Stinky display box

Gatito Bandito

Gatito Bandito

Active Member
About a week ago I received a coin that came in an official mint display box.

Nice coin, and all. Only issue is that the box stunk inside -- like the chemicals used to manufacture the interior material.


I left it open all this time to let it off-gas, and it smells much better now. Not 100%, but sufficiently enough that I closed it, and will revisit in the near future, for possible additional airing.


Anyway, that kind of stuff freaks me out a little re: what kind of potential damage it could do to the (encapsulated) coin, being closed up in there, had I not aired it out first.


Just being too overly cautious? Or is this a real potential concern, given silver's reactivity to various compounds?

I enjoy some good natural toning, but not when it's chemical-induced damage (from PVC, etc.).
 
That musty chemical smell that many of the old PVC folders get after storage can be removed by putting the pvc folder into a plastic zip lock bag of sodium bicarbonate for a few weeks, Then shake off and wipe down with a damp cloth - good as new without the smell.
 
Could have been the guy who packed the coin you received didn't wash his hands thoroughly after using the toilet to take a crap. :)

8838_sitting_on_toilet_pushing_hard.jpg




Sorry, I know it's a serious concern you expressed...I just couldn't resist the humor.




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Sorry for any misunderstanding.

This is a new coin & box. Current year from a reputable dealer. Had to open the plastic packaging & all that.


Ever smell that "new car smell"? Sort of like that.

The chemicals are off-gassing.
 
Shippeevt said:
I keep those thing that come in beef jerky in my box to remove moisture and smells
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Packet of silica gel. Mine has that, too.

I believe that's only for moisture control -- not odor control.
 
Was it super polished/lacquered? That stuff is really potent. Or perhaps it was the glue used inside?
In any case, airing it out should work. Manufacturers usually do this, but perhaps if time was short they didn't air it out for as long as they needed to.
 
Gatito Bandito said:
Sorry for any misunderstanding.

This is a new coin & box. Current year from a reputable dealer. Had to open the plastic packaging & all that.


Ever smell that "new car smell"? Sort of like that.

The chemicals are off-gassing.
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I bought a new ute a couple of years ago & nearly choked on the smell of it . I got my missus to scrub the seats & entire interior to get rid of it Then left it open for a couple of days.It worked a treat & the smell was a lot less intrusive . the neighbour & one of my friends that seen us doing it thought we were fkn crackpots cleaning a brand new car lol

Volatile organic compounds are dangerous & can affect your health . Anyone interested in their health should google it .
 
Andelis said:
Was it super polished/lacquered? That stuff is really potent. Or perhaps it was the glue used inside?
In any case, airing it out should work. Manufacturers usually do this, but perhaps if time was short they didn't air it out for as long as they needed to.
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Could be some glue, but seems like it's both the "velvet" section, as well as the "satin" section, of the interior part of the display case.

I put those 2 terms in quotes for a reason, LOL.
 
Gatito Bandito said:
Andelis said:
Was it super polished/lacquered? That stuff is really potent. Or perhaps it was the glue used inside?
In any case, airing it out should work. Manufacturers usually do this, but perhaps if time was short they didn't air it out for as long as they needed to.
Click to expand...

Could be some glue, but seems like it's both the "velvet" section, as well as the "satin" section, of the interior part of the display case.

I put those 2 terms in quotes for a reason, LOL.
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I think you'd be correct. And it could cause toning.

A guy in another forum was getting rapid discolouration from stinky trays and someone pointed out it was likely the velvet outgassing.

Pic and comments: http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=180490&whichpage=2#1667517

It sounds to me like your problem is the "velvet"-and-plastic trays; it is probably outgassing something sulfurous. Do the plastic trays smell, well, "plasticy" or chemical-like? Something that reacts with silver that quickly should be detectable by nose. Does regular silver dip remove it? If it doesn't then it's outgassing something worse.

Franklin Mint back in its heyday in the 1970s shipped out their proof sets with plastic pseudo-velvet cases to display the coins in. Anyone who followed the instructions that came with the coins and placed their coins into the velvet-lined box unwittingly destroyed their coins, because the pseudo-velvet was made out of a plastic which outgassed something acidic. After a decade sitting under the couch, ugly toning on the silver coins was the least of the problems; the base-metal coins simply corroded away.
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There's a large document from the British Museum that covers the dangers of different materials (I only skimmed it so far looking for silver.): https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/O..._the_storage_or_display_of_museum_objects.pdf

See page 6 for materials. And page 7 for an example of silver corrosion. Page 25 has advice for display and storage.

Interesting comment from the doc:

Where corrosion of objects due to pollutant gases does occur, it should be borne in mind that this may not always be due to inappropriate storage or display materials. It has been shown that human beings can 'outgas' producing sulphur- containing gases (Brimblecombe et al. 1992). Although human beings rarely form part of a display, they can be found in store rooms. Objects themselves may also outgas, and affect associated materials. A silver-copper alloy necklace was found to be corroding in the early 1980s, and after conservation, degraded again in storage within a few years, resulting in severe green copper nitrate corrosion as shown in Plates 2 and 3. Yellow beads on the same necklace had originally been catalogued as amber and copal, but analysis revealed they were in fact cellulose nitrate (Green and Bradley 1988).

Due to loss of plasticiser, the cellulose nitrate beads had become unstable, and degraded to produce nitric acid. This had attacked the silver-copper alloy components of the necklace to produce the copper nitrate corrosion product. Eventually the cellulose nitrate beads were isolated from the necklace to avoid further decay of the silver alloy, and also to minimise effects on other artefacts in the same storage area.
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Don't fart on your silver.
 
SilverPete said:
I think you'd be correct. And it could cause toning.

A guy in another forum was getting rapid discolouration from stinky trays and someone pointed out it was likely the velvet outgassing.
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Yeah, I'm thinking of airing it out for another week or so, and simply storing the coin elsewhere -- permanently.

Will hold onto the box/case, obviously. Just not use it.

Not taking any chances.


Sounds like if you leave it in there long enough, you could get something much more sinister than just some toning. Capsule or not.
 
Wow, this thread is yet another example of the benefits of being an active member, and reading as many comments as possible in the topics I have interest in. I never heard about the velvet-like/felt linings being a potential problem for coins before. I have a fair number of modern collector coins, many of them which come in cases that are lined with velvet-like/felt. The coins are in the original capsule but capsules of course are not air tight....not even Air-Tites are air tight.

Before putting the coins away for long term storage in the safe deposit box, I wrap and seal them (with wide clear tape) with at least 2 layers of non-PVC plastic bags in their product box as they come from the mint....making them as air tight as I can. Now I have to wonder if even after all this, they are susceptible to damage from within the product boxes they come from the mint in. Ug!

I actually used to think how neat it is that the US Mint for example, provides with some of their collector coins, felt/velvet-like lined boxes or cases which the coins come in. Now I'm wondering if this will be the ruin of many of those coins.




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dang, are we saying that we should be taking all our coins out of the cases and storing them separately? Geesh, that ain't happening for me. That will take too long and too much space. oh well.
 
barsenault said:
dang, are we saying that we should be taking all our coins out of the cases and storing them separately? Geesh, that ain't happening for me. That will take too long and too much space. oh well.
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I think it's really up to the individual, both on an overall level, and on a coin-by-coin basis.

Whatever you're comfortable with & can reasonably do.


Personally, if it's not acrylic, I don't do it. And if the acrylic capsule is inside something like this case, I don't do it, because as somebody already mentioned, those aren't 100% air-tight.

Fortunately for me, original mint display cases/boxes are the exception, rather than the norm, for my collection. Which makes it a no-brainer for me; I can afford the minimal extra storage space.


And if a coin or bar arrives in non-acrylic, I carefully remove any plastic immediately after inspection & confirmation that I'll be keeping the item.

You'd be surprised at the number of those which produce that infamous PVC odor upon opening. Coins, rounds & bars -- from popular US & German mints, off the top of my head. These are meant as "temporary packaging only," to protect during handling & shipping. Yet oftentimes, the mint doesn't inform the customer of this.

Rare instance..

"Bars are Bullion Grade and typically shipped in a temporary plastic shipping cover."

https://www.scottsdalesilver.com/store/product.php?productid=44&cat=249&page=1

It's been a while, but from what I recall, mine arrived wrapped in PVC. Or at least one of the Scottsdale minted products was; I believe there was more than one.


So, I prefer all my bars "naked." If you're worried about scratches & dings during storage, there are ways to help protect them (e.g., sheets of acrylic between stacked layers of minted bars).


I've also seen photos of & heard about a few PVC-damaged Rwanda's, for example, due to the original mint packaging. And these were some older ones, including the 1st of the series. Sad. :(


Getting off-track now.


Bottom line: Be mindful of the chemicals in direct/indirect contact with your Ag. Toning is cool; chemical damage is not.

I play it safe, than sorry.
 
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