Afternoon everyone…..
If you’ve been a stacker of silver, you’ve probably have come across a coin that has milk spots.
There is nothing more frustrating then buying a pristine BU coin, or even a graded MS70 coin to have it milk spot on you.
There is no way of preventing milk spots from occurring on your coin or round. It is not caused by you handling or someone else handling the coin or round. Air-tites, flips, mint tubes, or even grading slabs will not prevent them happening.
The other problem with milk spots is that they can appear at any time. It could happen right away after they leave the mint, or it could happens years or even decades later.
Why you are probably asking????
Because it’s caused by an residue of borax left on the planchet. Borax is used in the purification process to pull any impurities out of the silver.
The planchets are then washed in a special solution to remove any residue left on it. If this process is cut short, has a bad concentration of the cleaner, or the smelting company is just plain lazy. The residue is left on the planchets.
The planchets then go through a process called annealing. Annealing is a heat treatment process that changes the physical and sometimes also the chemical properties of a material to increase ductility and reduce the hardness to make it more workable.
This is done so that the impressions made by the mint dies are properly imbedded into the planchets during minting.
The cause of milk spotting on coins was a mystery for years on what the cause was. It was finally figured out a few years ago. Yet, it still occurs on newly minted coins and rounds….
Why????
Several years ago, I took an absolute beating on a collection of MS70 graded Chinese Pandas. I had the entire collection of one ounce silver from the 1983 through 2007. The first three years were proof only strikes that I paid dearly for.
One day I went to my private security place to add the graded 2007 to the collection. While I was there I decided to take a look at them. The second coin that I pulled had a huge milk spot right on the panda. Needless to say I was not happy. I looked further and found nine more with milk spots forming or already on them.
I took the entire collection with me. There was no way I was spending the money to replace these. Especially since Panda coins were super hot at that time. So I decided to sell them all on EBay.
I took a major loss on this collection, and have decided to never buy another silver panda ever again.
There are coins that are known to milk spot more then others. Here are some known offenders of milk spots:
Chinese Pandas
United Kingdom Britannias
Pre-2017 Canadian Maples
Austrian Philharmonics
Somalia Elephants
American Silver Eagles
Here is an example of a milk spotted American Silver Eagle.
I have never personally seen a milk spotted coin from the Perth Mint ever. Also the Scottsdale Mint as well.
While you will never lose the silver value of a coin even with milk spots. You will never get a premium for them ever.
Hope this helps clarify it…
