Saturday Advice: Store Your Coins Properly — A Practical Guide to Accessories

The most common coin damage is a fingerprint that turns into a permanent mark, a coin rubbing against another in a drawer, or a proof surface handled once without thinking.

Storage isn't the glamorous part of collecting, but it's the part that decides what your collection looks like in twenty years.

Capsules are the starting point we recommend.

A hard capsule holds the coin without contact, keeps air and handling away from the surfaces, and lets you look at both sides. Round capsules come in sizes matched to the coin — 21mm packs of ten at $8.95 and 25mm packs of ten at $7.95 — and getting the size right matters, because a coin rattling in an oversized capsule defeats the purpose. If you prefer a squared look for display, the Lighthouse Quadrum square capsules in 21mm and 25mm are $19.80 for ten and sit neatly in rows.

For volume, staple coin holders are hard to beat on cost. TACK holders come in packs of 100 across 22.5mm, 27.5mm, 32.5mm and 35mm at $21.95 a pack, which is a few cents per coin. They suit circulating and bulk material where you want everything labelled, sorted and findable.

Albums are the answer for anyone building a themed run. The Renniks Premier Australia Two Dollar Coin Album at $59.95 is the obvious choice for the commemorative $2 coins, which is where a lot of Australian collections now begin, and the extra pages kit at $12.95 keeps it going as new releases land. The general Renniks Coin Album in black at $41.95 is more flexible. For $2 collectors who prefer capsules to pages, the coin box with 48 round capsule spaces at 21.5mm is $55.

Two more worth having. A magnifier — the 7x LED pocket magnifier at $34.95 — because you cannot assess a coin you can't see properly, and errors and varieties live in the fine detail. And a reference: Renniks Australian Pre-Decimal and Decimal Coin Errors at $34.95 tells you what you're looking for once you're looking.

Handle coins by the edge, store them out of heat and humidity, and give every piece its own space. That's most of it.

Shop now: www.mintcoinshop.com.au