The E&T Kointainer Company, provider of archivally safe numismatic storage products,has a new owner.

Bernard A. Nagengast, who has owned the company for 41 years, is retiring. Mr. RandyA. Moore, who has been associated with Mr. Nagengast and E&T Kointainer for the last11 years, has purchased the business and will continue to offer the same qualityproducts numismatists have been using from this American company since 1950. Theproduct line includes Kointain and Saflip coin holders, Safgard currency sleeves, MetalSafe corrosion inhibitor, Koinpage generic coin album, and other accessories.

E&TKointainer sells only numismatic products that will not harm coins and paper money.The company has a history of important innovations in numismatic storage with manyfirsts that include the Kointain coin capsule, Saflip, the first non-PVC coin flip, theearliest plastic coin tubes and the use of inhibitors to prevent toning of coins.Collectors interested in investigating Kointainer products can access the companywebsite at www.vcoins.com/us/kointainer. Catalog requests can be sent to RandyMoore at plantman55@icloud.com or mailed to E&T Kointainer, PO Box 103, Sidney OH45365.

Profile of a pioneer in numismatic storage

More than fifty years ago a southern US collector purchased a proof 1856 FlyingEagle cent. Within a year, the coin was spotted. The horrified collector, Dr. Francis Stevens Epps, suspected that the coin holder had ruined his expensive coin and hedecided to do something about it. Enlisting the help of a friend who was a researchchemist, Dr. Epps began investigating the methods and devices used to store coins. Heconcluded that then-used holders were unsuitable and damaging to coins, and he set outto invent the perfect coin holder. The result was the KOINTAIN; a round plastic holdermade of inert materials, convex in shape so as to touch the coin only on its edges. Theholder was thin enough to appear almost invisible at a distance.

Dr. Epps organized E&T Kointainer Company in 1950 to market the new coin holder.The E & T in the name was derived from Epps and Trainer, Mr. Trainer being the otherpartner in the company. The two men first offered a Kointain for cents, expanding theofferings to include all major US denominations over the next few years.

The Kointain was not Dr. Epps' only innovation. Realizing that storage of BU rolls inpaper wrappers was unsuitable; Dr. Epps invented the plastic coin tube in the mid-1950's.The first plastic tubes were plastic pill bottles, selected so that the diameter and lengthclosely matched the various coin roll sizes. Later, custom tubes with caps at each endwere introduced.

Cellophane envelopes were widely used to store coins, even being used by the U.S.Mint for proof coins prior to 1955. However cellophane released sulfur fumes andbecame brittle with age. Dr. Epps' solution was the KOINVELOPE; an envelope madeof polyethylene. This type of envelope, widely used by coin auction houses as late as theearly 1970's, is still used by collectors today as a short-term protection for coins in PVCflips.

Dr. Epps passed away in 1973 at age 70. Along the way, the coin-storage inventorfound the time to found two coin clubs in West Virginia and Michigan and writenumerous articles on coin preservation. He was active for 18 years in the Central StatesNumismatic Society serving as secretary, president and secretary-treasurer. When Dr.Epps retired from official CSNS duties at their 34th. Convention in 1973, the assemblysang "For he's a jolly good fellow" followed by a standing ovation. After he died, Dr.Epps was remembered not only as a "recognized expert on the chemistry of plastics toprotect coins" but also as one "active in every phase and in spreading the word of thehobby to almost every person he met."

Epps' successors at E & T Kointainer have continued the legacy of numismaticstorage innovation that focuses on quality and safety. Space-age technology debuted innumismatics in 1978 when METAL SAFE, an atmospheric corrosion inhibitor for safesand safety deposit boxes, was first sold. PVC "green slime" problems led to theintroduction of DISSOLVE neutral coin solvent in 1979. An improved product,KOINSOLV, was later introduced. In 1980, the danger of PVC flips was met with thefirst MYLAR TM flip, the SAFLIP.

The KOINPAGE album was announced in 1998. The album features inert, non-vinylplastic pages with slide in coin pockets and acid free title-date strips. The pages,separated by acid and sulfur free divider pages, hold any combination of coins in a 3-ringbinder, allowing flexibility in the size of the collection.

Dr. Epps' legacy of products are still used not only by collectors, but by libraries andmuseums including The Smithsonian Institution, The ANA Money Museum, TheAmerican Numismatic Society, Harvard, Princeton, James Madison, Cornell andMichigan Universities. And yes, Dr. Epps original invention, the Kointain, is stillavailable, finding use with 1856 Flying Eagle cents and with state quarters andSacagawea dollars as well.

A complete catalog of numismatic storage products is available by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Kointainer, POB 103, Sidney, OH 45365-4128.

Bern adds: