This is the tin thing where I store all my coins: Is there any risk to damaging or corroding the coins by storing them like this? any advice would be appreciated :headbang: here is all my coins out the tin:
I can't tell what kind of coins they are and if they have any significant value. But if they do do you should certainly invest in some coin flips.
there is always the chance that when stored in a tin like the one presented, that YES something unexpected and bad could start to form on the coins and yes, flips... at least the correct flips... would be the best idea to preserve anything you wish to keep. The rest, sure, if you dont care about them... storing them in the tin is fine. just make sure you dont wish to keep any before you put them back
yeah, the best thing to do, if you want to keep these coins for a collection, it's best to get the flips, and than you can get it organized. Glad you asked the question.
Storing unlike metals in contact with each other is a bad practice. Something about creating an electro-potential. We really need a physicist to answer this one.
Kanga-Thats why plumbers use a die-electric union to match 2 different types of metals (cast iron to copper, copper to filter container). The 2 metals in contact over time corrode.
Not really. Would a college chem teacher do? Actually the problem you mention is what is used in industry to read fractional and exactness in changes in temperatures. When two different metals touch each other there is an exchange in electrical charges but insufficient for most people or even machinery to record. If you've heard of Thermocouples used in industry and in many homes, those are exactly what is used. Not to be to boring but for example if a pipes temperature changes is required, a hole is place in the pipe called a thermowell. It is treaded and a thermocouple head is screwed into that. Now two well insulated wires of different metals is place in that head with the insulation off and connected together. At the other end is a temperature gauge. If the pipe changes in temperature, a current is created and the gauge records that. Sorry for that boring story. However, in the instance shown here, there is no eletrical problem unless the location of that tube is under constant changes in temperature. Then naturally, those coins will eventurally corrode. I would suspect that more damage is done every time those coins are taken out and DUMPED back in that container. As already noted you should really look into those cardboard type flips for coins.
We used to use thermocouples when I was a weatherman. A loop of two wires of different conductivity joined end to end was made. One end where the wires joined was kept at a constant and known temperature. The other was placed in a location whose temp you wanted to know, in our case outside in a weather shelter. A small but measureable electric current was created when the temps at the two ends were different. Calibrated correctly, it produced a more accurate reading than a mercury thermometer. And recording thermographs were only used when you needed an approximate temp. We used thermocouples in Yuma, AZ, where the temps on the ends were considerably different, particularly in the summer.
Part of the collection I aquired from my grandparents about twenty years back was an old tin container full of wheat cents. My grandma said they had been in there for at least 50 years. No damages such as corrosion was evident. In fact, they are still in it. Of course, these are average circulated cents and nothing nice. Better coins I wouldn't think of throwing in there. Guy~
You betcha, if (which I doubt) any of them are proofs or MS state. A few more dings, dents and damage won't really affect the value of common circulated coins. Of course those canned coins are an "accumulation", not a "collection", when they are just a jumbled, disorganized pile of scrap metal.
Not completely true as to a few more dings, dents and damage won't really effect the value. You should see how people examine coins at coin shows. And they tell the dealers of every one of those little imperfections. Of course this is normal method of haggling down the prices. Now with a little more boring thermocouple information. Approximatations of temperatures is normally done with the two different instrumentation wires run in only steel conduits to a device called a swamping box. This is layed out in the usual C&I divisions of Electrical Engineering organizations for averaging or approximations of temperatures in seveal locations. Examples are placing several thermocouple heads on the walls of a building in different locations. Back to your coins not corroding over time. Remember that the effect being discussed is a temperature changing effect on the metals. If such a container is kept in a fairly constant invironment, not much would happen. Metals are effected by humidity, temperature, miscellaneous gasses expecially Oxygen and even some types of light.
