Displaying coins from your collection

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I've been thinking about how to display some of my more interesting coins. It's not very often anyone comes by a 32 yr old bachelor's house (I get about 1 visitor a month), but having my entire collection in a box in the closet isn't all that interesting, I would occasionally like someone to notice, most of my friends don't even know I collect. I'm not a museum, so lighted drawers and stuff aren't an option, and my coins are cool but not THAT cool. And I have plenty of other antiques and paintings and stuff taking up space as well. I was just wondering if any of you had any method of displaying a few interesting coins here and there, without looking like a museum.

I was thinking maybe a 1/8", maybe 3/16" thick piece of foam or cardboard, with a piece of glass on both sides. That way I could cut out the size of the coin, write a very short identification on the front, if you want to see the reverse take the frame off the wall and turn it around. Does anyone else have something similar, or other ideas for displaying a couple dozen old coins in maybe 2 or 3 frames, without looking like a museum?

Looking for ideas or pictures of what you use!
For museum like quality I recommend coin trays from Abafil https://www.abafil.com/ but they are quite fancy and not very cheap. They even come with velour inserts.

Cheaper coin trays are also available from other brands such as Leuchtturm or also Lindner
If you like coins, medals and tokens with ship motives follow my new instagram account with regular updates @numisnautiker
From time to time I sell some coins on Ebay make sure to follow me @apuking on Ebay.
Quote: "sc.rednek" I'm not a museum, so lighted drawers and stuff aren't an option, and my coins are cool but not THAT cool.
​There was one guy from a few months or more ago that had his collection in a ceiling to floor display with lights and shelves and everything.
If you bought a really nice wooden coin cabinet, it would look nice on a desk or table, and then when you pulled out a drawer your coins or medals would be there for perusal.
Library Media Specialist, columnist, collector, and gardener...
I keep thinking of ways to do this. I even bought some 3mm birch plywood and laid out a design of holes for a few special coins. I though I could sandwich the coins and the plywood between sheets of clear plastic, like a Capital coins holder. Then I got to work with a drill and a made an awful mess of my nice plywood. I need to have it made by a CNC machinist. Then there is the problem of closing it. Still thinking about it.:.

I saw these little "magic frames" recently, which might just do.
Jamais l'or n'a perdu la plus petite occasion de se montrer stupide. -Balzac
People usually use things like these for military challenge coins but I'm sure you could use it for collections of other coin type objects.



Matt
If you get some owls escaped from Daryl's house, you can sprinkle them with owl coins.



But according to my experience, my friends are usually more interested in a particular country.


For example, my last visitor from across the Channel has revised his English kings and queens sequence. And it was necessary cause he did not even know that 1936 was the year of the three kings.
It's somewhat as if in France we did not know the date of the revolution :8D
Referee of south atlantic islands
Nice owls collection ! I only have one pair of small owls ...
https://en.numista.com/forum/topic56855.html#p473114
Do you have an actual greek owl coin? I've always wanted one but they're way too expensive

I was thinking a pad like THIS with holes cut with one of THESE and then use a sheet of little white sticker labels run through the printer (because my handwriting is terrible), and a sheet of glass on either side to hold the coins in their holes, with a slender frame similar to THIS. I could hang 1 or 2 in the living room without it looking too cluttered. Would it work? Or would the foam to too difficult to cut a perfectly round hole, weird tarnishing patterns on the coins, or other problems?
cutting the holes cleanly and accurately is the challenge. that tool looks pretty good. give it a try.

A note on the foam core board - you have to make sure it does not contain chloride bearing plastic.
Jamais l'or n'a perdu la plus petite occasion de se montrer stupide. -Balzac
Quote: "Mr. Midnight"​cutting the holes cleanly and accurately is the challenge. that tool looks pretty good. give it a try.

​A note on the foam core board - you have to make sure it does not contain chloride bearing plastic.


​And I'm guessing "polyvinyl chloride" contains chloride? I'll look for a different type
Quote: "sc.rednek"
Quote: "Mr. Midnight"​cutting the holes cleanly and accurately is the challenge. that tool looks pretty good. give it a try.
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​​A note on the foam core board - you have to make sure it does not contain chloride bearing plastic.
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​​And I'm guessing "polyvinyl chloride" contains chloride? I'll look for a different type
​! close call ! yeh, don't use that.
Leather might be an interesting option.
another material I had thought of was old hard-cover book covers. these are made of fabric and paper board, many attractive colors and patterns, can be had free in many take-it-leave-it recycling places.
Jamais l'or n'a perdu la plus petite occasion de se montrer stupide. -Balzac
Quote: "Mr. Midnight"​​! close call ! yeh, don't use that.
​Leather might be an interesting option.
​another material I had thought of was old hard-cover book covers. these are made of fabric and paper board, many attractive colors and patterns, can be had free in many take-it-leave-it recycling places.

​Leather would be cool, but I'd not sure what an elegant way to label the coins would be
Been thinking, maybe I could use leather, and put the sticker labels on the back, so if someone cares to see what the coin is, then just take the frame off the wall and turn it around. That way the front stays clean and elegant. Maybe put a date on the front, gotta look into how much leather letter stamps cost, and how big they are
Quote: "sc.rednek"​Been thinking, maybe I could use leather, and put the sticker labels on the back, so if someone cares to see what the coin is, then just take the frame off the wall and turn it around. That way the front stays clean and elegant. Maybe put a date on the front, gotta look into how much leather letter stamps cost, and how big they are
​​There's a set of 1/4" letters and numbers on michaels.com for about $33. I've looked at them in the store for other projects. Item # 10093890.
"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly and I did.  I said I didn't know." - Mark Twain
If you are going to mount the frames on the wall, you could make separate explanatory texts, like museums do.
Jamais l'or n'a perdu la plus petite occasion de se montrer stupide. -Balzac
I just bought some of these:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074K9MP6R/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_asStBb912QP24
Quote: "sc.rednek"​Do you have an actual greek owl coin? I've always wanted one but they're way too expensive


Sure !
It's a genuine Aliexpress greek owl coin.
And, even rarer, for a bargain price, I've also got THE one ring :8D

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
Referee of south atlantic islands

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