Caring for your foreign money collection

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Proper care of your foreign money collection is of paramount importance in order to enjoy your hobby for many years to come.

Storing your collectible currency should be in a cool, dry place. One of the greatest dangers to bills is humidity and water. Air conditioning year-round is ideal and it is recommended where possible, especially in any type of tropical climate. A parked car in the hot sun is not a safe environment for collectible currency. Direct sunlight is also very detrimental.

Bills should be individually stored in acid-free currency holders or pages, without any plasticizers. Mylar currency holders are appropriate for this purpose.

Acid-free photo album pages inside a hard cover, three-ring binder, also can work quite well. In particular, the pages made especially for 4x6, 5x7 and 8x10 photo sizes can hold almost any size of currency bill.

A very important note: When using photo album pages, turn each page very carefully, one at a time. When done looking through the entire binder with your collection in it, close the binder by turning the back cover toward the left. Do not close the binder from left to right with all the pages sitting on top of the front cover. Since the pages are not rigid, they can easily become caught on one another and when the binder is closed, the page and the currency inside will be folded or creased. This tip applies to both thick and thin binders, regardless of the amount of pages they may hold at any one time. Folding and creasing of collectible currency is never recommended because it reduces the value of the bill by a very significant amount.

The majority of currency albums and photo album pages available in the United States is safe, because most manufacturers are now aware that plasticizers can, over time, ruin anything that comes in contact with the acid in any kind of plasticizer.

Vinyl pages contain plasticizers and they are not acid-free. Do not use vinyl pages to store anything of value.

Another crucial part of conserving your collection in the best possible condition lies in the proper handling of each individual bill. For additional tips regarding caring for your collection, click here




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