What is the best coin capsule for sovereign’s and Britannia’s?

[Pegasus1]

Hi Folks, 

I have just started collecting and stacking and have some full sovereigns, 1oz Brit’s and 1/4oz Brit’s. I have been buying from several dealers test quality etc. before landing on my preferred supplier going forward. As such I now have various types of capsules and plastic envelopes. I’m keen to have them all uniform.

 

What is the best coin capsule for sovereign’s and Britannia’s? Any recommendations and also where to buy?

 

I like the look of the capsules with the black insert to frame the coin. I also have some screw down ones from RM which are decent. I also found some on eBay with patented interceptor tech to stop corrosion/oxidisation apparently. Anyways all seems rather complex and was hoping someone may be able to point me in the right direction.

 

Many thanks!

[Shep]

Airtites

https://air-tites.com

By and large these are the most superior capsules. However, they can be difficult to source in the U.K. 

Sometimes members have them available for sale on the forum.

[YorkshireStacker]

I'm a sucker for the Lighthouse Quadrum caps, to me they look sexy AF 😋

[Silverlocks]

Air tites come as a system of tubes and caps that go in the tubes but they are quite expensive and difficult to obtain in the UK.  Their main claim to fame is that the caps all fit into their tubes in nice lots of 20. The tubes will fit many (but not all) other caps as well.  Having bought samples of a few different caps now, I can say the following:

• Leuchtturm (Lighthouse) ultra 39mm caps fit into Air tite tubes, but about 17 per tube instead of 20. They were about £25 or 30 for a box of 100.  Their 41mm caps (for eagles, perth mint coins etc.) do not fit into air-tite 'H' tubes. I had a lot of trials and tribulations finding 40.6mm caps that will fit into Air-tite H tubes.  Eventually I got some air tite 40.6mm caps that do, but they were quite expensive and had to be imported from the U S of A.  I also found some cheaper 41mm no-name caps from a Chinese vendor on Ebay that fit into Air-tite tubes.
• Air-Tite direct fit (without a black ring) 30mm A22 caps will fit modern sovs cleanly but are a little tight on older ones like Gillicks for some reason.  There are also equivalent A19 caps (19mm) that fit half sovs and most 1/4oz coins and A16 (16mm) caps that fit most 1/10 oz coins.  These go into 30mm 'A' tubes; there are also other 30mm tubes on the market.
• I got some Lighthouse Ultra 22mm caps that also fit the 30mm tubes but they are a bit higher than the Air-tite caps so less per tube.
• 28mm (double sov) and 33mm (1oz gold) Lighthouse Ultra caps fit nicely into 39mm coin tubes like old Brit tubes or Coinsafe tubes if you have any of those lying about.  These are readily available off Ebay or bullion vendors.
• As seen above, the air-tite tubes fit various caps from other parties and most other caps are quite a lot cheaper than the air-tite caps themselves .  'A' tubes (less common here in Blighty) will fit a lot of smaller caps from other vendors and 'H' Tubes will fit a lot of 1oz silver caps.  They are (as the name suggests) air tight, with a little micro valve moulded into the cap to allow opening and closing the tubes, so you can pop little oxygen scavenger and silica gel packets into the top of the tube if you feel so inclined.
• You can also get black ring capsules in various sizes to fit coins.  I've seen these from Leuchtturm (Lighthouse) and Air-tite and the ring is impregnated with an oxygen absorbing material.  According to the manufacturer's blurb you can expect them to last 15-20 years and the ring turns green when exhausted.
• If you want to get Air-tite black ring capsules for sovereigns you will need 36mm 'T' tubes and their associated caps, but the direct fit A22 caps go into 30mm 'A' tubes.  Black ring 16 and 19mm caps also fit the 30mm 'A' tubes.  33mm black ring caps (fitting 1oz gold coins) go into 46mm 'H' tubes, 20 to a tube, but I'm not sure I'd bother with that unless you have a lot of 1oz gold coins.
• 3 litre really useful boxes for CDs are an exact fit for 12 Air-Tite 'H' tubes.  The longer 6.5l ones (for CDs) should also fit 24 of them nicely.

What I would do if I knew what I know now:

• The Air Tite products are good but expensive and can be a pain to source in the UK - with one exception.  46mm 'H' tubes for silver coins are relatively to get hold of - try using Lighthouse Ultra caps 39mm with the tubes for 1oz silver coins.  Packets of 100 Lighthouse Ultra caps are way, way cheaper than air-tites, but if you want to fit 40.6mm coins you will need the Air-tite caps or find the no-name caps that will fit.  I would still go with 'H' tubes for silver coins.
• I think I would use Lighthouse Ultra 22mm caps for sovs and either 'A' tubes if you can get them at a reasonable price or the white capped no-name ones that you can get on Ebay.  You can also get smaller caps for half sovs that will fit in the tubes, either direct fit or ring type.
• For the small number of 1oz Brits I'm ever likely to buy, I think the 39mm coinsafe tubes I have lying about (a few quid off Ebay) and some 33mm Lighthouse Ultra caps would do just fine.  You could get about 10 of these into a coinsafe tube.  Double sov (28mm) caps would rattle a little bit more in the tubes but are probably just fine as well.  Unless you want to keep them in black ring caps this would work ok.  However, I have no data points to compare the effectiveness of the black ring material against just putting an oxygen scavenger packet in the tube.  For numismatic stuff I'd still consider the black ring caps.

 

[Pegasus1]

Fantastic help folks, thanks so much, particularly Silverlocks for you super comprehensive guide 👍😊