Quicksilver

No, I’m not referring to the Lone Ranger’s horse. I’m referring to another name for Mercury which we used to coat dimes and quarters with.

When I was young I remember my brother showing me a quarter that had been coated in Mercury. It was so shiny that it absolutely gleamed in the sunshine. Then he handed it to me and it had the slickest feel to it. I was truly amazed. It seems we played with this for a long time, rubbing it between our fingers and showing it to anyone who was around to look at it.  Where did this magic coin come from?

I recently asked my brother about this and he told me the Mercury came from a thermometer. He would break the top off of the thermometer and then he was able to pour the Mercury onto the coin. This operation was all done on the back step to our house. He would rub it onto the coin and it would stick to it. And voila! The most beautiful coin you had ever seen.

I asked him if he was ever caught doing this and he said that our parents knew about it and had maybe even showed him how to do it. I don’t remember anything about this; I just remember the slick and shiny quarter.

I read in the paper a couple of years ago that a small amount of Mercury was spilled in a school lab. They evacuated the school and called in HAZMAT to take care of it. Were they over-reacting or are we lucky to be alive? What do you think?