Metallium, Inc.

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Element Coins - Long-Glass Capsule Details
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In October 2007 the first coins made of Calcium were issued. Due to the high reactivity of the metal, a new encapsulation method needed to be done, over and above the method used for sealing some other reactive metals like Lanthanum, Praseodymium and so on. For those metals, a glass capsule was required as it was the only way to keep them from tarnishing in air. The capsules can be kept small because those metals can withstand the high temperature required to seal the glass end. Calcium metal turns blue when exposed to this high temperature and as a result, the only way to keep it from discoloring was to seal it in a longer glass capsule. Doing this keeps the calcium coin far enough from the high temperatures of sealing the end of the capsule and allows the coin to keep its original metal color without tarnishing.


Comparison of Short and Long Glass Capsules

So, what this means is that the format is very different than the rest of the Elements Coin Series set. For example, the glass capsule for the Calcium coin is too long to fit in the standard Air-tite holes of our Coin Album (unless the album page is modified). Also, the capsule will not fit completely in one side of the standard coin flips like the others.
Calcium Coin in Flip

Europium and Barium need to be offered in this format as well for similar reasons.

So, please keep this information in mind if you decide to purchase these coins.



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