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Pillar of the Community
United States
868 Posts |
*** Edited by Staff to Add Year / Mintmark / Denomination to Title. Titles are Important! ***I bought a Ziploc of Barber halves about 4 years back, here in the Houston area, which is prone to flooding of course, but many of the coins appear to have a "rust like substance". This is not the first time I've encountered this in the Houston are. I've never used acetone, might acetone take out this "rust substance"? If pictures will help, I'll post some later. Thanks in advance "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are safe."
- Luke 11:21
Edited by thecoinguy1964
06/20/2018 6:52 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
44655 Posts |
Pics would help, but this would not technically be "rust". Oxidation or corrosion of some sort from an unknown environmental contaminant, but not rust.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2507 Posts |
I have seen the phemonena that you refer to, but don't know what it is.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
16436 Posts |
I have even seen rust stains on a gold coin.
The explanation given is that the coin was buried in a steel box for several decades in damp organic soil. The box rusted severely in direct contact with the coin (half sovereign), and formed a complex auro ferro double salt, resulting in some minor corrosion. The presence of copper in the coin alloy would not have helped.
Edited by sel_69l
06/21/2018 03:14 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3479 Posts |
I found something that looked like rust on some ben Franklin halves I purchased from a pawn shop in a Whitman album. I soaked them in acetone followed by a hot tap water soak and that got rid of it. Pictures are really needed here. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10547 Posts |
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.-Lucretius "Just because you're paranoid don't mean they're not after you." -Kurdt Kobain "Language is the source of misunderstandings." -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry My Want List: http://goccf.com/t/282022
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2501 Posts |
I had placed a silver dime, silver quarter, nickle, copper cent and a counterfeit Trade dollar on top of my hot water heater in a envelope to see how they would tone. I had forgot about the coins for a couple of years until my hot water heater was leaking. The top of the hot water heater was covered in heavy rust water and the envelope had rotted away. All the coins had a coating of the rust on them. I used acetone on all the coins, but some of the coins had a stain after the rust sediment was removed. The coin that the rust would not come off was the counterfeit Trade dollar. Edited by Slider23
06/21/2018 12:02 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
868 Posts |
I had my suspicions that the coins had taken water while stored away in a metal box. I paid accordingly for the rust/oxidation stains, got them less than melt. They are not very desirable coins as far as eye appeal, but they're good enough for me. I'll get some pics up later. I will also try some acetone, never have gone that route before, but I've read about it on this forum for years. Thanks again!
"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are safe."
- Luke 11:21
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12628 Posts |
 with coinfrog , silver does not rust. It's an environmental issue . Some stains can be removed from silver coins ,but keep in mind some can't . good luck with them . 
Proud Member of The Black Sheep Squadron !
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
16436 Posts |
That silver does not rust is true, but to get the idea of the effects of direct contact ground burial may have on an ancient silver coin, look at some of the lower valued examples of ancient silver coins, where wear has not been a major factor in it's degradation.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8715 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19047 Posts |
Rust is an ambiguous term. Basically used to describe Oxidation with Iron. However, rusting on any metal is basically combining with Oxygen and almost all metals will do that in some form or other. Such as Nitrates or Sulfates. With Silver, if in the area of any Chlorine or Fluorine and moisture, dark spots will be from those chemicals. And as anyone knows Silver does what is called Tarnishing.
another term for rusting.
If those spots are from any chemical reaction with the coins, removing such spots should also leave marks.
just carl
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Pillar of the Community
United States
868 Posts |
"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are safe."
- Luke 11:21
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Pillar of the Community
United States
719 Posts |
Acetone won't hurt anything, but I don't know how much it will help.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
44655 Posts |
Hey, how about some pics?
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New Member
United States
3 Posts |
I'm going to say that brown stain might be leached out of the paper. Flood water soup is nasty, toxic liquid. Get those coins out of the folder. Acetone dip cannot hurt. Peace Roy
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Posted 06/20/2018 7:07 pm
