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An Entire Box Of Contaminated Quarters!
USSID18
Posts: 584 ✭✭✭✭
Been searching boxes and rolls for a long time. I've never seen anything like this! These coins are not old. It's a box of normal dates, even 2026's! It looks like they have been thru some kind of acid rock quarry!
I have no idea, not a clue. Have you ever seen anything like this before? Do you have any thoughts on this mess? @jmlanzaf must be sending me a message! 🤣 😂
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YIKES
Metal detecting finds?
Car wash?
Stored in a basement that may have flooded or was just damp for a while. I've seen entire collections that look like that.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Metal detecting with 2026 finds already? Maybe.
You mean toned, lol.
Seated Dollar Collection
I'd guess beach detector finds.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Put this wasn't some ones collection.
Them sure is UGLY ! LOL
About $500 worth?? In one box? These coin were most likely mixed in with other coins at a coin rolling company and then sent to the bank.
Beach, playground...
Well, okay.
Ewww, better luck on the next batch
Not what I said. I said that I've seen entire collections stored in a basement where everything looked that way. I'm talking 100 pounds of everything from silver to large cents to Lincolns to clad.
It could easily have been a box of quarters that was in an area that got flooded. How do you think they got that way? Cu-Ni corrodes pretty quickly just sitting on a sink. I've got a quarter in my car that has been in my cup holder for the better part of a year. It''s about halfway to where those coins are just from sitting under a sweating cup.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Flooded basement would be my guess. Return them to the bank and let them know that they were contaminated.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I agree. But he doesn't like my assessment. LOL
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
You two are onto something. At first I thought how would the center coins within a roll also be so contaminated? I can't think of another reason though.
I'm telling you - just you, not the OP - I've seen huge collections like that when they were in a damp basement for long periods or even just a massive flood for a relatively short period. One such collection had dozens of rolls of steel cents that were essentially fused together.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
I'm not saying I'm disagreeing with any of your opinions. I'm just looking for opinions. It's not that critical.
That's the one thing I would not do, atleast if wants to ever get boxes again.
I'd look for silver and then discreetly dump them in a bank's coin machine.
As long as they're spendable, why would the bank care?
So any flood water would be severely contaminated... All kinds of chemicals and corrosive materials.
The coins still work, it's money.
Wow, that is odd. The quarters, all of them, are environmentally damaged. The wrappers look white and crisp. I wonder if they were wrapped in that condition.
It looks like a fountain, wishing well cleanout. The chemicals used to keep the water clear are murder on coins
Bank stored that was in a flood zone. Subsequently rewrapped.
I wonder too, with the recent floods and weather catastrophes if someone came along and saw these quarters wrapped up and boxed and stole them (turning them into a bank for cash).
I hope not, just a sad reality these days.
Perhaps a whole box got submerged somehow, then sat for a while, and then got deposited intact back to a bank, which shipped it to the coin handling firm they did business with, which decided that they didn't want to be bothered returning it to the Fed, so they just rewrapped it as one lot, with perhaps a few normal coins because some were fused together or whatever, and they shipped it out as one lot to one unlucky recipient.
eBay: “Richly toned with iridescent colors like pastel green and blue. Found in an old bank vault. Opportunity knocks loudly…”
Etsy might be another dumping place. You could make “unearthed treasure chests” from your hoard.
My first thought was car wash. I worked for a company that had a few car washes and I've seen many quarters like that.
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I wore rubber gloves. 🤣 😂. It was a rust color that came off on the gloves..... Equals water??
Coinstar rejects?
30+ years coin shop experience (ret.) Coins, bullion, currency, scrap & interesting folks. Loved every minute!
i guess the rust colored stuff was hard and grainy?
Yes, like a rust dust on the groves.
burst iron pipe?
Wow. Never seen or heard of such a thing.
How come no one has mentioned maybe these were in a house fire? Recovered and re-wrapped.
It is strange that they are all so horrible looking, even though at least some are very new. I don't know that I have found that HOPE quarter in circulation yet, but here is one already worn out. This is very recent damage.
But at least they aren't bent out of shape or stuck together like the last rolls I got from the bank.
Perhaps emeraldATV might have an interest in a few of those "gems".
Would you want to carry a few in your pockets? Would your wife want a few in her pocketbook?
These should go back to the bank where they came from and the bank should be told that they are contaminated so they can return them to the federal reserve for proper disposal like they do with other damaged coins and currency.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Those are metal detecting finds, I'd bet on it. It doesn't take long in or on the ground to get discolored like that, I've dug tons of them.
They look like coins that were in a flood. Happened to me in 1985 in Louisiana. Luckily nothing of serious value.
Yes, very recent!
Reflecting Pond score? 🤪😂
That reminds me of another major source of attrition on circulating coins. They are thrown into natural attractions and placed into wishing wells. They are intentionally placed in harms way for "superstitious" reasons.
When you see something like this it's hard to remember that attrition on quarters is barely 3.5% annually.
I completely understand your points. I just can't afford taking these things back to the bank and pissing these people off! It's a fine line. If I piss them off, they might cut me off!... Know what I mean?
I'm taking them to my credit union and dumping them in the coin counting machine. They will most likely be recycled. Finding their way back to Loomis, wrapped and redistributed.
But it certainly highlights why most of the old quarters are heavily worn, cull, or more typically, both. 60% are just gone and most of the rest are low grade culls.
They don't show heat damage but, sure, they could have gotten wet that way. But flooded basements are more common than house fires.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Everyone is pretty much in agreement here, water being the number one culprit. Perhaps sand and dirt too, but whether a flood, moist basement, wishing well, pond, sewage plant: those quarters...and all of them...took some abuse. Hopefully it's not chemical reactions or radiation ( you would have needed the full body suit and not just rubber gloves).