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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,311 |
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Valued Member
Canada
256 Posts |
Hi all, I went to the bank today and they had a few rolls of pennies. There are quite a bit of coins from the 40's and 50's. However, alot are a colour I'm not used to. Normally I see coins that are brown. But these are more whitish-dull (please see pics). A couple has some black oil on them. Is the discolouration due to some chemical damage or the way they were stored? Thanks for your thoughts.   |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Copper can take on almost any color of the rainbow in different environmental conditions.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1984 Posts |
The black spot is a carbon spot
"Copper is a highly reactive metal and it is not unusual to see "carbon spots" on them. They are called carbon spots because many times they are formed from carbon in the air or mishandling by people. Once a carbon spot is in a coin it is there forever and will leave a pit that actually grows deeper over time"
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1984 Posts |
Also, wartime cents, esp 1942, are often odd looking. Something to do with wartime alloys. SPP, have you ever done an XRF analysis of 1942 cents against the official alloys? This would make an interesting study. Maybe they were heavy in zinc.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
818 Posts |
An old guy gave me a bunch of cents. He washed them with detergent since they had been in a wet basement. Same look. Also could be cleaned in vinegar and left loose.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Carbon spots are not carbon, but they are very black.
That is because copper sulfides and copper oxides happen to be black. The black spotting cannot be removed.
Most unsightly on red copper or bronze proof coins.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
9157 Posts |
You need to try some Verdi-Care on them
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Moderator
 Canada
10456 Posts |
The verdi-care is probably worth more than the coins. That said, if you are going to mess around with treating coins, it is best to practice on those with low value.
"Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search." -- J. Robert OppenheimerContent of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses...0/deed.en_USMy eBay store
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Valued Member
 Canada
256 Posts |
Thanks for the replies! At least I can say that I was able to find consecutive pennies in circulation from 1938-2012.... Better than my nickels.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
6244 Posts |
The discoloration what you say it is the color of a clean coin, not vinegar because vinegar bring rose color to the cooper.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
818 Posts |
Silviosi, I should have clarified that it could have been vinegar and then left for years, not a recent cleaning.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
6244 Posts |
Terry you are right, after the yers will come brown AND full off black carbon spots deep incuse in the coin.
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,311 |
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Posted 01/18/2022 11:03 pm
