Gold Panda's.. From say, the past 5 years. Snip snip from mint pouch -- bad idea for when it comes time to sell? Would be in an air-tite/capsule, instead. What say ye?
Leave them in their original plastic cover to avoid arguments re authenticity on the future. Although, I'm sure that a plastic sleeve can be replicated.
Dont snip snip the pandas pouch, pandas arnt jewish. All panda coins are fake untill proven authentic in my eyes. So pouch or no pouch...they all need to be drilled lol.
My vote goes for leave in original pouch. As a buyer, I'd definitely prefer coin in original pouch vs coin taken out, handled, inspected, and put in some other container. .
Thanks for the responses so far. Here's my thinking on this.. Capsule / air-tite means: - Better for storage. Will play nicely with other air-tites -- something which a goofy odd-sized pouch won't do. - Better for protection. 24K gold is soft. Original pouch can't protect from any physical damage as well as hard acrylic capsule. - Better for handling. Would feel more comfortable handling air-tite than soft pouch. (See above.) And if in pouch, how does one know any prior owner didn't inadvertently mash down the design from repeated handling, turning what once was say, an MS 69, into a lower grade? - No chemical interaction. Odds are, pouch would be fine. Over long-term, though, who knows. I don't trust many softer plastics, which given the "right" environmental conditions, can potentially harm whatever's inside. But acrylic (air-tite) is pretty darn inert. - Pouch gets scratched/scuffed, which harms viewability. Is scratched pouch still that much better than brand-new clear air-tite? Not in my eyes. Capsules can get scratched, too -- but they can also be easily replaced. I specifically mentioned a modern Panda (within past 5 years) -- as I don't believe the original pouch for these is as important as it is for those from the earlier years. Haven't checked mintages yet.. but I've heard the argument that due to much higher mintages these days, Panda might be considered that much more "bullion" than "collector coins," when compared to low-mintage early years. In which case, who cares about the original pouch which is riddled with various issues.
As we say in Europe, "Solomon's solution": get them graded If you plan to resell them then maybe original pouch is better. For me is quite "lame". It can get cut easily. As you stated above it offers less protection. For coin or medal worth few hundreds it looks cheap. There is no proof smbdy didn't open it and seal it in another pouch. Pictures are also not so nice. Well capsules can have scratches and pictures won't be so nice as well. I guess it depends on personal preferences.
