Water logged coins

[hed11877]

Hello all, quick question, I went down to the Delaware river on sunday at low tide and was hunting where people used to swim and had OK luck, an old pocket knife, nickel,a quarter, and some pennies all of which were really corroded and rusty. Are most coins that are pulled out of water damaged? Do any withstand the elements?

 

[davesx]

Hello hed11877.
Most base metal coins will corrode pretty quickly in water,
silver will be OK.

HH dave.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Yes davesx is right.
The O + (insert metal name here) --> (metal oxides)
Example:
H2O+Fe--> FeO + H2
above is just an example..Not sure if I got it correctly though..

 

[lowtones]

I hunt old beaches and sometimes i will get Indian head pennies that look great. the Buffalo nickles seem to come out good most of the times and silver seems to do good to but they get black. The zinc pennies get destroyed really fast.I think the mineralization in the area has alot to do with it rather than the water itself.