PCGS offering $50,000 reward...

Wow. No, if they are encapsulating a coin with PVC residue, that is their fault. Those should be body bagged if the submitter declines conservation.

 

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100 percent incorrect. Canada was the worst for a long time, Australia both mints have the issue, GB has the issue, China, France etc. They all have it to some extent on at least some products.

 

What about this statement?... "The problem is also not limited to Silver Eagles or coins from the U.S. Mint. We have seen the same spotting problem on modern U.S. silver commemoratives and modern coins from other Mints such as Canada, China, and Australia."

 

Well, maybe an outlier here or there...but from what I have read most of the problems have focused on the U.S. Mint and their very high volume of Silver Eagles, much more than other mints who often have production runs of 1,000 - 100,000.

That said, if I'm wrong and other mints are having spotting problems even on smaller mint runs, I'm all ears.

 

I haven't read consumer buyers complaining to the same extent, such as on forums like CT.

That said, they have much fewer mintages so there are going to be fewer teed off consumers. But my previous readings said that other mints were doing stuff to cleanse the dies/planchetts that was eliminating or minimizing the spotting problems.

 

I have a couple early 60s mint and proof sets still in their mint plastic with milk spots. Basically ruined and apparently very common. So I no longer buy "sealed" sets, sight unseen.

 

From previous discussions here, I gather that those manila envelopes from the early 60s weren't actually sealed from the Mint, so a "sealed envelope" is no guarantee that the coins haven't been examined. For that matter, you can buy all the "unsealed envelopes" you want on eBay, and seal in the proof sets of your choice.

So, yeah, don't buy "sealed envelope proof sets".

 

Yeah that reward was offered just as a public relations move, maybe to drum up business, who knows. I mean they would likely pay the reward but it's pretty obvious nobody has answered up yet and likely never will.

 

Do we know the rate of spotting ? Is it 5% or a fraction of 1% ?

It seemed that the folks saying that improperly cleaned and dried dies/planchetts/whatever was the cause of the spotting. Basically, you were adding impurities into the silver.

I know silver "tarnishes" but this seems to be the addition of impure elements. I admit I'm not an expert on this, and last I checked, I have no spotted silver bullion.

That's why I primarily buy gold.

 

No one does. At best it's a wild guesstimate based off their monster boxes, but it's so random that really wouldnt even be accurate

And if you're wondering it can be found on all different types of silver coins. Normal, proof, reverse proof, colored, plated, hologram etc.

 

Sorry, I'm retired now. They couldn't afford me anyway. View attachment 1063626

All of the mints purchase their silver planchets from third-party manufacturers, and the mints have done everything they can to control contamination during the minting process. It would therefore seem logical to assume that the contamination occurs during the alloying process and production of the planchets. Obviously, not all .999 pure silver is the same.

 

It may be the pneumatic machinery packaging up the silver coins that is causing the spots. A lubricant moisture mixture from a leaky seal or pressure relief valve. That's my theory anyway.

One night, as I was going through a bag of quarters from the mint, my daughter came into the room and sprayed Frebreeze(?). It didn't happen then, but, a few days later milky spots came up on the coins. Nothing removes those spots. I tried everything on a few of the coins. Nothing would pull those spots off, short of, a grinding wheel. That was a public service announcement in case you run into a renegade sprayer.

I have a 2012-S Silver proof Kennedy in PCGS plastic that has milk spots. I don't think there were milk spots on it when I was gifted the coin. It has milk spots now. It is graded PR70DCAM. I got it in 2014.

 

No proof of this but given the problem that has happened for years in multiple mints across the world it seems likely it’s more than one thing that can cause it.

 

This is an all volunteer forum. Since you're retired, you'll have plenty of time to figure it out.

 

What about the Canadian Mints 2018 announcement of "MintShield"? Anybody know if this has helped?

https://www.coinworld.com/news/precious-metals/royal-canadian-mint-develops-milk-spot-fix.html

 

thank you for the heads up. I do in fact have one of those living in my house..... That gave me a good laugh.

 

It is a proprietary process. Hmmm, wonder when in the process proprietary happens? Maybe right before it goes to packaging? MintShield is a heck of a lot cheaper than hand packaging all those silver coins.