How to remove milk spots

I don't think that we need to go that far, this was a perfect opportunity to have a discussion about milk spots and how they come to be with some very informed collectors/dealers. The fact is that nobody has nailed down the origin and most people think that it is a result of the blanks not being cleaned or dried properly before the strike. The mint has gone through great lengths to eliminate them, but they exist in abundance. PCGS has had a longstanding offer to handsomely reward anyone who has a way to remove them and the prize has and will continue to be unclaimed.

 

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I wasn't aware of people blocking me, and am unworried if they do. I'm not here for them.

Why, exactly, do you think I said what I did? Could it maybe be because I have observed - from the very beginning - the development from nothing of milk spots on slabbed coins I owned? That's why my experience is different than yours, and it's your choice whether or not to include it in your thinking. Yes, of course all the ingredients for the reaction are there from the Mint, but they don't always happen immediately. I know. I've watched it happen.

In the meantime, a ton of other people are reading this and doing their own thinking as well because these abominations are so common that almost every discussion of them draws an audience. This thread is for them too.

 

Dave is correct. These spots can develop over time. That's well know. I have seen it. There have been many threads where someone took coins out of storage and found spots that were not there before being put away. There have also been many threads where spots start showing after being sent in for grading. I have always felt that a change in holders can start the process that makes the spots start showing.

 

I had it happen on a 2014 proof silver dollar after the fact. I would not have kept it if it looked like that when I received it.

 

We must be talking about two different things.

 

We don't appear to be. I'll concede we're just arguing semantics if your "but they can become more apparent over time" can mean "you can't see them at all when you first get the coin."

 

I'm speaking of the coins that I received directly from the mint with noticeable to the naked eye milk spots. These coins can't be much more than a month or so old before they ship and the spots are as apparent as they will ever be. On the other hand, I have a set of proof franklin half dollars that I purchased in the mid '80s that had some milk spots that were clearly there, but have since darkened over time. To me the darkening is a result of toning while milk spots are a result of the minting process. Two totally different things.

 

OK, then we *are* talking about different things, because I see no argument with anything you're saying.