Recently I got this coin set from Western Samoa. The coins are great, but the original packaging from the Treasury of Apia, Western Samoa looks horrible, with lots of little white dots in the plastic.
Would you take the coins out in order to enjoy them or would you hold on to the original packaging, as that could be of higher value to some collectors?
It would also be nice to see some other sets, either still poorly wrapped or coins removed from the plastic before it degrades them (further).
Besides coins I love geometry. The avatar consists of each of the 35 hexominoes used precisely once. With the 5 large yellow shapes placed like this, the solution for tiling the remaining 30 hexominoes is unique.
Packaging looks like it will crumble in a few years, and you can never be sure what is in cheap plastics like this. If I get coins in this particular cheapo plastic I always remove it, not just the sets but I had a lot of Russian commemorative rubels that were packaged individually like this from the 70s and 80s - straight out.
„If your reply or post in the Forum stinks of AI, I will call you out! Knowledge comes from experience, the I in AI stands for incompetence.“
Normally I'm a “Keep it in original packaging” kind of guy. But given that that packaging looks pretty corroded, I'd be worried about the damage to the coins.
I'm given to understand this isn't a massively rare & valuable set. I can quickly find sets in the £15-£30 mark. Interestingly, all seem to show the same dots so is evidently a common problem.
As they're not valuable, I'd want to get the most enjoyment from the coins, and worrying about packaging cross-contamination would lower my enjoyment.
Personally, I'd remove them and put the coins into flips or other holders. You could always keep the empty packaging, so a future collector could reunite them if they so wished.
For the few Japanese sets I have it was easy to remove the coins without causing damage to the original packaging. So I took the coins out and put them inside the regular cardboard squares that stick and prevent any air to reach the coins. Though the Japanese packing is quit tight, still some air might be able to pass through. For some other official sets it was easy to decide to take the coins out, either some coins had already been affected with air contact or they could be easily removed. In some Dutch set I left the coins, yet the copper 5 cents in the earlier sets have oxidized.
In this case I strongly tend to remove the coins indeed, to enjoy them more and to prevent long term damage. I'll have to cut open the plastic, there is no other access to the coins. In that case I'll keep the original little piece of paper inside, the plastic will turn worthless to any collector once cutting it open.
Besides coins I love geometry. The avatar consists of each of the 35 hexominoes used precisely once. With the 5 large yellow shapes placed like this, the solution for tiling the remaining 30 hexominoes is unique.
That plastic was “Pliofilm” a very cheap and early plastic used by the Royal Mint between 1965 and 1971 and on occasional later sets and appeared in British Commonwealth sets. Despite its nasty appearance and spottiness, unless opened, its fine. I have many NZ 1967 sets in it and they are fine. Its easy to take the coins out and let them go into flips.
Most of these sets were for New Zealand and its island possessions and ex colonies like Samoa, Cook Islands and you see them before the rigid plastic took over from the 1970s.
Some Pliofilm sets have survived well, especially better blue label sets, but the stuff used for pink label sets (The el cheapo ones) is usually spotty and even sticky, the bronze coins tarnish, but Cupronickel survives well. Liberate them by all means, but damage if kept in them is minimal.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
The shrink fit plastic sleeve is perfectly sealed, but degradation is happening to the holder. The front is not too bad, but the back has some scary looking chemistry growing inside the sleeve.
The coins are fairing well. the .750 silver has just the faintest pink blush, and the nickel coins have a tawny patina exactly like the one on the Numista catalog page, but no other surface blemishes or any hint of corrosion. It has not advanced since I have owned the set, since about 10 years.
I have considered many times to take them out of the holder, but then what?
Back in the box it goes.
Jamais l'or n'a perdu la plus petite occasion de se montrer stupide. -Balzac
I prefer loose coins as I love to be able to “hand my history”. I avoid coins in any type of holders with the exception of 2x2s.
So when I got a bill lot with a set of Swiss coins in a package like this, they were already green and sticky. I removed them and cleaned the sludge off with no regrets!
The coins will far outlast the plastic…
Taking a break from swapping for a while, but still interested in pre 1799 Spanish coins, I will make time for that!
I wouldn't remove them. This plastic, while looking horribly, does not damage the coins.
To me this set worth much more this way, I woudn't even consider buying them without the plastic.
The only time it is worth removing coins from original packaging is if it damages the coins, like those with PVC plastic or Nepalese proof/1982 Seychelles proof sets, in which the cardboard coin holder is corrosive.
