now this is a REAL newbie question

levans498

What turns the penny brown ? My local dealer said it is from paper ! Not sure if he was pulling my leg cause he was laughing when he said it

BlindedByEgo

Too much time in the sun. When they're red, it's sunburn. Too many times like that, they turn brown.

It sucks the most when they start peeling.

rgCoinGuy

Pocket Lint.

ProofArtworkonCircs

Sorry, this may be a bit O.T. But what is brown? All my life I have wanted to know. We have the colors of the rainbow, black, white and gray. These I understand. I even understand that black is both the absence of all light and all colors (pigments) mixed together. But where does brown fit in?

JCMhouston

Oxidation of the copper.

Raybob15239

Oxidation of the metal, combined with dirt, oils, etc. encountered in circulation.

yellowkid

Rust

guitarwes

<< <i>Oxidation of the metal, combined with dirt, oils, etc. encountered in circulation. >>





What about MS coins? Is it then just strickly oxidation of the metal?

tjkillian

The natural color of copper is red, as in a new coin. When copper is exposed to an enviroment that contains oxygen, the oxygen atoms bond with the copper atoms creating copper-oxide, which is brown.

If you could remove those oxygen atoms from the copper, it would turn red again, naturally, but the bond between copper and oxygen is quite strong.

lordmarcovan

Sulfur in the air has something to with it, sometimes.

(I'll go with tjkillian's answer: copper oxide.)

Edit to add: there is often a lot of sulfur in paper products (which is why paper mills like the ones here in my smelly hometown have that rotten-egg odor). Therefore, your dealer telling you that the brown comes from paper was not exactly pulling your leg- there's some truth to that. The paper/cardboard/tissue paper in old mint sets often caused coins to tone. Of course, most brown toning on copper coins has more to do with the oxidation from air than with any contact with paper products containing sulfur.

tahoe98

............time and the atmosphere.

dsessom

<< <i>Sorry, this may be a bit O.T. But what is brown? All my life I have wanted to know. We have the colors of the rainbow, black, white and gray. These I understand. I even understand that black is both the absence of all light and all colors (pigments) mixed together. But where does brown fit in? >>



Brown is a mixture of opposite colors. If you understand the primary and secondary colors, then you will understand this:

Green and red are opposites, mix them and you get brown.
Purple and yellow are opposites, mix them and you get brown.
Orange and blue are opposites, mix them and you also get brown.

You can also mix all three primary colors together and you get brown.

Hope this answers your lifelong question.

SILVERSMYTH

Color Brown??????

Well i have 8 dogs and 3 cats!!!!!!
It comes from ---------AW CRAP never mind!!!!!!!!!