I'm trying to figure out if it's Milk Spot or the Moisture or the holders that causes spots or blemishes on my coins or if it's moisture in my Safe. I use cotton Gloves to handle the coins I was shipped some Kangaroo Coins with the slit on the coin flips taped off so I decided to do this to me Canadian Wolves coins since the Kangaroo coins all look fine a year later. So I'm using masking tape to seal off the flips hoping this will help.
Put the coins in an sandwich baggy (in airtights) and squeeze out all of the air. Keep contaminants out of the mix, and put an 'sacrificial' coin in with the others to further absorb any contaminants.
Moisture isn't the worst enemy of your coins - air is. Moisture merely exacerbates the reactions between the metal of the coin and the compounds found in more or less concentration in the atmosphere.
some moisture control agent or chemical in a cup may help. Or move them to a dryer location. The more air tight the better.
About 2 years ago, I bought a bunch of bullion rounds and stored them in my safe. It somehow got kind of humid or damp in my safe, and all the bullion rounds got a bad haze on them that would not come off no matter how I cleaned or dipped them. I even had them stored in ASE tubes. I ended up having to sell them for right at spot and lost some money. I had a hard time moving them because they were blemished, even though they were just bullion rounds. After that, I went on ebay and bought large packets of desiccant and put several in the safe, and then put all my coins in ziploc bags as an extra safety measure. All is well now. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
I wouldn't say air the "worst" enemy, I'd say air is THE enemy. The very air itself contains moisture and all of the other harmful elements and compounds.
I would think depending upon where you live too. If you live near an ocean the air humidity can contain salts. Musical instruments (brass & silver plated ones) are susceptible and corrode much faster around ocean air. I would assume coins would too. Or living near some types of factories that may have any level of sulphur emission.
I think that for silver coins, sulfur is the enemy. Sulfur turns the coins a nasty tone and starts their path to ruin.
I'd like to submit that the enemy behind milk spots and haze on silver pieces is the final rinse used by the US Mint during production. If it's a bad rinse or perhaps the last rinse before the rinse is discarded and replaced, then milk spots are a given regardless of how the coins are stored or if moisture is present during storage. More than 1 SAE has developed milk spots after it's been graded and placed inside a tomb that has limited air flow. More than 1 Proof Franklin Half or Proof Kennedy Half has developed milk spots while still in a perfectly sealed US Mint cello holder.
Sorry, couldn't resist. But it got me thinking: The pedestal looks like a great place to hide a lockbox. But maybe not for coins (vibration damage?).
I keep my coins in a space that isn't hit by direct sunlight. The "plastic" bin is PVC free. Each bin has at least one silica gel desiccant container and the area has a large silica gel desiccant box that I recharge every so often. I do have a few bullion coins with milk spots. Some are ASE & others are Maple Leafs. But not worth it to replace them so just leaving them as is. There's only so much you can reasonably do. If I had unlimited funds then it would be a different story
