Dipping Questions

I'm familiar with just about all the experiments collectors tried over the years to keep copper from toning. And yeah, there were a lot with aluminum. One of the most popular was to buy new rolls or new bags of cents and roll them up, first in a layer of aluminum foil and then inserting that inside the paper roll. And there was some success with it - just not a lot of it. In fact the guy who originated that method back in the 60s was a member of this forum, and a personal friend of mine. But he passed away quite a few years ago. You can read about him here -
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/catman.314073/

Anyway, here's the thing about using aluminum - And Steve discovered this the hard way, 50 years ago. Chemists, and metallurgists have known about it a lot longer than that. When copper is in contact with aluminum, and moisture becomes present - and yeah even humidity suffices as enough moisture - a chemical reaction is created and the copper corrodes badly.

However, if you can control humidity sufficiently, or just get plain lucky, the aluminum acts as an air barrier because it's a metal and air cannot pass through it like it does with paper and plastic. So if the coins are wrapped just right in aluminum and you get lucky with controlling humidity then the flow of air getting to the coins is reduced and or slowed down enough so as to almost stop toning. But if ya don't get lucky, well, it's a certain disaster in the making.

The TPGs cannot tell that any coin was dipped, copper or otherwise - absolutely nobody can. The one and only thing that can tell anybody any coin was dipped is deductive reasoning.

And if folks wanna experiment so they can teach themselves how to correctly and successfully dip copper - have at it, it can be and is done. That's how everybody who does know how to do it - learned how to do it.

I do not know of anybody who has ever told or taught anybody else how to do it because it is, for obvious reasons, a secret worth quite a bit of money. And as for me, I won't ever teach anyone because there's too much of it to begin with ! And in my opinion, it is a less than, shall we say, honorable practice - that is only done for money.

That's how say I

 

Very true ! It's a simple fact that dipping has saved tens of millions of coins from irreparable damage and or utter destruction thus allowing them to be treasured and enjoyed by subsequent generations.

 

I've discussed and talked about how to properly clean coins more times than I can count. And yes dipping coins is just one of the methods of properly cleaning coins.

The only thing I won't discuss is how to correctly dip copper without ruining the coin - because that's not about saving the coin, that's just about money.