questions for the experts and enthusiasts

[tarvanimelde]

hello there everyone-

i've recently joined this forum in the hopes that i can pick your collective brains for some information.

my sister has been very informally collecting wheaties for several years now. she's not trying to hit every year or find special ones, nothing so organized; she simply thinks they're cool and, if she comes across one, keeps it.

i'm trying to arrange a christmas present for her that will show off her interest in wheaties. a local framing shop in town does some high quality display framing, and i want to take some of my sister's prettier/more interesting/rarer coins and have them arranged nicely.

this leads me to my utter lack of anything resembling knowledge on the subject.

when i'm sorting through her collection, what are some coins i should look for?

i know she has a 1909 VDB coin (there's no mint mark so it's not one of the special ones, but i'll put that in the display as a novelty anyway).

what other coins/features/dates/cool things could i pick through her collection for?

another thing i was thinking of is having a row of coins somewhere in there that show the various grades coins can be, from the best-looking to the grungey, icky ones. i'm sure there are rating scales out there, and if i could find one of each of the levels in her collection, it might be neat to include that.
any suggestions on where i could find (very general) descriptions or examples of coin grades? this isn't to try and sell them or anything, just for a spectrum visual effect.

lastly, do you all have any thoughts on things to do or not do when trying to make an arrangement for a coin collection? any general tips would be very appreciated. as i said, i don't know anything about wheaties, i just know that my sister thinks they're fun and would like a display of her casual collection.

i also came across a very strange coin when i was first looking through what she has. i've posted about it in the error section of the forum, that thread can be found here: http://www.coppercoins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=34744#34744

thank you so much in advance for your thoughts! (and apologies if i've posted this in the wrong place)

Vani

[coppercoins]

Hello,

You did post it in the wrong place, but that's no problem. I moved it for you.

As for how to display them, DO NOT mount the coins directly to anything. That's the first way to ruin them.

Another thing is not to clean the coins before you mount them. A cleaned coin is a worthless coin.

To preserve the value of the coins and mount them in a frame, you will need "coin-tains" - these are little plastic capsules that are just barely bigger than the coin. You can glue the back of the coin-tain to the mat board, place the coin inside the coin-tain once the glue is dry, then place the front on the coin-tain.

This will provide minimal 'junk' appearance from other stuff in the display, and will leave a clear view of the coin.

Here's a link to some coin-tains:

http://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/kointain-direct-fit-19mm.html

There are other options, including the ability to view both sides of the coin from the frame - but this would be far more difficult and far more expensive.

[coppercoins]

Of course mounting the coins is something you can decide yourself - composition, size, spread between coins, etc. Because you would be using a bare piece of mat board and coin-tains, you would have full liberty to mount them however you see fit. After you mount them, buy a frame that fits the size you have used, then frame them yourself. Inexpensive and neat.

The more expensive way to go would be to use acid-free double sided mat board and have someone cut the holes in the mat board for you. They would need to be 19 millimeters around to fit a cent. Lay a piece of glass down, put the mat board on top of the glass, place the coins into the mat board, then lay the second glass on top of the mat board. Voila! Both sides of the coin visible from each side of the frame.

[tarvanimelde]

thanks for moving it for me, i'm not on top of the terminology, that's for sure

i'm so glad i asked! thanks for the heads up about the coin-tains, and the link. i definitely don't want to damage her coins, especially if she decides later on to start actively collecting or doing things with them.

[tarvanimelde]

[GarryN]

Vani, if you are still out there, post a pic of the frame or a link to it. We would like to see it.