left background.  You would know the diameter of each if you had a coin caliper.

SAFE offers coin capsules, coin cases and coin albums for Silver Eagle Dollars and Gold Eagle Dollars.  Rather than letting them sit loose in your safe deposit box, why not organize them nicely in one of our coin cases, or at least protect them for the elements in our air tight coin capsules.  They are much too beautiful not to protect. If you need help selecting, just shoot me an email or give me a call at 877-395-SAFE.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

What is it made of & is it archival quality?

We are always asked, what kind of material is used in one of our items, and of course - is it safe for long term storage?  We love getting this question as it allows us to talk about the materials that SAFE uses versus the materials that many of our competitors use.

As it states very succinctly on our website:  We guarantee that ALL material that comes in contact with your collection is archival quality, acid free, 100% free of plasticizers (chemical softening agents) and free of stearates. The polyester foils used in manufacturing is scientifically tested to insure it does not contain any harmful plasticized PVC.  Not all polyesters are acceptable. Only ones that have been tested and proven to be chemically stable for long periods of time should be used.

Our stamp albums, coin albums, currency albums, postcard albums and fdc cover albums only contain album pages that meet these stringent requirements.  I actually think that the Library of Congress (LOC) also describes it well when it discusses recommendation for preservation of materials:
  • Use acid-free and lignin-free paper materials
  • Use polyethylene, polystyrene, polypropylene, or polyester film plastics
  • Use wheat-starch paste instead of any other kind of glue, or use non-adhesive attachment methods like acid- and lignin-free paper photo corners or polyethylene photo corners
  • Avoid rubber bands, self-adhesive tape, paper clips, staples as these materials may leach towards the material
  • Choose an expandable album format with heavy/thick stock for album pages that are adequate to support the weight of the added material
The LOC is not permitted to recommend any brand or vendor, but we are thankful that they purchase some of their materials from us.  I am not going to point fingers at any one of our competitors.  The purpose of this article is to make sure you are asking the right questions regarding the source of the material.  Not only what type of material is used, but what the source country of the material is.  And what are their current quality test standards in place to insure the base material that they receive is truly archival quality and meets the LOC's standards.

Just make sure to stop and ask the right questions to insure the long term viability of your collection.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

All kinds of questions

Every day I get calls from collectors asking what kind of collecting supplies I think would be the best way to protect and preserve their collection.  The questions can range from:

"I have a coin collection and I would like to organize them in some sort of coin cases or albums, what kind do you have?" .....to the more complex:

"I inherited an entire room full of stamp albums from my Grandfather and I have no idea what to do with them? 

Having literally grown up in this business, I have personally been involved in preservation and displaying of collections for over 40 years.  The creation of this blog is meant to help share some of that knowledge to allow collectors new and old, to make better informed decisions about how to house their collection.

If you haven't already called or emailed us with your question, feel free to post your questions here as a comment to our blog and I can try to answer it here.