Red Brown Spotting

[DruMAX]

Any idea what this is? This coin looked rather problem free until I took a macro shot of it and noticed quite a bit or reddish brown spotting on it. Its pretty hard, doesnt seem to me something that can be picked or cleaned off but I could be wrong...I thought it might be cuprous oxide



after looking at other example of similar coins I found this one that seems to possibly have the same problem but not sure



I dont want this coin to end up like this...



and ideas would be great...

thanks

[Glenn Simonelli]

The coins look gold in the photo. Is it bronze? If so, you might try picking that spots off with a brass tool under high magnification, like with a stereo microscope or jeweler's loupe.

Glenn Simonelli
http://mypage.iu.edu/~gsimonel/roman1.htm

[Akropolis]

IMHO, the coin is beautiful as-is! Why mess with it?
Further, you indicate that those deposits are not visible to the naked eye.
In addition (to me, anyway) they are little badges of authenticity!
PeteB

[DruMAX]

these are silver pennies of Edward the Confessor...They ARE visible with a naked eye on the first one (which is the one I have) and the other two are examples I found that I think might be more extreme examples. I just didnt noticed them as they are barely visible on mine...I do my close examination with macro shots...once I saw the macro the redish / brown was glaringly obvious...I went back to examine it closer with the naked eye and noticed them.

I certainly have no problem leaving it as is....I was just worried that it might be something harmful to the coin or might be something that will spread. Its a great little coin and I would hate for it, whatever it is, to harm it.

That and I am simply curious as to what it is exactly as this is silver and I was wondering what would cause this on silver. The only thing I can guess it that it might be some reaction / corrosion with whatever the silver is alloyed with...
thanks...

[Merinda]

DruMax

It doesnt look to me like the the first 2 coins have the same thing happening; the second one looks like uneven toning while the red spots on the first coin could be red wax, which (I understand) was used when making plaster casts of coins for photographing. Unfortunately I cant recall my source for this information. The condition of your piece certainly makes it a candidate to have had a photo taken using plaster casts - does it have a good provenance?

Attached for comparison is a photo of a locally-issued penny of Stephen that still has a couple of spots of wax

Regards

Allan

[DruMAX]

that does look VERY similar and I agree with you that the other coin doesnt look quite the same...I thought maybe the differences could have been color balance and I couldnt find another examples just like it.

The provenance of the coin is known back to about WWII where it was acquired in France. Since then it has been in the possession of one person who died recently and the cache she had (all previously the collection of one person) came into my possession. That one person never took a cast of the coin but the person who had it before (the collector), had all kinds of coins and medals, mostly from Prussia but others from Rome and Britain...maybe he did...dont know.

Here are just a few other examples of what came down to me from this collector...I know several people who are very knowledgeable when it comes to medals and they seem convinced all are real...I have yet to seriously look into the authenticity of the few coins like the one above in the cache. Mostly from Knut and Edward the Confessor thought they shown no signs of being fake, they certainly arent cast in my opinion.







I wont flood the thread with many more, but it was a very impressive collection in my humble opinion.
Thanks for the help...Unless I find that it is indeed some form of corrosion that will spread, I wont bother attempting to remove it....

[Merinda]

I have yet to seriously look into the authenticity of the few coins like the one above in the cache. Mostly from Knut and Edward the Confessor thought they shown no signs of being fake, they certainly arent cast in my opinion.

Hi DruMax

Just to be clear: I was not suggesting that the Edward Confessor is a cast; rather that red wax is used in the process of preparing a plaster cast of the coin, and that plaster cast is then photographed instead of a direct photo of the coin itself being taken

regards

Allan

[DruMAX]

I understood, I mentioned authenticity because it was a question in my own mind...I dont think its a fake but you just never know. I sure do appreciate the info and the example you posted, it certainly looks like what is on this coin.

It is rather hard, I might just try to pick it off. I dont mind having it on there...its just that in macro, its very evident and the red is kind of distracting.

[mwilson603]

I had 2 small bits that looked similar on a Alexander III coin.  Following this thread I warmed it gently in oil, (I put it in a jar on a coffee hot plate!) and found that the red then picked off quite easily.

Hope that helps,

regards

Mark

[Merinda]

I dont think its a fake but you just never know.

For what it's worth it looks fine to me - a very nice coin

[bruce61813]

If it is a 'wax', you should be able to soften or dissolve it, Try a little acetone [or finget nail polish remover]on a q-tip. Just lightly rub, If it is wax, it should soften and come off. The acetone should not effect the coins surface. Various waxes will dissolve in different media, but acetone should work, if you have some Goo-Gone that should also work and is less toxiic.

Bruce