What is a monster box?
A monster box is a plastic container used to simplify the storage and security of bullion coins. The coins are divided into 'rolls' or 'stacks' of coins with each roll neatly encased in a plastic tube. These tubes are arranged in the monster box casing and typically make up a total of 500 coins, with the rolls stacked vertically side-by-side next to each other to form a symmetric layout of rows. The lid of the box features a raised seal with the logo of the mint issuing the coins, and an untampered-with box is sealed with tape, also bearing official information from the issuing mint.
What Comes Inside of a Monster Box
Monster boxes are used by the US Mint, the Canadian Mint, the Austrian Mint, and the Perth Mint to hold large orders of their minted coins. While many other mints around the world produce silver coins, these two North American countries and their Austrian and Australian counterparts are the only mints that pack their coins into monster boxes. Only authorized bullion dealers have access to monster boxes, which are then re-sold to the public.
Silver American Eagle monster boxes are comprised of 25 tubes containing twenty coins each. Silver Canadian Maple Leaf monster boxes contain twenty tubes filled with 25 coins each.
Why Monster Boxes are Used
There are many advantages to bullion investors who purchase monster boxes in lieu of individual or groups of coins.
- The hard, thick protective casing of the box protects its contents during shipment, preventing the coins from being scratched or damaged.
- The box is delivered unopened with the certificate from the issuing mint, reducing the possibility of a product mix-up during order processing and shipping.
- Monster boxes are a great way to store bullion at home or in a safety deposit box or other secure environment.
Monster boxes can be purchased sealed or unsealed. An unsealed box generally means the contents have been swapped out or removed for other purposes. Unsealed monster boxes tend to be less expensive than their sealed counterparts due to the likelihood that its 500 coins have been fully or partially replaced by coins that were not minted together. As far as quality and collectors are concerned, a sealed monster box always represents a homogenous group of 500 coins certified under one label. Unsealed boxes can contain coins mixed and matched from another set and therefore demand a lower premium.
Some dealers sell empty monster boxes, ideal for storing your bullion or anything else laying around the house!