Storage question

I agree with it all but about staples giving off gases as they corrode. Actually, they are pulling oxygen out of the air, which is what causes rust. A B.S. in Chemistry sometimes comes in handy.

 

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I just inherited some coins...I've probably ruined them and I'm trying to not, I put them in flips, and those Whitman folders. I've bought some stuff, I have no idea if I am buying stuff that is good quality or not, from what I've researched it is. But I have all kinds of coins. Canadian, Australian, Jamaican, US coins , morgans, barbers, peace , wheats, Indians etc , I have too many kennedys , like I have hundreds but looks like they aren't worth anything ...they are stored poorly too! In bags upon bags full. I'm a newbie for sure. I wish I could clean them ...dirty doesn't appease me! What do you collect?

 

First of all, don't panic...


1) Coins are pretty tough and the only ones you have to worry so much about are proof and really nice uncirculated. 2) Not to be discouraging, but there aren't that many coins that are worth big bucks, even if they are "old" and look "really shiny".

First thing is to separate...foreign and US...foreign by country, US by denomination. Storage in closed containers is good for most till you can check to see if you hit a jackpot. Easiest places to check are here (pictures please) and e-bay (sold listings best - some can ask moon money prices).

Good luck with them and have fun.

 

Is this fine or extremely fine?

 

I need airtites? Or adhesive flips? Or airtites

 

When the steel reacts with the oxygen, the charged air would become reactive with the things around them. There needs to be some water present from humidity for this to go. That is why coins stored in the southwest fare better, just like cars. Chemical reactions don't happen in a vacuum.

 

Looks VF or Very Fine to me. Right between F and EF or XF.

 

I was going to reject this, but I think I can see a mechanism for it.

If there's acid in the paper, it's going to attack the staples, producing metal salts -- not just iron oxide, but iron sulfate, or chloride, or something else, depending on what acid is in the paper.

Those salts are often hygroscopic, which means they attract and concentrate moisture from the air. More moisture, plus remaining acid from the paper, produces more damaged coins. In fact, depending on what acid is there, you could get sulfurous gasses coming off. (Check my work, chemists, but what about iron reducing sulfate to sulfite, which easily disassociates in an acid environment to give off SO2?)

I feel more science projects coming on...!

 

Yes they do, perhaps not reaction with oxygen though.

 

If it's a vacuum, then there would only be solids present and I can't think of two solids that would react with each other in a vacuum. Enlighten me.

 

Well, if you want to go down the "technical" route, it's probably not a complete vacuum anyhow.

Solids that react: one of the most memorable reactions from my old Gilbert chemistry set was heating iron filings and sulfur together. Okay, the sulfur melted -- but then they started reacting to form ferrous sulfide, and generating enough heat to glow red. (And the resulting gunk never came all the way out of the test tube.)

Most pyrotechnic mixes are solid-phase, although of course they don't stay that way for long, at least not entirely. Some are used for rocketry.

And coming back down to Earth, I'm not sure pure solid-phase silver and sulfur would react -- but I'd be surprised if they didn't.

Edit: oh, and look up ionic liquids. They have super-low vapor pressures, so they can be stable in vacuum, and they support all kinds of interesting chemistry.