Most coins found in this park turn orange

[gerryk]

Am guessing this is from highly mineralized ground. They do not have a sprinkler system here and if they did its Lake Michigan water not well water. There is anoher ri in town i have seen the same thing. These are both older parks about 1.8 miles from each other.

 

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[gerryk]

The age doesnt matter. I havent found any older coins here rather 70's and newer but it all coins.

 

[kw509]

I find a lot of orange coins here in Spokane Washington as well. Our ground is heavily mineralized.

 

[Jason in Enid]

All clad coinage turns orange to brown over time. Some places it happens faster than others.

 

[aurumdigga]

Clad here turns green. This could be oxidation of iron and acid in the soil. Maybe Alkaline soils turn coinage orange,............ never seen that here in Georgia.

I do know that the state of Illinois has alkaline soil because the water table is alkaline from water studies I have done. I would be guessing about Oregon or other States.

 

[releventchair]

There is some clay in this rain/snow watered Mi. field, clad wants to be copper colored.​

 

[Pointman]

Here in Central AR, I find a lot of clad and wheats that turn orange/red. Mostly the wheats seem to turn red that are dated in the 40s'. I have found a lot of wheat pennies dated in the 20s' that are still brown. I find very few that are corroded green. Newer zinc pennies come out of the ground ate up and not looking like pennies. Perhaps one day the environmentalists will ban zinc pennies because the dissolve in the ground, lol.

I wonder if the metal composition in wheat pennies had changed over the decades?

 

[aurumdigga]

Here in Central AR, I find a lot of clad and wheats that turn orange/red. Mostly the wheats seem to turn red that are dated in the 40s'. I have found a lot of wheat pennies dated in the 20s' that are still brown. I find very few that are corroded green. Newer zinc pennies come out of the ground ate up and not looking like pennies. Perhaps one day the environmentalists will ban zinc pennies because the dissolve in the ground, lol.

I wonder if the metal composition in wheat pennies had changed over the decades?

When I was a bartender in Atlanta in the 70's, we had a co-owner of the 3 star restaurant & bar that hid pennies in his walls as he built his new house. I remember him saying that they were the purest copper that you could get. I think this changed in the 80's and beyond. Maybe Jimmy Carter had something to do with it. I blame him for just being him. I liked his brother Billy better.

 

[NGE]

This color change happens when the soil in the area is mostly damp all the time, it is the copper in the clad that is leaching out into the surrounding coin metal. In fields and yards that have been fertilized through the years, will do the same. Pennies from fertilized fields and private yards will get the sickly green slime on them. And I.H.'s will get the green shiney patina on them where the ground is moist most of the time, down deep..........nge

 

[gerryk]

That would explain this. This park at times floods when the pond floods and runs over the banks. They also fertilize the grass so its nice and green when not brown from no rain.

 

[twiasp]

At least you found a 1968 40% silver half dollar =) it should shiny up super fast with a little baking soda paste and rinse well after rubbing with fingers.

 

[aurumdigga]

Down here in the South, silver comes up clean with no orange color at all. I will have to go north to hunt to see this but it has to be a mineral element reacting to alkaline or acid soils.

Are these orange colored finds near hardwood trees or pine trees?

 

[NGE]

Down here in the South, silver comes up clean with no orange color at all. I will have to go north to hunt to see this but it has to be a mineral element reacting to alkaline or acid soils.

Are these orange colored finds near hardwood trees or pine trees?

We are speaking about clad coinage, not silver. If anything, silver may turn various "Shades of Grey" to pitch black........nge

 

[aurumdigga]

An older penny will turn green down here. That is why I was asking about the trees. If you see Pines, the soil is acidic. If you see hardwoods, the soil is more to the alkaline side. The penny here turns green in all soils. This means it is an iron or high iron situation we have here. Oxidation of copper happens with pipes in houses where the copper pipe is in the ground or near the ground here in Georgia.

Aluminum will make copper break down, I can show a picture of this if anyone is interested.

But then, there was a time when aluminum wiring was used in houses. When you connected a copper wire to the aluminum you might start a fire in the walls.

Some specific mineral is the culprit and it isn't iron.

 

[NGE]

I just got back from a short hunt, the two pennies and one clad dime came from an area that is wet all the time (red) the 2 quarters and one nickel and one dime (all clad) came from an area that is dry most of the time.......nge

 

[gerryk]

I just got back from a short hunt, the two pennies and one clad dime came from an area that is wet all the time (red) the 2 quarters and one nickel and one dime (all clad) came from an area that is dry most of the time.......nge

thats what most coins look like from the park i had gone to.

 

[kw509]

I mostly hunt old homes & 60% odd the clad I find is red, 30% is black, the rest looks normal.

 

[detroitdigger]

Hey all, it's the copper coming through the cupro-nickle, it happens to clad up here in Detroit as well! HH.

 

[NGE]

Hey all, it's the copper coming through the cupro-nickle, it happens to clad up here in Detroit as well! HH.

Yep, that is what I was trying to convey. Older nickels also have copper in them.....nge