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What the heck is on this coin?

Insider2Insider2 Posts: 14,452 ✭✭✭✭✭

40X images of a Morgan dollar. This Microscopic "fuzz" is something "new" to me. It is on the entire coin - Altered Surface.

Comments

  • OuthaulOuthaul Posts: 7,440 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Schmutz.

  • blitzdudeblitzdude Posts: 6,026 ✭✭✭✭✭

    +1 Schmutz

    The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
    BOOMIN!™

  • thefinnthefinn Posts: 2,656 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Is it sticky?

    thefinn
  • HemisphericalHemispherical Posts: 9,370 ✭✭✭✭✭

    At 40x microschmutchamacallit.

    Appearance of a very fine talc like substance... applied wet and then dried?

  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,283 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Looks like some kind of surface mold from storage for a long time in a leather purse in a damp environment.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
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  • ilmcoinsilmcoins Posts: 525 ✭✭✭✭

    Looks like it was stored in a fish tank and picked up some growth.

  • 291fifth291fifth Posts: 24,395 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Maybe it is a rare "error" that may be worth One Million Dollars! ;)

    All glory is fleeting.
  • BustDMsBustDMs Posts: 1,618 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Could it have been in one of those old holders with a foam cushion that deteriorated over time?

    Q: When does a collector become a numismatist?



    A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.



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  • Insider2Insider2 Posts: 14,452 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Not sticky. I just don't know and the coin is long gone.

  • AUandAGAUandAG Posts: 24,792 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Oxidation beginning to form.

    bob :)

    Registry: CC lowballs (boblindstrom), bobinvegas1989@yahoo.com
  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 32,274 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Evaporated Jewelluster

    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
  • TommyTypeTommyType Posts: 4,586 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 3, 2020 10:44PM

    Just another idea: Metal plating "Whiskers".

    This is a common problem in the electronics industry when pure tin or zinc plating is used. These thread-like whiskers can grow, and make unintended contacts on the circuit board, causing shorts and power issues. Based on link on this site, (NASA), it's even possible on silver surfaces:

    https://nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/background/

    Now, I obviously don't know what was done to this coin previous to you seeing it...or what environment it may have sat in (for years).....but did it look like it might have been plated?

    The case against this: The photos on the link seem to indicate more localized growths, as opposed to a "fuzzy" entire surface. Of course, our coin wouldn't short circuit! So the same phenomenon COULD result in a fuzzy appearance over a long time period, and in the right environment.

    Anyway, that's the first thing that my mind jumped to when I thought of "fuzzy metal"....right or wrong.

    Added: Should point out that this issue started to crop up in an area I'm involved with only after suppliers were required to use non-lead solder...for environmental reasons. The replacement was higher in tin, and the whiskers started to appear. No good deed goes un-punished. :neutral:

    Easily distracted Type Collector
  • joeykoinsjoeykoins Posts: 16,277 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The first pic looks like a letter "R". The second looks like a "bird's beak" and the third looks like a letter "N". ;)

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  • SmudgeSmudge Posts: 9,558 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Looks like some of my furniture.

  • ashelandasheland Posts: 23,258 ✭✭✭✭✭

    yikes! Looks nasty. lol :D

  • emeraldATVemeraldATV Posts: 4,661 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Smudge said:
    Looks like some of my furniture.

    That's funny cause spacers used in die cutting are called furniture.
    My guess clean your furniture (the die)

  • JimnightJimnight Posts: 10,846 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Some kind of hard mold?

  • Namvet69Namvet69 Posts: 9,045 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Me thinks it's an alien life force from another galaxy far far away. Did a dip in acetone improve the surface? Peace Roy

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  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Nasty looking under that magnification....I would like to have such a specimen for analysis...and @TommyType...My years in electronics have definitely exposed me to 'whiskering'... I would solve the issue by having the circuit board reflowed....and yes, even with components, they can be sent through hot air leveling...Cheers, RickO

  • TomBTomB Posts: 21,378 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Reminds me of iron shavings, but I'd imagine it is more likely the residue of a prior addition to the coin's surface.

    Thomas Bush Numismatics & Numismatic Photography

    In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson

    image
  • TurtleCatTurtleCat Posts: 4,611 ✭✭✭✭✭

    A lot of what I'm seeing is digital noise. If you can add more light before getting the picture it will help clarify the image a lot.

  • ms70ms70 Posts: 13,954 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I'm thinking environmental. Some sort of mold.

    Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.

  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 32,274 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Any old typographers amongst us familiar with the term “type lice?”

    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.

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