Rough Life of a Coin - Part two

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by Wizank, Feb 25, 2021.

  1. Wizank

    Wizank Well-Known Member

    In all my years of coin roll hunting (2) I have never seen damage such as this. This coin looks baked - like clay in the summer. Also a strong groove along the edge. Just thought I would share. No reason. IMG_5529.JPG IMG_5530.JPG IMG_5531.JPG
     
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  3. potty dollar 1878

    potty dollar 1878 Well-Known Member

    your quarter was invaded and destroyed by zilinconmites.
     
  4. Wizank

    Wizank Well-Known Member

    That's what I thought!
     
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  5. David Betts

    David Betts Elle Mae Clampett cruising with Dad

    Wow thought I was getting ruff!!! I feel better at 64
     
  6. Jeffjay

    Jeffjay Well-Known Member

    I have a friend that has an ugly quarter collection and I don't recall ever seeing one like that.
     
  7. John Burgess

    John Burgess Well-Known Member

    The edge suggest it was soaked in an acid strong enough to eat copper but too weak for the nickel. As far as all the cracking it's also post mint damage I'm sure, but I'm not sure of the cause.... I'm thinking an experiment with sulfur embrittlement.

    Combining the two observations, i'd have to guess a dip in sulfuric acid H2SO4 it would be a slow reaction but adding H2O2 hydrogen peroxide to it as an oxidizer would dissolve an entire nickel in about 30 seconds and generate a lot of heat in the process. A quarter is a copper core, the clad layers on each side are 75% copper 25% nickel.

    I'd think by soaking in the sulfuric acid it would eat the copper faster than the nickel and the sulfur in the formula would cause brittleness to the nickel that's been weakened by the copper being extracted at the faster rate. IF they added the hydrogen peroxide to speed the process it would just be a quick dip and a high temp violent reaction which I think could cause splitting.

    I'm sure it's PMD. I THINK that's how it was done based on the pictures. I haven't seen something quite like this before, but I've seen the edge before and know it was an acid to do that. I've also seen sulfur embrittlement in nickel in the plating process when the nickel is contaminated. It just cracks and flakes off.
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2021
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  8. Wizank

    Wizank Well-Known Member

    Sounds like a lot of work for a quarter! Why would anyone do that?
     
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  9. John Burgess

    John Burgess Well-Known Member

    Why do people carve or spoon coins, wittle wood or paint? For something to do.

    Maybe someone with the chemicals messing around with various things to see what happens. Maybe someone getting into plating and deplating, or getting into reclaiming precious metals from computer boards and cellphones and testing methods of extraction on coins and then refining it back into the pure metals again.

    If it was done how I think with the oxidizer, it's maybe an hour with set up and tear down. The processes for getting back to pure metals would be other steps and separating the nickel from the copper that's been dissolved in the solution is a good learning experience if it's something a person is interested in even just refining gold or silver to a higher purity but not wanting to try first with something vauable.
     
  10. Bambam8778

    Bambam8778 Well-Known Member

    In all my years, I've never saw a quarter like that. Clay in the Arizona desert. Not worth anything but I'd probably put it in a 2X2 and keep it as a convo piece!
     
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