Styrofoam????

Can Styrofoam tone silver coins in a matter of weeks?????? I bought some rolls of silver coins and in the pictures they LOOKED ms, but I just opened them up today out of a priority box that just came and they are all yellow. At least 2/3rds of the rolls are shot. It looks like they used a little piece of Styrofoam to insulate the top of the roll so the coins wouldnt move around. Can this happen or were these coins already toned yellow from something else????????

 

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It might. I've heard tupperware will do the same thing to coins placed in it and sealed up. That smell styrofoam gives off might have some sulphuric content to it and if it does... Away she goes.

Take Care
Ben

 

So I take it the coins are shot then. Other than taking them out of there original tubes and putting them into new ones, is the toning still going to continue or should I do something else to the coins........????????????

 

I had a bunch of silver coins in a tupperware container and I didnt get any toning. They where in three for about 3 years. I wish that would happen. Becuase I love toned coins even ugly toning. Well maybe not to ugly.

 

keep in mind as well, that the original pictures you saw might well have been hiding the inperfection you now see. As you said " ...and in the pictures they LOOKED ...".

 

Hmmm, was it brand-new and had never been washed?

 

I'm not a chemist, but I wouldn't think polystyrene, the main ingredient in styrofoam, could be beneficial to a coin's chemistry. It's not too far off from PVC.
Guy~

 

I am not a chemist, but a chemical engineer. The main ingredient in styrofoam is styrene. It contains no chlorine or sulfur nor do any other part of styrofoam. I know of northing in styrofoam that would cause the coins to change colors. Even if there were, the coin next to the styrofoam would be comp0letely colored, while the coins away would be original. A couple days would not be enough to ruin 2/3 of the roll or even a couple weeks assuming he packaged as it was listed I strongly believe you can blame the problem on the seller.

 

well thats exactly what i saw......I opened up 4 rolls.....about 14 coins on the rims were yellow and the closer i got to the top the more yellow there was on the obverse. oh well........

 

Yellow could be a pretty cool color for a coin. Can you post a photo?

Sometimes it is easier to learn to love toning than to fight the inevitable.

 

Here are the pics. The edges of the coins that are really yellow were the ones closest to the top. The coins obverse in my opinion really looks bad, but maybe its just me.

 

get an interceptshield box and put the coins there it wont reverse any toning but it will at least prevent further toning

 

I like it!

 

Styrofoam is a Dow Company trademark. Sort of like Kleenex being used for all tissues, Styrofoam is now used to discribe ALL polystyrene foams. The original Styrofoam was made in 1941 and is now copies by numersous organizations. As with any substance produced by an organization, each one's process is or may be completely different to protect their products from being copied. The so called Styrofoam you encountered may have contaminates in it that others do not contain and that could have produced such results. Even the polystyrene cups you use for drinking may or may not be completely free of some of these contaminates but in such small quantities that they are normally of no concern. Long storage in one batch of this material may not be the same as with another batch.