This is kind of fun. Nothing major, but interesting to see in action.

I was cleaning my desk and I came across a copper coin that I had ordered probably a year ago. It's one of those copper replicas of classic coins that you can find from tons of companies on Ebay, FB Marketplace, and other online places. This one is a replica of a Mercury dime, a design I always really liked.

I remember being somewhat disappointed with the replica because they screwed up the detail on the design and it didn't look quite right. So I put it in a rarely used drawer of my desk and there it remained. Keep that in mind: I only barely touched it, and only on the edges, and I only kept it out for a very short time before letting disappointment get the best of me and leaving it to disappear in my desk.

Anyway, I found it the other day. And this is what it looks like:

There are no chemicals in this desk drawer, just some papers that it was buried under. And it's tarnished this much. Wow. The tarnish has actually made it a little more interesting, so I kind of like what's happened.

Now, as you might remember, I've been carrying around two silver eagles in my pockets, one for each of my boys, for the past while. I'm not sure how long... I announced my idea a while ago but I'm not going to look up the post right now. Several months, anyway. These coins are in my pockets everyday. I make a point to hold them and run my fingers over them at least once during the day.

Today as I write this, they look like this:

They still look very clean and almost mint condition. Interesting, eh?

Now of course this all makes sense. Copper tends to tarnish very quickly when exposed to air and humidity. Chemicals from paper would add to this effect.

Silver, on the other hand, is less reactive than copper. Also the oil from hands actually protects against tarnish, slowing the process down, and the friction from handling the coins rubs away any tarnish that does form.

But even if it all makes sense, it's interesting to see, eh?

❦

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.

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