Red spot disaster!

[Shep]

Visited the safety deposit box earlier today and was greeted with this horror show five sovereign piece.

Any suggestions on where I could get this “conserved” would be gladly received!

[richatthecroft]

NGC 

[augur]

NCS (NGC) e.g. via Numistacker. 

DO NOT ATTEMPT YOURSELF with a proof coin!!!

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Added 0 minutes later...

... and no disaster – will clean without a trace, so no rush. 

[RoughDog]

 must be the impuraties in the gold. doesnt seem to happen to kruggerands so maybe its not copper thats the cause. its why i will never pay proof premiums. in fact i wont buy proofs. i think its easier to sell damaged bullion than damaged proof even at same price.

[Serendipity]

As a disclaimer, NGC can’t guarantee any red spots removed by the Numismatic Conservation Services (NCS) won’t recur. I’ve seen red spots occur even in slabbed coins. I’m not entirely sure but I think that the NCS uses chemicals such as acetone rather than abrasive techniques to remove the red spots.

It’s important to point out that the red spots on 24K pure gold coins such as gold Buffalos and 22K gold-copper sovereigns might occur for different reasons. The red spots on gold Buffalos are more like copper surface specs while those on sovereigns are more like imperfections manifesting in the gold-copper alloy.

Major scientific research has been carried out into red spots on gold coins because of the vested Interest by the Mints. These academic papers are not always easy for coin collectors to access nor is the scientific terminology comprehensible to most people. I do hope, however, that most coin collectors are familiar with the fact that there is no “gold corrosion” in the sense that it is not a phenomenon involving the oxidation of gold by the environment.

[RoughDog]

 doesnt make sense to me when kruggerands from the 70s containing a significant amount of copper are unaffected and a modern coin claiming that only 0.1% is not gold is so badly affected. such a small percentage is concentrated in a small area. no makey sense to me. all those big chunky old gold bars must be covered in red spots now and all the gold plating over copper in electronics. never happens, i sense foul play.

[richatthecroft]

Personally speaking, having red spots on any Gold coin, Proof or otherwise is a nice problem to have.

Congratulations, you own Gold- you’re in a very tiny worldwide minority. 

https://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/how-many-people-own-gold/

[JackKlugman]

4 hours ago, richatthecroft said:

Personally speaking, having red spots on any Gold coin, Proof or otherwise is a nice problem to have.

Congratulations, you own Gold- you’re in a very tiny worldwide minority. 

https://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/how-many-people-own-gold/

Respectfully I completely disagree. A large part of the value of this coin is the proof premium which goes down the toilet with these red spots. 

[richatthecroft]

9 minutes ago, JackKlugman said:

Respectfully I completely disagree. A large part of the value of this coin is the proof premium which goes down the toilet with these red spots. 

Your opinion is absolutely valid. 

But the author of the thread asked this question:

13 hours ago, Shep said:

Any suggestions on where I could get this “conserved” would be gladly received!

The question was addressed but it appears the thread has developed into a new question of the merits of buying Proof coins. 

Proof or Bullion, premium coin or not the evidence is that unfortunately, some coins can develop unsightly red or brown spots- it’s a gamble that we have to take. 

My point was likely superfluous to the question asked by the author, as is also the questions surrounding Proof coins,  but my point is valid,  there are far worse things that can happen in the world or to us individually. 

I like Proof coins, I like bullion coins each have their merits but both can become spotty- but coins afflicted by spots, can in most cases be conserved and removed. 

Its not the end of the world or necessarily, a loss of premium on the coin. 

[RoughDog]

 still makes it very difficult to understand esp when a coin is suposed to be 99.9 percent gold and gold doesnt turn red or brown.

[JackKlugman]

13 hours ago, RoughDog said:

 still makes it very difficult to understand esp when a coin is suposed to be 99.9 percent gold and gold doesnt turn red or brown.

I agree that on 9999 fine gold getting a copper spot would be very unlucky. However this soverign is 'only' 22 carat so copper makes up a more substantial portion of the coins makeup 

[Murph]

Yes, up to 8 1/3 percent copper if there aren’t any tiny amounts of other metals.

I’ve seen some suggestions that the spots are due to other metals/contaminants adhering to the surface of the coin in the mint or minting process and therefore coins that were in use and/or handled are more likely to have had these knocked or worn off compared to graded or encapsulated coins that are never touched.