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Numismatic Accessory Recommendations
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51 posts in this topic

With regards to safes, I highly recommend Liberty's "Fatboy" series. Although they are made for firearms, you can buy custom shelving cheaply from the company and remove the gun racks. They are usually fairly secure, and come with a 1 hour fire rating of 1200-1400 degrees. You can also order greater fire protection for a nominal cost, but as with all fire proof safes, you will want to place silica gel to prevent moisture from damaging your coins.

 

The size of the safes are 60.5" x 30.5" x 42". For collectors on a limited budget, I think it is by far the best option available. I picked up two at a local Bass Pro Shops (or some analog) for $999 each.

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Commercial copy stand is a must. Don't mess around, get something secure to put your camera on. Mine has light fixtures and works nicely. The Kaiser reprokid. Some will want the version without lights (I did) which is cheaper, and move your lights around manually

 

Loupe - Bausch & Lomb 5x aspheric slide out.

 

Halogen lamp ! any incandescant light source, and use it in a dark room. You cannot properly check your coin surfaces without a proper lamp

 

NGC slab boxes ! these go great even in a small safe. I can stand 6 on end in mine = 120 coins, plus some extra stuff (mahogany slab boxes)

 

 

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As a follow-up to my earlier post...

 

 

Items for instance:

 

Coin Collector's Assistant Plus, by Carlisle Development Corp.

It says "...Features pricing provided by Coin World. Enter any US coin into the database including commemoratives, government sets, bullion, California gold, Hawaiian, and Colonial issues. Print custom reports and labels including want and sell lists. Load an unlimited number of coins and search across multiple fields including specification, purchase and sale information, condition, certification, inventory codes, notes and more. High quality pictures are included in the program - or upload your own photos. A status line at the bottom of the screen displays the total value of your collection. Pricing updates are available annually from Carlisle Development. Windows compatible." Item SU036 List Price $84.95 ANA Member Price $75.95

There is add on software available for US Currency and for World Coins. SU36C, SU36W

 

Special Combination Offers also available.

 

 

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to reply,

 

I have this program and I love it. It updates automatically and is very flexible.

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Eschenbach 5x Biconvex Precision Folding Magnifier (1177-5) - The is a wonderful magnifier. Large enough to look at an entire coin at once. Amazing piece of glass.

Edited by nazmuth
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As for safes I bought cheapest fireproof safe I coulf find, if you're as lucky as I was with the placement, it is right over the main support beam with the back up against the outer wall. It is bolted to floor and glued to wall, hopefully if I ever have a fire it should survive unless the house is completely destroyed. Another trick to try is buy a cheap gun cabinet, put it in plain sight in bedroom or other non public area of the house, in it I have a bunch of coins that I could live without, but hopefully enough that a burgler would have his hands full and not look for the safe with the good stuff......

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As for safes I bought cheapest fireproof safe I coulf find, if you're as lucky as I was with the placement, it is right over the main support beam with the back up against the outer wall. It is bolted to floor and glued to wall, hopefully if I ever have a fire it should survive unless the house is completely destroyed. Another trick to try is buy a cheap gun cabinet, put it in plain sight in bedroom or other non public area of the house, in it I have a bunch of coins that I could live without, but hopefully enough that a burgler would have his hands full and not look for the safe with the good stuff......

 

that does work well at times to

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Guard dogs, and guns, and stickers on your windows stating you have guard dogs and guns will make burglers think twice before entering. And all the other stuff already mentioned is good too.

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I would say three overlooked items that most "serious" collectors truly need are:

 

-A license to carry along with a .223 Assault Rifle loaded and ready to handle possible intruders

 

-Serious collectors need a bomb proof jewelry style safe that is attached to a foundation with heavy duty bolts installed by a professional.

 

-Insurance on your collection

 

Fancy photos on your online registry won't have much value to any collector once you are robbed. Wouldn't you just love to hit the "Delete Set" button and erase everything you worked so hard to build. Interesting thought? Learn how to avoid that situation!

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Bausch & Lomb Stereo or StereoZoom Microscope. They are selling cheap on eBay recently.

 

Plastic tipped tweezers, especially for copper coins.

 

TAP plastics 3-1/4 x 3-1/4 x 4-1/2 clear acrylic boxes. Fit 20 OBW Cent rolls. Add a dry dessicant pack, a moisture indicator, and seal the top with Kapton tape and you have archival storage for your OBW rolls for 100 years

 

TAP plastics snaptop tubes. 3/4" inside diameter yellow tubes fit 15 Cents. Perfect for sorting varieties

 

Membership to the ANA, and your choice of specialty groups like CONECA, etc

 

 

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The AnMo DinoLite Digital Microscope seems to be the new must have item, especially for VAMs, varieties, die cracks, errors, etc.

 

Agree 100%

 

 

 

p18p6g3d1b11po55h4u59ja1udc4.jpg

 

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This may be so obvious that it doesn't need to be said, but I think that the first thing that a new collector should purchase is a Red Book.

 

The books i recommend are the red book as a first then two others, the blue and the book i use most is the red book deluxe edition. The deluxe edition has far more information and details such as varieties, total graded, mintages, background and much more. Its relatively expensive but needed when you start getting serious.

 

One thing to think about is a safe. So far as my collection has grown, so have my safes as its easy to blow them out as your collection grows. My suggestion is, if you know your in for the long haul then invest in the biggest you can afford and make sure its heavy and does not have wheels. If i could do it again, i would have paid 1000 bucks from the start for a larger two door rifle safe and customized the inside. I probably have spent more than that in the first two i bought. My third safe still has room but i give it another few months. Think about a seperate place to store Govt mint packaging as they will kill you on room. I seperate them and store the OGP' in a seperate area.

 

Rethink how you store using air tights and clear tubes. Over time these will take up a lot of room. At first they look great but i have had to break down plenty of them and put coins back in their original mint tubes. Now anything i buy stays in the original mint tube or generic round tubes as they take up less room. If i do need air tights i have about a thousand for the future, wasted money for now.

 

Storing slabs, you can either just stack them as they take the least room this way or buy the NGC plastic holders that will store 20 at a time. I actually have several aluminum storage boxes with clear tops as they are great to see whats inside. The aluminum boxes fit 20, 30 and 50 slabs depending on your needs. Its easy to label the boxes and keep slabs organized. When i bought my first 50 slab holder i never thought i would fill it but they do fill fast.

 

 

If your going to study grading, then you will need a good grading lamp and a dark space to work. This is my next purchase, not that i plan on getting into thw business but i would like to max my potential on what i submit.

 

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Fantastic information in this thread, from loupes, to safes, to insurance, to cameras and lighting, etc... Thank you to all who over the years have contributed!

 

For storage and display combination for slabbed coins, I like the Lighthouse MSLBOX50. Each display/storage box holds 50 slabbed coins and they are very nice looking. Easy for storage in safes as well.

 

4-23-16_zpspvmznx1v.jpg

 

4-23-16%202_zpscfjwqd2b.jpg

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I personally have a Bausch & Lomb 10x Hastings Triplet glass lens loupe, and it is too much power, imho.

I bought for my nephew an acrylic lens Bausch & Lomb 4x loupe, and I checked it out while it was in my possession.

I actually liked it more than my 3x more expensive Hastings.

No extra lens for multiple power (a good thing, really), and just a simple foldaway, low power loupe.  Around $15.

Product Details

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On 7/21/2012 at 10:37 PM, newprepper said:

Guard dogs, and guns, and stickers on your windows stating you have guard dogs and guns will make burglers think twice before entering. And all the other stuff already mentioned is good too.

Don't recommend advertising that you have guns...and guard dogs can be poisoned.  Best to blend in and keep your security secrets to yourself.  My $0.02.

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3 hours ago, valk1999 said:

Don't recommend advertising that you have guns...and guard dogs can be poisoned.  Best to blend in and keep your security secrets to yourself.  My $0.02.

Advertising you have guns is a significant deterrent to most threats. 

And anyone who poisons my dog runs a high risk of getting shot. 

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And what is your "source" for stating that advertising you have guns in your house is a burglary deterrence?  We can agree to disagree on this recommendation.  Having guns is one thing that I agree is wise, but signaling someone casing your house that there are guns to be stolen doesn't make much sense to me.  You can't keep all your guns in a safe if you need to put your hands on them in a hurry.

Serious preppers don't advertise their stockpiles.  It's one of the basic rules of prepping.

Good luck...

Edited by valk1999
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