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What's causing these "milk spots" on ASE's

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What's causing these "milk spots" on ASE's

Postby pennypicker » Sat May 24, 2014 8:00 pm

Does anyone know what specifically is causing so many slabbed ASEs to acquire the horrible looking "milk spots"? These slabs are from 2012 & 2013 but I frequently see these milk spots on 2014 slabbed ASE's (both PCGS & NGC). It happens so often that I don't see why people are paying huge premiums for these slabbed ASE's in MS69 & 70 condition when there is a significant chance they could turn ugly within months of being slabbed. Seems like too much of a gamble to me.
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Last edited by pennypicker on Sat May 24, 2014 11:08 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: What's causing these "milk spots" on ASE's

Postby silverstacker » Sat May 24, 2014 9:13 pm

Wow. This is new to me but can see how this can be very unpleasant. I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and ask if maybe these spots could be due to a humid enviroment?
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Re: What's causing these "milk spots" on ASE's

Postby Thogey » Sat May 24, 2014 9:43 pm

silverstacker wrote:Wow. This is new to me but can see how this can be very unpleasant. I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and ask if maybe these spots could be due to a humid enviroment?


I live in an arid environment and have never seen a milk spot.
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Re: What's causing these "milk spots" on ASE's

Postby baggerman » Sat May 24, 2014 10:19 pm

Probably the same reason that Maples are prone to milk spots. I think I remember reading it has to do with the dies not being properly cleaned or something like that.
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Re: What's causing these "milk spots" on ASE's

Postby flynavy812 » Fri May 30, 2014 2:13 pm

Wow never seen any spots that bad... anxious to hear other answers.
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Re: What's causing these "milk spots" on ASE's

Postby John_doe » Sun Jun 01, 2014 1:49 pm

Canadian maples are worse than ASE's.
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Re: What's causing these "milk spots" on ASE's

Postby Zincanator » Mon Jun 02, 2014 11:51 am

The internet has all sorts of explanations for milk spots.

Theories of causes I found in a quick search: corrosive gases in the air... a wash that the US Mint uses on the coins... human saliva... improper storage... displaying coins in cardboard albums...reaction of the silver with hydrochloric acid which remains when the planchets are insufficiently rinsed after a hydrochloric acid wash during manufacture.

The last theory above sounds most reasonable to me, maybe because of all the big words, ha ha. Most research I found agrees that the spots reside deep enough in the metal that they can't be removed from uncirculated coins using a chemical dip or anything like that. And apparently PCGS once offered a $50k reward for anyone who found a viable method for removing milkspots.
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