Standing Liberty Quarter-a Days Wage For A Miner In 1930

[BMc]

Thanks a lot everyone. Later the same day that I had found the (highly tarnished) quarter, I stopped in at JW's Prospecting Supplies in Prescott Valley and showed J.W. the quarter.  Without saying anything, he immediately pulled out some Mercury and started melting it onto the coin to make it shiny and new looking.

 I was a little concerned and taken aback about that because if it altered the coins appearance it might affect the value. At that point however; I wasn't worrying about value since everyone in the store including myself, one customer, and Scott Johnson an employee, had all run out the back door trying to avoid the Mercury fumes.   After a few minutes, we came back inside and sure enough, the quarter looked freshly minted! 

[strick]

Nice work...slq is one of my favorites...

strick

[Gold Seeker]

2 hours ago, BMc said:

Thanks a lot everyone. Later the same day that I had found the (highly tarnished) quarter, I stopped in at JW's Prospecting Supplies in Prescott Valley and showed J.W. the quarter.  Without saying anything, he immediately pulled out some Mercury and started melting it onto the coin to make it shiny and new looking.

 I was a little concerned and taken aback about that because if it altered the coins appearance it might affect the value. At that point however; I wasn't worrying about value since everyone in the store including myself, one customer, and Scott Johnson an employee, had all run out the back door to trying to avoid the Mercury fumes.   After a few minutes, we came back inside and sure enough, the quarter looked freshly minted! 

First I've heard of using mercury to cleanup a silver coin, please post a photo of how it looks now.

[BMc]

On 3/5/2022 at 4:32 PM, Rick N. MI said:

 

That's in great shape. Nice find. I haven't found one of those yet.

This one was my 3rd, but the other two were so worn they hardly had any detail left. Couldn't read the date on either one.

I was really surprised to see how well preserved  this one was. Doesn't appear to have been carried much at all.

[rvpopeye]

That's a pretty SLQ !

 

[Cal_Cobra]

I've read several accounts during site research from the gold rush and subsequent projects (rail road workers for example) that claimed they made between $2.50-$5.00 per day depending on race and role, and this was mid 1800's. 

[GB_Amateur]

On 3/6/2022 at 11:43 AM, BMc said:

Thanks a lot everyone. Later the same day that I had found the (highly tarnished) quarter, I stopped in at JW's Prospecting Supplies in Prescott Valley and showed J.W. the quarter.  Without saying anything, he immediately pulled out some Mercury and started melting it onto the coin to make it shiny and new looking.

 I was a little concerned and taken aback about that because if it altered the coins appearance it might affect the value. At that point however; I wasn't worrying about value since everyone in the store including myself, one customer, and Scott Johnson an employee, had all run out the back door trying to avoid the Mercury fumes.   After a few minutes, we came back inside and sure enough, the quarter looked freshly minted! 

21 hours ago, Gold Seeker said:

First I've heard of using mercury to cleanup a silver coin, please post a photo of how it looks now.

I've not heard of this, either, and although it may have taken off the dirt, I suspect it led to an alloying of the surface of the coin (initially 90% silver, 10% copper) with the mercury.  I recall from childhood, someone would rub mercury on a 95% copper cent and the result would be what is sometimes called a 'silver penny'.  It sounds from your story that this works with USA 90% silver coins as well.

As far as '...melting (mercury) onto the coin...", you mean he was using heat, as with a propane torch??  I would run, too.  Mercury is liquid down to very cold temps (almost -40, which BTW is where the Celcius and Fahrenheit scales cross).  Boiling point is hotter than a typical kitchen oven.  If he was applying heat, that may be required to get the Ag-Cu-Hg alloy to form.  It has long been known that breathing mercury vapor leads to permanent neurological damage.  Gold miners (hopefully even today's detectorist versions) are well aware of this since it was a common 19th century technique for purifying native gold, and is still used industrially today (I think) but under well controlled closed recycling conditions.

Cleaning of coins is a common subject here for obvious reasons.  I doubt this mercury method is one of the wiser choices, in more ways than one.

[BMc]

21 hours ago, Gold Seeker said:

First I've heard of using mercury to cleanup a silver coin, please post a photo of how it looks now.

I took a photo but can't open the file due to "JPG not supported" I'll see about changing extension.  The quarter looks normal. A little tarnished again. 

[mh9162013]

On 3/6/2022 at 10:43 AM, BMc said:

Thanks a lot everyone. Later the same day that I had found the (highly tarnished) quarter, I stopped in at JW's Prospecting Supplies in Prescott Valley and showed J.W. the quarter.  Without saying anything, he immediately pulled out some Mercury and started melting it onto the coin to make it shiny and new looking.

 I was a little concerned and taken aback about that because if it altered the coins appearance it might affect the value. At that point however; I wasn't worrying about value since everyone in the store including myself, one customer, and Scott Johnson an employee, had all run out the back door trying to avoid the Mercury fumes.   After a few minutes, we came back inside and sure enough, the quarter looked freshly minted! 

if I ever need propsecting supplies, I now know who NOT to buy from.

[BMc]

15 hours ago, Cal_Cobra said:

I've read several accounts during site research from the gold rush and subsequent projects (rail road workers for example) that claimed they made between $2.50-$5.00 per day depending on race and role, and this was mid 1800's. 

  The 1880s,a time of Economic growth:

During the 1870s and 1880s, the U.S. economy rose at the fastest rate in its history, with real wages, wealth, GDP, and capital formation all increasing rapidly. For example, between 1865 and 1898, the output of wheat increased by 256%, corn by 222%, coal by 800% and miles of railway track by 567%.

During the Great Depression, millions of people were out of work across the United States. Unable to find another job locally, many unemployed people hit the road, traveling from place to place, hoping to find some work. A few of these people had cars, but most hitchhiked or “rode the rails”.

The 1930s economy, not nearly as good as 1880s. Many men were too proud to stand in soup lines and would rather work for what they could get.  Often, Just enough to survive