Foil Wrapped Roll - Exploration

I had several rolls of 1962 Lincoln cents sent to me. Out of the lot two of the rolls were internally wrapped in foil. I've had a few of these over the decades and have found it's actually a good preservation method. I was really impressed with the current ones found since I have some tubes and OBW-style rolls that I opened along side them.

Here's one of the foil rolls:

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

The rolls were very tight inside the wrappers and took some work to remove without tearing. Even the end coins were still bright!

 

Compared to the tube and OBW rolls, the coins inside the foil rolls were extremely bright and lustrous. Here's the two enders (both were tails out), a look at the bulk and a comparison to a toned ender I found in another roll.

 

I recall years ago I purchased a roll of Roosevelt dimes at the Gettysburg show wrapped in foil and then paper. I wonder if the mid 50' early 60's this was common place. I personally don't recall seeing this practice until the last decade buying rolls.

 

The foil is to protect the coins against aliens, not preservation. LOL

 

This is fact - I've had a couple years ago that were black inside with corroded coins. Protecting your coins from air/moisture is critical to successful storage no matter what the last layer of defense is!

 

Always fascinated w/ this area of consideration and enjoyed the post/photos, @BadThad. Minty! I find it interesting to see what ends up turning and what doesn't, over time. Especially, when it's the opposite of what I'd expect.

 

Some of the best rolls I have found, from condition perspective, were foil-wrapped (foil touching coins). I've even bought a few rolls wrapped with foil outside the paper wrapper. Those tended to be very toned, presumably since the outgassing of the paper wrapper was trapped and caused maximum effect.

Some of the commercial foils had a thin plastic coating on one side, and some of the rolls I've had with that type of foil were disastrous as the person doing the rolling was probably not aware of the coating, and put the coating toward the coins. After 50 years the plastic turned to dust, and the coins were a mess.

 

Aluminum foil trapped gas???

 

That's a very plausible conclusion based on the empirical evidence. While not fully "air tight", it certainly would increase the concentration of out gassing substances into a smaller area. Then, given the propensity of copper to tone and adsorb, such conditions would accelerate and enhance the toning process IMO.

 

Thanks for your post - quite interesting.

What percentage of your rolls do you find corroded/ruined from improper storage?

I'm probably somewhere around 20% for OBW. If not fully corroded, the start of the green or dreaded black spot cupric corrosion. Just last week I cracked a 1962 OBW and found this type of black corrosion on most of the coins - the roll was a complete bust. When I crack a roll and see any of this type of corrosion - the roll is usually doomed. If not very heavy corrosion, they develop those little black spots of cupric oxide - the terminal phase of corrosion.

I attempted conservation with VC just for fun, the results were not good - as I expected. This type of black corrosion CANNOT be removed without damaging the coin. Before and after pics, soak time ~15 min, toothpick method.

 

So happens, I took a picture before I cracked it too. The roll was tight!

 

I've had very poor luck at looking at the outside of an OBW roll and predicting the quality of the coins inside. End coins vary from mint/as struck brilliant to dark black and dirty, and the coins inside could be anything. The quality of the wrapper itself seems to give a better indication, though I've seen some very poor condition wrappers yield some very nice coins, and pristine wrappers yield spotty coins. I think I've had worse luck than your 20%, with perhaps 40% being below par. Some of this is due to stealthy re-wrapping, such that the coins have already been searched/handled.

 

This. So much this. The paper is NOT a friend.

Foil on the outside will also tend to trap condensation. When it's warm and humid, the air inside the roll gets warm and humid as well (because air diffuses through tiny openings, and no foil wrap is completely gas-tight). When it cools off, that humidity inside the roll condenses, and then you've got damp paper held against coins -- and it's easy to make a foil wrap water-tight.

(Doug, you're in Florida -- how can you even conceive of "no moisture"? )

 

Wrapped in foil like that they should get GREAT reception!

 

For some of us who like toned coins, paper rolls can actually be our friends. Some of the very best toned coins I have found came directly from OBW rolls that were stored in just the right conditions...not temperature cycled such that condensation would form, and not enough airflow to dissipate the paper outgassing. The result can be amazing, and with unique qualities only present with true OBW rolls.

 

100% agree! ME TOO! I bought a few of those from you over the years and found many myself. It takes a certain set storage conditions to produce desirable toning.

Some of the best toners I've found were under conditions where I suspect the coins were not stored completely air tight. I can attest to this with some of my inherited family coins where I know how they had been stored for decades. Just loose enough to allow a tiny bit of air to get in but not wide open. This catalyzes the reaction causing outgassing of materials (likely sulfur based) from the paper to become "oxygen/moisture activated", released and sufficiently concentrated in the gaseous state to induce surface reaction on the coins.

I'm sure you'd agree, hitting the perfect conditions is a fairly rare event. Honestly, for me, it's probably about a 1-2% rate finding a truly nice toner roll.