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Is it just me, or does silver smell?

dontippetdontippet Posts: 2,588 ✭✭✭✭
in Precious Metals
I deal with 90% and old sterling, and I have noticed a distinctive smell, or is it possibly the grime of many years on the coins that I smell? Clean silver seems to smell less, maybe.
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    WeissWeiss Posts: 9,935 ✭✭✭✭✭
    An acidic, stringent smell. Yep. I don't really mind it.

    Silver plated stuff reeks, though. And it's not just years of polish.
    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
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    CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 31,597 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yes.
    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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    BBQnBLUESBBQnBLUES Posts: 1,803 ✭
    PCGS needs to hire you as a backup "sniffer" image
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    DrBusterDrBuster Posts: 5,313 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Lots of years of pocket-crotch sweat on the 90%.
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    dontippetdontippet Posts: 2,588 ✭✭✭✭
    Ewwwwww!!!!!! I think I'll stop sniffing it.
    > [Click on this link to see my ebay listings.](https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=&_in_kw=1&_ex_kw=&_sacat=0&_udlo=&_udhi=&_ftrt=901&_ftrv=1&_sabdlo=&_sabdhi=&_samilow=&_samihi=&_sadis=15&_stpos=61611&_sargn=-1&saslc=1&_salic=1&_fss=1&_fsradio=&LH_SpecificSeller=1&_saslop=1&_sasl=mygirlsthree3&_sop=12&_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_fosrp=1)
    >

    Successful transactions on the BST boards with rtimmer, coincoins, gerard, tincup, tjm965, MMR, mission16, dirtygoldman, AUandAG, deadmunny, thedutymon, leadoff4, Kid4HOF03, BRI2327, colebear, mcholke, rpcolettrane, rockdjrw, publius, quik, kalinefan, Allen, JackWESQ, CON40, Griffeyfan2430, blue227, Tiggs2012, ndleo, CDsNuts, ve3rules, doh, MurphDawg, tennessebanker, and gene1978.
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    zrlevinzrlevin Posts: 734 ✭✭✭
    I have always attributed the smell to the copper content, as I dont' notice it with .999.
    Zach
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    CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 31,597 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm pretty sure its the silver oxide, or tarnish, that smells.
    TD
    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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    MMRMMR Posts: 372


    << <i>Lots of years of pocket-crotch sweat on the 90%. >>



    Lol... wash it with some MS70. works wonders.
    My eBay auctions - nothing now
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    jmski52jmski52 Posts: 22,397 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I think it could be the silver sulfide.

    Or tobacco smoke. I got a roll of Franklins off ebay once and they smelled pretty bad, so I dipped them. I know, it doesn't make much sense to dip tobacco smoke off in a solution containing sulfur, but I did it anyway. Got rid of the smoke smell, too.
    Q: Are You Printing Money? Bernanke: Not Literally

    I knew it would happen.
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    PreTurbPreTurb Posts: 1,187 ✭✭✭
    silver sure "smelled" today - closed way down from mid-day high.

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    botanistbotanist Posts: 524 ✭✭✭
    Of course we all know that actual silver doesn't smell, for in order to have a smell it would be vaporizing. When a solid vaporizes, it's called sublimation, and elemental Ag doesn't sublimate under normal conditions. Therefore, the smell is due to some other thing, and there are many possibilities, some of which were mentioned by previous posters. Among the explanations for the odor I consider most plausible are that silver has bactericidal properties, and with our atmosphere being loaded with bacteria, all exposed pure silver builds up a microscopic coating of dead bacteria.
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    edmundfitzgeraldedmundfitzgerald Posts: 4,306 ✭✭
    Old cardboard (baseball cards) smell real good to a lot of collectors, including myself. Especially when you mix in a little bubble
    gum smell to the cardboard. image
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    botanistbotanist Posts: 524 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Old cardboard (baseball cards) smell real good to a lot of collectors, including myself. Especially when you mix in a little bubble
    gum smell to the cardboard. image >>



    Hah! Reminds me of the librarian who would open books and sniff them inside, along the binding, to savor their peculiar odors. I wonder if it had anything to do with the purported vice of glue-sniffing. If anyone tries that with numismatic literature, a report to this forum would be appreciated. And to keep it on-topic, I'll say that the smells of old books might be related to their harboring silverfish.
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    CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 31,597 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>Old cardboard (baseball cards) smell real good to a lot of collectors, including myself. Especially when you mix in a little bubble
    gum smell to the cardboard. image >>



    Hah! Reminds me of the librarian who would open books and sniff them inside, along the binding, to savor their peculiar odors. I wonder if it had anything to do with the purported vice of glue-sniffing. If anyone tries that with numismatic literature, a report to this forum would be appreciated. And to keep it on-topic, I'll say that the smells of old books might be related to their harboring silverfish. >>



    Probably checking for mold and mildew, lest it be imported into the library.
    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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    botanistbotanist Posts: 524 ✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>

    << <i>Old cardboard (baseball cards) smell real good to a lot of collectors, including myself. Especially when you mix in a little bubble
    gum smell to the cardboard. image >>


    Hah! Reminds me of the librarian who would open books and sniff them inside, along the binding, to savor their peculiar odors. I wonder if it had anything to do with the purported vice of glue-sniffing. If anyone tries that with numismatic literature, a report to this forum would be appreciated. And to keep it on-topic, I'll say that the smells of old books might be related to their harboring silverfish. >>


    Probably checking for mold and mildew, lest it be imported into the library. >>



    So are you denying she had a fetish for book fragrances?
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    InYHWHWeTrustInYHWHWeTrust Posts: 1,448 ✭✭✭
    There are many a bibliophile who would love to bottle "old book scent."
    Do your best to avoid circular arguments, as it will help you reason better, because better reasoning is often a result of avoiding circular arguments.
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