Just wondering. Suppose you found a 100 pound bag of 1921 Morgans straight from the mint in a basement of an old bank. Its been in the same spot since 1921. The bag is sitting on concrete, so there's no "give" underneath. Not counting anything but the weight of the coins, would the coins on the bottom of the pile still be in the same shape they were in from the beginning, or would 100 pounds sitting on top of them for the past 91 years affect their condition?
I don't think so. If you think about it the weight would be distributed and there's more than one coin on the bottom so I don't think there would be any damage.
Actually some coins can have quite a bit of force on them due to leverage. This is the primary factor that causes marking on coins in handling operations and in hoppers. Bulk materials spread the forces evenly but there are localized places where forces are concentrated. A bag of Morgans weighs only around 50 pounds and its weight is spread out over an area of about 200 inch ^ 2. When they are stacked and moved is where most of the problems will arise.
Somewhat related: Does anyone have the thread where someone calculated how much mass is lost from morgan dollars through general circulation?
I don't think the amount of time would have any affect if they just sat there. 100 lbs spread out isn't much. Any damage would have occurred when they were first thrown in there and set in that spot, IMO. Damage in the form of a few nicks, scuffs, and bag marks. The ones on the top probably fared better. The Morgans from the Battle Creek hoard did sit in a basement in their original bags for 100 years. They are some evidence for you. Most of them, (that got pedigreed) are nicely toned too. There's one in my gallery.
Well, the Treasury held a lot of bags of silver dollars for years, stacked in piles and tossed around as they were moved from time to time. End result was uncirculated coins that had bag mark scratches, but they held up rather well until they released them. From Wikipedia In the early 1960s, a large quantity of uncirculated Morgan dollars was found to be available from Treasury vaults, including issues once thought rare. Individuals began purchasing large quantities of the pieces at face value, and eventually the Treasury ceased to exchange silver certificates for silver coin. Beginning in the 1970s, the Treasury conducted a sale of silver dollars minted at the Carson City Mint through the General Services Administration. I remember when this happened in the 1960's I was a kid so I BEGGED my Father to take me and buy some. He wouldn't do it. --sigh-- Uncirculated Morgans at face value. As many as you want. People were literally taking out wheelbarrows and carts full.
Some of the bags were seated liberty and trade dollars as well. Mostly seated liberty if memory serves.
That's nothing. The Bank of New York found barrels of Fugio Coins in its baesment after a century and a half, or something like that. forgwet the mass, What is the acceleration.
