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 Replies: 19 / Views: 8,766 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1599 Posts |
Got a friend that for some reason, go figure, has decided that his safe deposit boxes (and banks in general) are not safe anymore. He collects primarily gold and silver (eagles, morgans, maples). He has not decided to bury all of his loot on his 400 acre fasrm. He is planning on putting all of his booty in capped pvc pipes to bury themn. I understand the issue with pvc in flips and such, but anyone have any info on pvc pipe material. Good/bad for coin/metal storage?
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
PVC is PVC... I wouldn't do it.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12819 Posts |
Is your friend a squirrel?
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
I guess theres ways to try and keep the coins from being exposed but unless its all just bullion he doesn't care about except the metal value I wouldnt do it. There has to be better options like an ammo box even if he insists on burying it
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Pillar of the Community
United States
9792 Posts |
 Get a metal watertight drybox or ammo can! "Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman - "And read it" - Me 2013! ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1981, ANS, Early American Coppers Member (EAC), Colonial Coin Collectors Club member (C4), Conder Token Collector Club member (CTCC), Civil War Token Society (CWTS) member, Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) & Numismatic Bibliomania Society member (NBS), USMex, Member in good standing, 2¢ variety collector. See my want page: http://goccf.com/t/140440 |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1211 Posts |
I guess he read that rediculous article about people burying nickels in PVC pipe on their property.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
The PVC used in PVC pipes is hard PVC, and has TiO2 to whiten it and make it opaque. No matter how you look at it, it is still PVC. It is quite chemically stable, it has to be, to perform it's intended function as a buried conduit.
However, I would NOT store coins in it because I would not be happy about the security against the ingress of water around the sealings. If water gets in, in a humid atmosphere, you risk the probability if saying 'goodbye' to the contents. Coins may end up being badly stained.
Polypropylene or ABS plastic piping would be better, but the sealing against water would still have to be perfect, and that cannot be guaranteed without testing.
The clear soft PVC used in album pages has a oily plasticiser to soften it, and this can leach out over a period of months or years. This explains why the Mylar in cardboard 2x2's sometimes sticks inside the album pockets. Acetone can be used if some of the gunk from the oily plasticiser sticks to the coins.
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Moderator
 Australia
16826 Posts |
PVC in its "raw" form is a rigid, rather brittle, translucent plastic and is quite harmless to coins in this form. But in its raw form PVC is rather useless for pretty much anything, but it is cheap, so people still want to use it. To make it useful, you have to add extra stuff to it.
To make PVC piping, they add filler (such as titanium dioxide, as mentioned by sel) to strengthen it and make it more resistant to photodegradation. This form also is quite harmless to coins.
It's only when turned into floppy, flexible plastic that PVC becomes problematic. Because to do that, they have to add plasticizers to soften it. And it is these plasticizers, rather than the PVC itself, that causes the problem in coin album pages etc.
So yes, PVC piping ought to be just as good as any other plastic piping for long-term storage of coins. After a few centuries buried PVC will probably start to degrade and may become acidic at this point (nobody really knows for sure - PVC hasn't been around for long enough for this to have occurred naturally yet). But I assume your friend isn't really interested in creating artefacts for future archaeologists to discover.
Of course, if you want really long term storage, do as the Romans did and bury your coins in clay pots. We know this technique works.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
But don't a lot of those coins come out of those clay pots as lumps corroded together? If you can solve the breakage and sealing problems, I would think glass would be better. Inert, and impervious to water or gases.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
If you do any plumbing around your house you would see that more and more piping sold for your drinking water is PVC. Places like Ace hardware, Menards, HomeDepot, etc. all sell PVC piping for your household piping. Most likely many here drink water that has run though PVC piping. Electrical wires, gas, water, etc all are normally run through PVC in almot all places today.
However, to bury anything of value in the ground is just NUTS. For example my wife buried a large pile of pennies somewhere on her parents farm. SOMEWHERE. When I was a kid, I too buried some coins in front of my house, SOMEWHERE.
My point is unless you really mark the place fantastically, tell people where, just in case, someone in a few hundred years will find them, MAYBE.
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:
Of course, if you want really long term storage, do as the Romans did and bury your coins in clay pots. We know this technique works. I hear leaving them near an active volcano works really well too  |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
SOMEWHERE?
Seen on an office filing cabinet:
"The best laid plans of mice and and men are filed away.......... ?.......somewhere?"
Now, where DID I put that long forgotten Dansco that I stashed as a kid?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4333 Posts |
Quote:
My point is unless you really mark the place fantastically, tell people where, just in case, someone in a few hundred years will find them, MAYBE. And this is exactly what us dirtfishing freaks are counting on. Happiness is digging up a large gold or silver cashe! When I listen to LED ZEPPELIN...so do my neighbors...
Roll hunting since '77
Dirt fishing since '72
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2541 Posts |
Where does your friend live?!
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1599 Posts |
He lives in LA (lower Alabanma).
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Replies: 19 / Views: 8,766 |
Posted 02/13/2013 01:13 am
