Safe to buy/store red coppers?
musstangr
Posts: 61 ✭✭✭
Long time fan of wheat back pennies and have many slabbed brown examples. Really love the look of the reds though and picked up several slabbed examples at the Santa Clara show. Was thinking about buying a few "more expensive" coins at the Long Beach show but recent comments on another topic have me wondering if this is a good idea. Especially if they might turn brown at a later date.
I keep my slabbed coins in blue PCGS single row coin holders in a gun safe, with dessicants changed regularly. Checked the internet on this subject and there' really not much written about the dangers of buying red copper coins.
Needless worry? Any good info anyone can pass on in this subject?
Greatly appreciated in advance!
Regards,
Mike
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Comments
I would recommend red copper in the older holders. You'll have an idea that they are stable if they have been in the holder a few years.
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I would stay with the old holders from the top three TPG if you're after red.
"A dog breaks your heart only one time and that is when they pass on". Unknown
Just posted this in another thread. New or old, I have never had a red Lincoln turn on me in 35 years. Don't be afraid.
https://pcgs.com/setregistry/showcase/2819
The most surefire way to keep copper red is to lacquer (coat) it with something like Cellulose Nitrate (or whatever is recommended by conservationists). If I lacquered a coin, I would probably remove the coating and re-apply 25-50 years. Some of the best preserved 19th century proof coins I've seen were lacquered for large portions of their life.
http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/pdf/nitrate.pdf
I have been meaning to look into this more because I think there are number of usable substances. For example, you could hypothetically put a Lucite or other acrylic coating on a coin. Some would not be perfectly transparent, which some collectors might not like.
PCGS has lacquer classified in their 'improper care of storage' category when it comes to grading, but it's far from that. The problem is that it requires some amount of knowledge, training, or background in conservation/chemistry to do it properly. Don't just start applying your little sisters nail polish to all of your red coppers.
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"Numismatic categorizations, if left unconstrained, will increase spontaneously over time." -me
I agree. I have 100+ early red Lincolns, stored for a decade or more. Not a single one has turned. No spotting, no color degradation. Same for the steelies.
I'm sure a lot has to do with the storage environment.
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I wouldn't store any coins in the same safe with ammo. If the gun powder doesn't affect the coins in the event of a fire you don't want gunpowder exploding inside of your safe and blowing up your coins.
Gunpowder + safe + fire = really impressive bomb. Only a moron would store ammo in a home safe.
Regular ammo in regular containers is actually very safe in a home fire. It burns, but there are no dangerous projectiles.
@musstangr....Welcome aboard.... Red cents, with no prior contamination, seem very stable in slabs or air tites... I have seen them bright red after many years of storage.... Cheers, RickO
@BryceM....."Only a moron would store ammo in a home safe." Really?? You are, of course, mistaken. Cheers, RickO
No they SB moved / flipped as quickly as possible.
At some point tarnish sets in. Air tiite means nothing unless coin in a vacuum lol.
Turning brown is not the real problem with "red" copper, it's the other environmental problems that bother me.
I would actually pay a premium (and do at times) for my copper to have a nice chocolate brown "skin", I think it stabilizes the alloy from developing those nasty black marks.
I agree with Cougar1978 to a point (even if he is joking)