Miguel del Rio

Yes, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can have an odor.

These are photos of the Chile 1968So coins that were purchased in their PVC flips 50 years later, now holdered: The damage done to the 5 Peso coin is typical of the packing from the mint and not due to any interaction with the PVC flip.

PVC flips were popular decades ago before anyone knew any better. However, overtime, the damage to coins became apparent. These Chile 1968So coins were shipped from Santiago and some coins are still sold in their original holders. I was fortune to purchase a set that did not have any signs of damage, however, this set currently for sale on Ebay is not so fortunate. Notice how the 5 Peso coin is discolored where it made contact with the flip: Photo below shows the upper half of the PVC flip used to ship the Ecuador 2006 coin, now in the square hard plastic capsule, that shows the most significant damage I've encountered thus far (flip labelled 240A): : Modern soft plastic flips don't use PVC, however, they are rumored to bleed other damaging chemicals on to coins over time. See Recognizing Coin Holders That Contain PVC. The hard plastic Mylar flips and capsules don't outgas harmful chemicals.

The photos were obviously the seller's and not taken by The Coinhouse Auctions. I had similar experience with a merchant who claimed his picture of a nearly flawless proof was taken years before the coin was damaged by the PVC flip in storage. These are photos of the actual coin received: These are the promotional photos: On the reverse side, notice the toning between the words "25.000" and "SUCRES" and extending to "ECUADOR" matches toning to be found also on the damaged coin's reverse. The damage is almost entirely due to pitting, the remainder due to foreign matter possibly deposited by the flip as well. This would lend credence to that merchant's explanation that the coin surfaces decayed due to the flip in which it was stored over time.

Yes. Some auction houses supply their own photos when the seller's can not be used. This HA auction delayed the photo of this coin while they made suitable reproduction: https://coins.ha.com/itm/brazil/brazil-republic-gold-proof-discovery-anniversary-20-reais-2000-/a/61181-97118.s

Greetings! Bought a coin not so recently at Auction No 16 from The Coinhouse Auctions in Belgium on Sept. 30th which Peter Eyckmans so kindly posted on Nov. 4th, and subsequently received the coin Nov. 16th. Expected a coin resembling this photo posted for lot 574: Wouldn’t have bid for the coin given its visible imperfections except that this coin is difficult to obtain in higher grades and, at 50 Euros, what could go wrong? These are photos of the coin actually received: Notice that some identifying features of the idealized coin are also present in the actual coin. Coin has the appearance of being sprayed with a corrosive mist, possibly to hide the latent finger prints. Could the evenness of the pitting of the surfaces of the coin the result of storage in a PVC holder and subsequent removal of the PVC deposits? The 50 Euros bid price turned in to over $100 once shipped via PayPal and registered mail. Imagine using an auction house to pawn off junk coins rather than taking the coins to a scrap dealer! Attentively, MiguelDelRio