Ask Baby Boomer collectors how they got started collecting coins and there's a strong chance many began by filling holes in blue Whitman coin folders with coins pulled from circulation.
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Image courtesy of David W. Lange. The earliest coin boards from Whitman Publishing Co. feature holes into which coins can be placed. Once the set was completed, the board could be framed for hanging. Similar boards have been issued in recent years to drum up interest in the State quarter dollar program.
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Archival quality, corrosion inhibiting coin albums from Littleton Coin Co. allow both sides of each coin to be viewed through plastic windows while offering protection against potentially damaging environmental elements. The albums can then be placed inside corrosion-inhibiting slipcases.
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Dansco manufactures coin albums with plastic slides for easy viewing of coins for all series of U.S. coins.
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H.E. Harris, under a licensing agreement with the U.S. Mint, has produced a number of coin albums in which collectors may store their coins as they build their collections.
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Perhaps the most widely known and longest used coin folders are those introduced more than 70 years ago by Whitman Publishing Co. and still being produced today.
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The multiple dates and Mint marks in the holders encouraged many beginning collectors to avidly search their pocket change.
Many of today's hobbyists, whether neophytes or collectors of long standing, still opt for coin storage boards, whether they are single-board, open space holders; tri-folds; multipage albums with sliding window covers, or something similar.
Coin World's parent company, Amos Press Inc., through its Amos Advantage program for hobbyists, offers a wide range of coin folders and albums from a number of manufacturers.
Some of these manufacturers, as well as designated distributors, also advertise their products in Coin World.
Advantages, disadvantages
Each coin board, folder or album has its own set of advantages or disadvantages in storage and preservation, depending on the condition and value of the coins that an individual collector may choose to place in them and the composition of the storage medium.
Evolution
In Coin Collecting Boards of the 1930s and 1940s: A Complete History, Catalog and Value Guide, David W. Lange traces the genesis of coin boards from the first board created in 1934 by J.K. Post, who subsequently contracted for their printing with Whitman Publishing.
"The first practical and inexpensive means of assembling a set of coins from pocket change, coin boards were simply sheets of heavy cardstock measuring 11 inches wide by 14 inches tall through which holes were punched to the exact size of specific coins, such as cents or dimes," Lange writes. "A paper or plastic sheet was attached to the back of this cardstock to keep the coins from falling out, and the front was printed beneath each opening with the various date and Mint mark combinations that made up the complete set.
"The user simply had to search through the day's change or through rolls from the bank and then push each coin into the appropriate opening as he and she found it.
"... The completed coin board could then be mounted within a standard 11-by-14-inch picture frame and hung on the wall, or in some instances, sold back to the dealer from whom it was purchased for a cash reward that was more than the face value of the coins."
During the period of coin board manufacturing from 1934 through 1948, according to Lange, at least seven different manufacturers produced coin boards.
Many of those boards are open face, which permit the coins to be exposed to the elements and direct manual contact. Similar coin boards have been printed for and released in recent years by the U.S. Mint and Professional Numismatists Guild to introduce new collectors to the hobby, primarily with the State quarter dollar program.
Unless manufactured from inert materials, the earlier coin boards, as well as those of recent manufacture, typically are made of sulfur-laden cardstock, which over time may cause the coins to tone (tarnish). The degree of toning will be dependent on the concentration of the sulfur and exposure of the coins to other elemental contacts.
There are some coin folders now on the market that are impregnated with proprietary Intercept Shield or Coroplast CL material that slows the toning or oxidation process.
Littleton Coin Co.'s coin pages and albums use such corrosion inhibiting protection. The albums can be placed inside corrosion inhibiting slipcases as well for additional protection.
Littleton's tri-fold coin folders with hinged pages are tested to be archival quality, but do not have the Coroplast CL corrosion protection.
Some of the early Whitman boards were cloth-hinged with "fancy" tissue in between to offer some protection against fingerprints and surface scratches.
Coin boards provide the collector the opportunity to know what coins are or are not in the collection at a glance. However, only one side of the coin is visible.
Since the diameter of the holes into which the coins are inserted are usually the same size as that of the actual coin, pressure while rotating the coin has to be exerted to force them to fit into the allotted space. Collectors must be careful to not leave fingerprints on the coin or risk any other damage in the process.
Often, coins should be pressed into place with a soft tissue or cloth that should not damage the coin, but also prevents depositing contaminants, including fingerprints.
If the coin board is new, coins plugged into the open holes for the very first time likely will not be in danger of falling out. But repeatedly removing and replacing coins in the same hole, such as while upgrading pieces, will weaken the integrity of the board and it may not hold the last coin inserted.
Under each of the openings on these and other coin holders is imprinted the date, and often Mint mark, of each individual coin.
Tri-fold
Whitman subsequently developed and introduced coin folders for individual coin series that incorporate three down-sized coin boards hinged to one another that allow the boards to be closed together like a fold-out book. Depending on the number of coins comprising a series, more than one folder may be necessary to complete the entire series.
Such folders allow for easier storage since they take up less space, and protect the coins from being exposed to handling damage, unless the folder is open. Repeated opening and closing of the folder can weaken the hinges.
The openings for the coins in each coin folder still present some of the same obstacles as the single page coin boards. A coin can still pop out of its space if coins are repeatedly removed and replaced, enlarging the size of the hole as a result.
Care also must be taken to not tear the material backing the opening, which prevents the coin from falling through the board.
In some instances, it is the condition of the coin that prevents the coin from remaining in its space because edge wear has compromised the coin's diameter slightly and made it a little smaller.
Littleton Coin Co. also produces similar folders.
Both sides now
Littleton, along with Dansco, H.E. Harris and others, produce a number of coin albums for U.S. coin series and providing as a main advantage the ability to view both the obverse and reverse of each coin.
Each of these dual-view coin albums, which usually cost more than individual coin boards or multi-part coin folders, work on the same premise.
The dual-view albums contain holes cut completely through each page into which the coins are inserted. Flexible plastic slides then are inserted beneath the cover paper on the board, but above the highest points of the coins to keep the coins in place while allowing the coin designs to remain visible.
Care needs to be taken, however, when removing the plastic slides to not scratch the high points of the obverse and reverse of the coins, causing irreparable damage and lowering the value of the coin.
The thickness of the hole for each coin is usually sufficient to accommodate the coin's surfaces to be equidistant from front to back.
The pages for each of the series are held in album covers through a ring binding or other similar fixture.
