Here is an example of a 100 bolivares with milky effect. On the obverse in the back of the neck you can see some scratchs, I made them with my finger nail.:whistle: I like the effect, it gives a lot of character to the coin, not to mention how it brings up the design and reliefs.... BTW this are not silver, they are Cu Ni. I have seen this effect only on venezuelan coins. Comments anyone?
I have seen this effect on portuguese coins. 20 and 50 escudos coins from the late 80s. I am positive that the same explanation wouldn't hold for them because no one could possibly go through the trouble of dipping such coins on anything. I don't know if this is the case for this coin, but the appearance is the same and the material is the same.
what is this dip? I belive it might be soap residue, but I agree with Luis about who would ever go to the trouble of dipping the coin... Looking a little closer it looks like powder talc too....
Yes, it could be soap residue as well, or anything else used to clean the coin. But the most common cause is a coin dip. A dip is just a commercailly sold product expressly made for the purpose of cleaning coins, there are a great many of them on the market. They all contain an acid that does the actual cleaning. And if done properly no one could ever tell that the coin had been dipped except by deductive reasoning. For all coins tone, and if a coin more than just a few years old has no toning whatsoever then it is almost a certainty that it has been dipped. As for who would go to the trouble, just about anybody. It is estimated by experts in the field that fully 80% or more of all older coins have been dipped at one time or another.
US Proof coins from the 70's sometimes have a similar milky residue on them, even while still in the mint packaging. I think someone said it was probably residue left by the mint not properly cleaning the planchets. Could be a similar issue with these coins?
I did a quick search on eBay and found this 1983 set with a milky quarter. You have to crack the case to get those out, so that coin hasn't been tampered with.
Pretty sure you can open those cases without breaking them. BTW. I'm not saying it has been done in this particular case.
I've opened a couple and to be honest, I can't remember if I had to break the plastic or not... Nonetheless, I also have some of those brown box Ike's that are also milky and I KNOW nobody has been into those (besides the Mint). As I said, the "milkiness" appears to have been a legitimate problem at the Mint in late 70s and early 80s.
