Green

[Red Riley]

Among the coins in a bulk lot I acquired at London Coins auction last Sunday was quite a pleasant little 1867 halfpenny in NEF condition. Although it doesn't suffer from verdigris, its tone, although only visible in certain lights is dark green.

Has anybody come across this phenomenon before and if so, have you had any luck in converting it to something a little more conventional? If not, it'll have to go in my 3 for £1 box.

[1949threepence]

Among the coins in a bulk lot I acquired at London Coins auction last Sunday was quite a pleasant little 1867 halfpenny in NEF condition. Although it doesn't suffer from verdigris, its tone, although only visible in certain lights is dark green.

Has anybody come across this phenomenon before and if so, have you had any luck in converting it to something a little more conventional? If not, it'll have to go in my 3 for £1 box.

Yes, but not on bronze. There is/was an odd light greenish tinge on the reverse, in artificial light, to a 1923 a/UNC shilling I bought in August 2009. Leastways it was visible for a time. When I just looked a few minutes ago it wasn't there ~ or didn't appear to be.

Definitely not verd, but a overall slight hue. Lord knows what causes it.

[scott]

tone can be any colour, it depends on reaction, silver has a full rainbow of colour, so not a biggie on that

was it buried for a time? that usualy causes a green colour

[declanwmagee]

The very first coin in my collection was an 1873 Halfpenny that I found in a stream when I was about 9 years old. Of course I've no idea how long it was there but it has the same dark green colour...

Edited March 11, 2011 by declanwmagee

[Accumulator]

Among the coins in a bulk lot I acquired at London Coins auction last Sunday was quite a pleasant little 1867 halfpenny in NEF condition. Although it doesn't suffer from verdigris, its tone, although only visible in certain lights is dark green.

Has anybody come across this phenomenon before and if so, have you had any luck in converting it to something a little more conventional? If not, it'll have to go in my 3 for £1 box.

Yes, but not on bronze. There is/was an odd light greenish tinge on the reverse, in artificial light, to a 1923 a/UNC shilling I bought in August 2009. Leastways it was visible for a time. When I just looked a few minutes ago it wasn't there ~ or didn't appear to be.

Definitely not verd, but a overall slight hue. Lord knows what causes it.

Greenish hue on silver? Are you sure it's not simply the result of past long-term storage in pvc coin album pages? If it is, acetone works wonders.

Edited March 11, 2011 by Accumulator

[argentumandcoins]

A pic would help Derek, but as Scott said, it is usually caused by a reaction in soil. A bath with olive sometimes helps!

[TomGoodheart]

If it's bronze then it's a perfectly normal patination that happens with age as the surface of the coin oxidises. You commonly find it on ancient coins such as Roman where it's considered attractive. It's just convention that more modern coins aren't expected to have any green on them.

Here's a very nice coin with a slight greenish tone from Mike Vosper's site:

and another:

I guess olive oil or whatever will remove it. But post a pic first. People might consider it attractive, if unconventional.

Edited March 11, 2011 by TomGoodheart

[Peter]

Among the coins in a bulk lot I acquired at London Coins auction last Sunday was quite a pleasant little 1867 halfpenny in NEF condition. Although it doesn't suffer from verdigris, its tone, although only visible in certain lights is dark green.

Has anybody come across this phenomenon before and if so, have you had any luck in converting it to something a little more conventional? If not, it'll have to go in my 3 for £1 box.

Yes, but not on bronze. There is/was an odd light greenish tinge on the reverse, in artificial light, to a 1923 a/UNC shilling I bought in August 2009. Leastways it was visible for a time. When I just looked a few minutes ago it wasn't there ~ or didn't appear to be.

Definitely not verd, but a overall slight hue. Lord knows what causes it.

Greenish hue on silver? Are you sure it's not simply the result of past long-term storage in pvc coin album pages? If it is, acetone works wonders.

I bought a bulk lot of Unc (recent) 2/6's and they originally had a bad green hue due to pvc storage...I will try the acetone trick to completely cure them.

[scott]

i got this one, i like it

[Accumulator]

I have this one awaiting some attention:

[Peckris]

Among the coins in a bulk lot I acquired at London Coins auction last Sunday was quite a pleasant little 1867 halfpenny in NEF condition. Although it doesn't suffer from verdigris, its tone, although only visible in certain lights is dark green.

Has anybody come across this phenomenon before and if so, have you had any luck in converting it to something a little more conventional? If not, it'll have to go in my 3 for £1 box.

A green PATINA isn't (or rather shouldn't, though a large proportion of ignoramus eBay buyers might need to be convinced) a problem, as it isn't verdigris. I'd say don't stick it in your 3 for £1 box, put some pictures up, who knows you might get an offer from one of us!

[scott]

i offer £1 for 3 of em

but yea pictures

[Gary]

Among the coins in a bulk lot I acquired at London Coins auction last Sunday was quite a pleasant little 1867 halfpenny in NEF condition. Although it doesn't suffer from verdigris, its tone, although only visible in certain lights is dark green.

Has anybody come across this phenomenon before and if so, have you had any luck in converting it to something a little more conventional? If not, it'll have to go in my 3 for £1 box.

A dark blue/green colour on bronze coins is usualy caused by long contact with soil ie buried. You often see these coins being offered on ebay by detectorists. In my experience olive oil will not do the trick, more drastic action is needed to remove the green tone. If it's just green and has no surface erosion then I would suggest leaving it as it is.

[Red Riley]

I agree that it is similar to the tone found on ancient coins and although the surface is stable, nobody is going to buy a coin that colour whereas it might be worth £10 or so with a normal patina. Anyway, here it is;

The scan, as usual makes it look far worse than it is. The obverse is far less badly affected.

[VickySilver]

At least to me it appears to be soil/water chlorides as the culprit(s). These likely have a bit more penetration than PVC chlorides. Although I would try acetone and even dish detergent with considerable irrigation and a tamp dry. Guess is that it will require more such as the olive oil, but my problem with olive oil is that although it is partly a solvent that it is the actds doing the work & caution ought therefore be exercised.

Edited March 12, 2011 by VickySilver

[argentumandcoins]

Definitely a soil find by the looks of it.