I ended up with another collection put up in the 60's....check out the pics

DNADave

This is the 1st of three boxes. The owner may or may not sell but I do hope she lets me look at all three boxes.

The stuff is just old and fresh. I do see some problems though....NEVER store coins in plastic cases on foam !

The 1965 quarter was broadstruck or something and may have been worth keeping, but look at what the foam did !

That is worse than PVC any day.

NHSBaseball

I had no idea that foam would do that. Was that a common storage method back then? What a shame.

adamlaneus

Yikes. But does that qualify as NT?

DNADave

<< <i>Yikes. But does that qualify as NT? >>



Don't know ! I just hope its not a 65 on a silver planchet.

Edited to say: It's not, but I didn't know foam would do that.

fc

it will be fun to search through it... but frankly just by looking at the pics
i do not have high hopes. It appears the person who collected it was a typical
collector for the time. As in quantity over quality which is oh so typical.

good luck.

commoncents05

I would try acetone first, and if that doesn't work (and the coins are worth it) send them through NCS.

-Paul

CB2597

I was just going to ask if anything came out spectacularly toned...not foamed.

AUandAG

I agree with FC. Yep, pretty much average stuff and probably no keys and maybe a few semi-keys.
Looks like almost all the collections I buy! Don't get carried away in pricing as true values can be
less than what the books say on this common stuff. Sure is fun to go through though! I enjoy
every one that I find and so do my grandkids, daughter-in-law and daughter. The all have their
series to collect and can't wait to get their grubby hands on those little widgets!
Have fun,

bob

fc

<< <i>I would try acetone first, and if that doesn't work (and the coins are worth it) send them through NCS.

-Paul >>



those two foam damaged coins have a chance to actually be saved?
it looks to me that a terrible amount of damage has been done.

BECOKA

I agree on the acetone part, I would like to see exactly what the metal looks like after being eaten alive by foam.

19Lyds

I am currently quite surprised and am feeling a little ill !

seanq

Please don't tell me that last pic is the reverse of that 1967 quarter. Without the reverse to help attribute it I can't be 100% sure, but from the obverse pic alone that looks like one of the nicest incomplete clips I've ever seen. Not necessarily a huge money coin but one I would have been very interested in seeing had it not been so horribly damaged.


Sean Reynolds

Dentuck

Nightmarish. :-(

DNADave

<< <i>Please don't tell me that last pic is the reverse of that 1967 quarter. Without the reverse to help attribute it I can't be 100% sure, but from the obverse pic alone that looks like one of the nicest incomplete clips I've ever seen. Not necessarily a huge money coin but one I would have been very interested in seeing had it not been so horribly damaged.


Sean Reynolds >>




yep, thats the back of it I thought it was counting wheel damage or post mint damage and haven't heard of incomplete clips before.

thanks.

ElKevvo

I had a medal from the 60's that was stored in the original box which had some of the foam in it as padding...same result as the OP's. The reverse of the medal (a Hawaiian Captain Cook Medal) was totally eaten away...the obverse was fine. Nothing I did restored it as the metal was gone..

K

sumdunce

The 1965 has the appearance of a partial collar strike. You will see some reeding on the smaller side and a broadstruck appearance on the larger (obverse) side. I have 2 old nickels that got caught in a slot machine and were damaged when removed that have the same appearance from the side.

The 1967 appears to be PMD.



S

messydesk

The foam has "rotted" and I assume is no longer spongy. Whatever it is that gave the foam its spongy characteristic has leached out onto the coin, leaving the foam brittle. Much as PVC goo from a flip sticks to the coin, so did this compound. It then acted as a corrosive glue between the coin and the foam. Acetone should take off the foam debris and the glue that formed. It would be interesting to see what is left of the coin

seanq

<< <i>

>>



Here's a 1967 dime with an incomplete punch for comparison, yours sure looks like the real thing from the one side shown. A matching arc should appear on the opposite side of the coin as well, if it still exists.




Sean Reynolds

cladking

<< <i>I had no idea that foam would do that. Was that a common storage method back then? What a shame. >>




The foam always breaks down in time and usually within about 15 years.

I just found some cents packed that way today and destroyed but fortu-
nately they had little value. Some of the $2 foreign mint sets were pack-
aged this way and it breaks my heart to see them destroyed especially
since many of them would be worth hundreds and hundreds of dollars
now in pristine condition.

This stuff was used a lot up to the early '80's or so but you still see some
even today.

DNADave

Sean,

I think you're right. It's the same on the reverse but NO amount of acetone is going to get through that much corrosion.
These two error coins are pretty much ruined due to improper storage.

adamlaneus

That is simply the largest sample of the Andromeda Strain that I have ever seen.

OffMetal

<< <i>Sean,

I think you're right. It's the same on the reverse but NO amount of acetone is going to get through that much corrosion.
These two error coins are pretty much ruined due to improper storage.


>>



I never knew foam did that either. I need to revisit my steel cent webbing in that case, since I have it stored on foam in a plastic case

Those are still pretty cool errors nonetheless, especially the incomplete clip!

-Ben

mkman123

DANG!!! foam really messed up the coins!

seanq

What an odd trend to notice, but here is another nice 1960s error coin (eBay link with severe corrosion on the reverse, like the two coins in this thread. Any chance the coin in the linked auction came from the same collection?


Sean Reynolds

sumdunce

Sean,

He has more than just the nickel listed showing corrosion.



S

coinpictures

Not to hijack the thread, but it is somewhat related:

I wonder if the chemical makeup of this specific foam is the problem. The reason I say this is that I have 20-40 examples of cased Canadian silver dollars from 1971-1973, where the insert in the case was foam: a velvet-lined hardshell case with a fairly tight seal, and a single 1"x2"x1/8" strip of foam on top of the coin.

That's 25 years ago, so if corrosion were going to be caused, one would think you would see examples similar to those posted above. Instead, the foam seems to cause very dramatic colorful toning over time (either that or the wash they used, or both). It's restricted to pretty much that 3-year period; after that the Canadian mint started encapsulating the coins before putting them in the case.

The toning is pretty bizarre and creates unusual patterns: speckles, splotches and streaks, with fairly psychedelic color combinations, at times appearing almost colorized. Very different from the toning you see on U.S. pieces, and despite what you might think, completely NT. Not everyone's cup of tea, but incredibly fun (and cheap) to collect.

golfer72

Those Canadian coins are nice !!!!!