What causes dark spots on some proof nickels?
davewesen
Posts: 6,250 ✭✭✭✭✭
Does anyone know what causes these dark spots occasionally seen on proof nickels?
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davewesen
Posts: 6,250 ✭✭✭✭✭
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https://ngccoin.com/news/article/1553/copper-spots-copper-nickel-coins/
Someone sneezed or coughed over this coin at the mint so it can be considered a mint created defect and hence a valuable mint error.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
What @PerryHall said.
It is interesting that the spots are on both sides of the coin...often they are seen on only one side.... so this might be an example of paper dust from an album...just conjecture on my part....could also be a sneeze
Cheers, RickO
if it was a sneeze wouldn't more be seen in mint state?
No. Most collectors would turn their head rather than sneeze on a nice coin like this. Also, for the last several decades most rare coins were stored in 2X2's or flips which would protect them from a sneeze.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I agree with the sneeze/cough but gave you a LOL on being valuable
The coin in the OP looks like a proof but I'm not an expert on this series.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
It is a proof strike... Still not more valuable due to a sneeze.
I was being facetious when I said that.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
You should have added a wink... It read like ricko waking up one morning loving toned coins
Could be a sneeze, but then it would have to be two sneezes since it is on both sides. Plus, I'd expect some bigger spots as often times sneezes can dislodge some larger debris.
I like the paper dust theory. Many 2x2s have lots of paper dust on the plastic sheet/window. I wipe mine off before using them out of fear of this outcome.
In the paper dust scenario, either the paper dust was acidic (sulphur, etc.), or even if it was acid free paper it could have attracted moisture.
Of course, it could also be toning from plain old dust if the coin was left uncovered somewhere. I left an uncirculated transit token on a shelf for a prolonged period once and it developed dust spots.
I have a pcgs pr63 buffalo nickel that has the same type of flyspecks that the 1938 and 1936 nickels above exhibit.
I have never seen that on mint state business strike specimens though.
a.k.a "The BUFFINATOR"
Me thinks contaminants in the air, add some humidity, a dash of exposure before packaging and then tick tock, time happens. Peace Roy
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Wayne Raymond albums. I am serious.
“ Selected term: Flyspecks
Explanation: Minute oxidation spots often seen on the surfaces of coins, particularly higher grade copper and nickel coins, caused by exposure to small drops of moisture”
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
In the early 1980's I traveled to upstate New York on behalf of the ANA to look at a three-generation collection that Bowers later sold as the Emory-Nichols Collection. The collection had been started around 1880. The second generation started buying a cent through dollar Proof set plus a Proof $2-1/2 somewhere in the 1890's. The third generation put everything in Wayte Raymond albums including the 1936-on Proofs until he died around 1941. His widow put everything in a steamer trunk and stored it in a bank vault for 40 years until she died.
When I saw it the silver was utterly gorgeous with the Wayte Raymond toning and the bronze and copper-nickel coins were all bright but heavily flyspecked. There is no doubt in my mind that the albums caused it. Humidity may or may not have been a contributing factor.
TD
Curiously, when I worked for Walter Perschke in the mid-1980's I bought in some Proof type coins including similarly flyspecked Shield and Liberty nickels. When I showed him the deal he said to give him the spotted stuff. A few days later he returned them to me with the spots gone and the coins apparently undamaged. I asked him what he used and the bastard would not tell me!
So you are saying there is a chance?
I recall that Emory-Nichols catalog though I did not try to by from it at the time. Wish I could have...maybe. Things like proof 3 cent nickels, nickels, commems and likely some other series were mostly higher prices, sometimes much higher, back then than they are now even taking grade inflation into account. And those are what I liked at the time, still do.
That was a one consignor sale with many finest or near finest known silver coins particularly in Barber coinage. A few examples are the 1876-CC 20c at $66,000 now PCGS-66; 1913-S 25c at $7,810 now PCGS-67 and the 1901-S Barber 50c at $6,600 now PCGS-67+ per CoinFacts. Seems some of those brought slightly weak prices even for the time.
The flyspeck issue mentioned by @CaptHenway can be seen noted in the catalog descriptions on some copper and nickel lots.
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Here are catalog links on the Newman Numismatic Portal and the zoomable version on archive.org that NNP links to with the "Toggle fullscreen" button.
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=4&AuctionId=523985
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Opens to the history of the collection page:
https://archive.org/details/emerynicholscoll1984bowe/page/4/mode/2up
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"To Be Esteemed Be Useful" - 1792 Birch Cent --- "I personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin
Besides the Proofs bought each year, the second and third generations would write to each Mint each year and buy one of everything struck. Obviously the Mints took pride in what they sent to collectors.