ASE: Are these Milk Spots?

dpoole

I'm digging out coins I haven't looked at in years. This one is a burnished 2006-W ASE PCGS MS69 that has developed unsightly spots (I'd been lucky; these are the first spots I've seen on the ASEs I have).

These spots have a definite orange tint, though. Is that typical?

Also, isn't it true that PCGS doesn't guarantee these? I know they're not worth much, but just wondering...

MsMorrisine

Milk spots are white

These may be surface contamination.

An acetone bath would not hurt. No scrubbing!

dpoole

The point of confusion and curiosity was indeed the orange color, and the fact that it showed up/occurred in the slab well after PCGS had anointed it as 69.

Any opinions about what else it could be, given those circumstances?

Insider2

Not milk spots. They look like they will come off with conservation.

Goldbully

Yours could possibly be milk spots....hard to tell since your silver looks copperish in color.

Here's an example from NGC..............

thevolcanogod

I vote for not milk spots. Could be mold growing on whatever someone sneezed onto the coin before it was holdered.

Could be dip residue. Could be contamination from something else that fell on the coin - that spot just above IGWT looks centered on a black speck.

dpoole

"Could be mold growing on whatever someone sneezed onto the coin before it was holdered."

That seems most plausible.

I agree it would probably come off, but either way it's just worth melt so I guess it's not worth the trouble.

Thanks so much, as usual!

JBK

If not milk spots, then maybe orange juice?

I hate that so many SEs are a ticking time bomb. It is a real roll of the dice what they will look like a few years after issue.

2manycoins2fewfunds

Dump it............

derryb

spots is spots

blitzdude

Not milk spots although I have handled plenty of ASE coins that do.

I have some slabbed ASE that have similar spots but they are all from the WTC ground zero recovery site. I have handled thousands of them and the only ones I have ever seen with what you have there are on those WTC coins. Interesting.

dpoole

That's fascinating, Blitzdude. Any theories?

Just incidentally, I got this particular coin straight from the Mint, and submitted it to PCGS later in 2006.

Cougar1978

Milk spots white. Fellow Coin club members complain getting slabbed MS70 coins w milk spots from sellers using stock photos.

ricko

Not milk spots... I would crack it and give it an acetone bath....I have not seen that type of spots on ASE's before...@blitzdude has interesting inputs though.... Cheers, RickO

jmski52

PCGS plastic made some of my AGEs turn an uneven yucky orange in the 2006-2008 era, even a coin that had been stable for the previous 18 years in a 2x2 flip. It’s the plastic!

bestday

The spots will knock down value

dpoole

@jmski52 said:
PCGS plastic made some of my AGEs turn an uneven yucky orange in the 2006-2008 era, even a coin that had been stable for the previous 18 years in a 2x2 flip. It’s the plastic!

I've seen that happen to some of mine, as well. I'd assumed it was the copper component toning up.

dpoole

@bestday said:
The spots will knock down value

But would you really crack it and clean it? I figure the way it is, it's just worth bullion anyway. If I cracked it and dipped it, it seems to me it'd still be worth just bullion as a raw coin. It wouldn't be worth the cost of resubmitting it.

Am I wrong about that?

bestday

A PCGS 70 Silver Eagle is worth more than spot.... Milk spots cut down the value of spotted 70

blitzdude

@dpoole said:
That's fascinating, Blitzdude. Any theories?

Just incidentally, I got this particular coin straight from the Mint, and submitted it to PCGS later in 2006.

No theory, I just assumed them to be carbon or sulfur spots or maybe something to do with heat from the WTC site. Your coin obviously was produced after and as you say went straight from the mint to you so guessing not related to heat.

Bochiman

You aren't wrong, but if it did clean up when raw, it would look better.
When people are buying, even bullion, they usually buy the one that looks better. Why buy an ugly PCGS MS69 for the same price a nice looking raw piece is selling for?

That's kind of how I think about it.

Sure, some will just crack and put it in a pile, and that's cool, but cracking it now would still sell to the same bullion stackers and take up less storage for you.

Jmho....

@dpoole said:

@bestday said:
The spots will knock down value

But would you really crack it and clean it? I figure the way it is, it's just worth bullion anyway. If I cracked it and dipped it, it seems to me it'd still be worth just bullion as a raw coin. It wouldn't be worth the cost of resubmitting it.

Am I wrong about that?

BigA

But it's not a bullion ASE

Bochiman

True, however, using ebay as an example, I see unspotted ones (PCGS MS69) going for ~$37-~$45.
Spotted like the OP went unsold when offered in the >$40 range.
One mentioned as "spotting" sold for $45 but, looking at the pic, it certainly wasn't as bad or noticeable.

My point is that, there are enough of these out there, one will be severely discounting it in-holder, and possibly, if using ebay, getting to play the "I want to return this as SNAD" game. Is it worth it? Maybe to some, not to me. I'd probably eat the loss and crack/try to conserve it, then either bullion it or try to sell raw. It's not a $100+ coin. It's ~$20 over bullion, in good condition (non-spotted), true?

@BigA said:
But it's not a bullion ASE