I have started a nice collection of toners and i was wondering what would be the best way to store them? Also will the coins in my TPG slabs be alright? I like the toning on my coins and would hate for it to change.
Good question. I'm not a lover of toned coins, but I wonder what some will look like years from now, and if the toning will just turn black with age.
Using airtites will slow down the process. Anything else, the coins will continue to tone naturally. Nothing is 100% air proof though.
Agreed. Air-tites, slabs, 2x2's inside a plastic sheet...These will all dramatically slow down toning. mackwork, toning can turn black (terminal) over time, but not always. In fact, some times toning will just skip any color and go to brown, then black. It all depends on the conditions. Here is an example of a dime from an old whitman album. Sometimes one side can be very different than the front. This particular album had about 20 with terminal black on the reverse.
There is no fool proof way,but in the commercial material out there Intercept shield products are the best IMO. For raw coins http://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/products/intercept-shield-snaplock-holders/ for slabs http://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/products/intercept-shield-boxes/
I purchased this Morgan Dollar in June 2002 for $718.75. The photo is no longer attached to the auction archive record but I saved the image shown below. I sold the same coin last November for $776.25. 1886 Morgan Dollar NGC MS65 June 2002--------------------------------------1886 Morgan Dollar NGC MS65 November 2011 I stored the coin in a safe in an air conditioned house with no desiccant or any other protective materials. There was no appreciable change in the appearance of the coin for almost a decade. This coin provides anecdotal evidence that toning is very stable when stored properly and will remain relatively unchanged for decades and IMO centuries. They will certainly not change in our lifetime. The coin also shows anecdotal evidence that the rainbow toned market is alive and well despite the constant predictions that it will crash any day, but that is a discussion for another time. In order to accept this concept, one needs to understand the toning process and how these coins toned in the first place. Most Morgan Dollars developed rainbow toning while stored in canvas bags kept in bank vaults for decades. The coins that developed rainbow toning like the coin shown above were in direct contact with the sulfur rich canvas bag which was the toning source. However, those coins not in contact with the canvas appeared essentially blast white over a century later. The only toning source they came in contact with was the hydrogen sulfide gas present in the atmosphere. While there is an oxidation layer on the surface of these coins, it is essentially undetectable to the human eye. A coin in a TPG slab is in contact with an inert plastic insert and although not air tight, the holder does provide some protection from the ambient atmosphere. The point of all this is that without direct contact to a sulfur rich toning source, the silver sulfide layer on the surface of a coin will not advance at a rate appreciable to the human eye. Have no worries, if you store your coins properly using inert materials in a climate controlled atmosphere away from sources of hydrogen sulfide gas, your toned coins will remain stable and unchanged long after you have gone.
Thank you so much lehigh96 that covers everything i wanted to know and then some.:thumb: I do not have any toned morgans yet but im saving to get a few examples, when my collection gets a little bigger i will post some.
As Paul said proper storage is the answer. For him things worked out well without using desiccant. But it is highly recommended that you do use desiccant for best results.
There is one way I can think of for longterm storage that can prohibit toning. Get on of these and seal the coins in it. Storing coins in a vacuum sealed bag should stop any toning.
You think that bag is going to maintain the vacuum forever ? It won't. For one thing the plastic itself is air permeable over time. Sure it will help, lot's of things help. But stop it ? No, sorry.
NOW the Thief Started Looking on my Freezer where I keep some of my Valuable Coins....I need to get it now and hide somewhere else...Back to my Bank again 2 c my locker.
