Corrosion on Canadian Nickels

[DuckTales253]

I had been storing my Canadian nickel collection in a generic "Nickels" Whitman folder for many years. Recently I purchased the official Canadian Nickel Whitman folders and began to transfer the coins from one folder to another. To my surprise, many of the nickels had green corrosion or oxidation marks on the edges and the rims. The marks were even present inside of the folder pockets. I have begun the process of removing such coins from my collection and replacing them with extras where possible, but in some cases the green coin was the only one I had.

I know there is nothing I can really do to remove this (nor would I want to, for fear of damaging the coin), but I have two questions:

1. What causes this? Were my coins stored in an area with too much moisture or humidity?
2. Will this condition spread a) to expand more on the coin and/or b) to other coins stored nearby?

[henrysmedford]

That is sad. I ran to look at the ones we have in are Whitman and all OK. Your post is like it 10 PM and do you know were your kids are.

[DuckTales253]

That is sad. I ran to look at the ones we have in are Whitman and all OK. You post is like it 10 PM and do you know were your kids are.

That is exactly what it was like! It is very possible that some of the coins were like that when placed in the folder. It was so long ago. I will sure be keeping a suspicious eye on them from now on.

One of the nickels was just tragic. A 1945 steel nickel with some serious rust going on. Too bad, because it was in near mint condition.

[barrytrot]

On the steel nickels that DuckTales showed that is very common.

But on "real" nickels like the 1960 I've never seen much dangerous stuff as nickel is very resilient to damage.

I would recommend vinegar to get the stuff off of the NON-steel ones and then acetone.

[mtalbot_ca]

On the steel nickels that DuckTales showed that is very common.

But on "real" nickels like the 1960 I've never seen much dangerous stuff as nickel is very resilient to damage.

I would recommend vinegar to get the stuff off of the NON-steel ones and then acetone.

I agree. Make sure you put some dissecant packages with your collection. Airflow is also important.