How do you tone coins naturally?

I have a feeling that when you go to check these, they are still going to be Cabin cents.

 

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i have a black standing liberty quarter i swear it was an accidentactualy looks kinda nicer then that over polished thing

 

The only place worst I can think of would be a damp basement, especially around cardboard.

I almost cried once when helping a friend of a friend clean out her grandparents basement after they passed. Grandpa was a coin hoarder, of BU rolls, but stored them in the wet basement. Every silver coin was black, and only a small precentage of them were salvagable by dipping. Two rolls of BU 38d halves were worth melt.

 

All I keep reading is to
"put them in an old whitman album", or
"put them in a manila envelope"...etc

The fact is, these things will have very little impact on toning by themselves.

Some of you have eluded to it, but the bottom line is this:
Toning has more to do with the actual environment, temperature, humidity, and air quality then it does with the medium the item is stored in. In conjunction with the luster of the coin.

Also, as Doug mentioned, luster and grade of the coin is also a major factor. The more luster, the easier it will tone. Luster exposes more surface area of the coin to the air, therefore is much more prone to tone.

As Dougie fresh once illustrated, a coin surface with luster looks like this /\/\/\/\ as opposed to circulated coins where the surface looks like this ~~~~~ or ---------. Ya dig?

A coin will tone in a brand new Dansco album, or just sitting on a shelf without being in any envelope or album at all. It is because of the environment and air exposure, not the storage device.

This is not to say old albums and papers won't encourage toning. Some of them certainly have chemicals or other agents that will speed up the process. However, this doesn't mean that a coin will tone just because it is in one of these old holders. It won't tone more times than it will. Even if it does tone, most of the time it will not be a desirable color or pattern. More often than not, these old albums have damaged coins as opposed to giving them desirable tonal patterns.


Here are two recent example of modern coins that have toned just due to air exposure. You can clearly see which ends were exposed.
They were in a bank roll, meaning, not full of the same chemicals used by the old rolls and albums:





Here are a few examples of coins that have toned while being in modern Danscos.
This one was nearly blast white when I put it in the 7070 3 years ago.



More Dansco toning:






So, how do you "naturally" tone coins?

You let nature do it. Sit back, crack a beer and wait.

-greg

 

I want lots of heat which I get. 100+ degrees every day for about 4 months a year. I bring them down in the winter. I checked them today and they are fine.

I don't keep my good coins in the attic just these "cabins" as an experiment. My good coins are in a safe deposit box at the bank.

 

Yeah, I think you are correct.

 

I have put a circulated silver Canadian 50-cent coin that was dipped to death, just on its edge on a windowsill for 4 months, then I turned the coin around (on edge) and left it for another 4 months. The end result was quite nice, with a light blue toning on the lustre...

 

A Dansco album stored in your home (on a bookshelf, for instance) will tone coins naturally over time, as will a number of other coin albums. Most collectors and dealers will accept these coins as natural toning. Not all will come out pretty.

 

I realize it has been discussed many times on what causes coins to tone and I understand why since the type of toning makes the coin more desirable. I do have a matron head large cent that is black, I am thinking it hasn't been altered like many coins that age. I also have silver roosies that are black as well. It would seem that an air-tight container would prevent toning rather than the coin being left out in the air. I have noticed changes in toning in coins I bought a few months ago. Has anyone noticed that some coins tone a different color than others? All of my standing quarters are gold toned. Maybe the coins that are exposed to the air tone faster than those that are not like those in an a slab, air-tight, or 2X2. I am going to try that with this polished coin I got at melt that is white-faced. I realize that whatever I do the cleaning can't be undone but toning can cover the affects of it.

 

Since I want it to re-tone, I think I will take it out of this air-tight. The coin will always be cleaned but will look better. I will just set it on a shelf and see if it does anything on its own. I also noticed that some coins I had in mylar flips had changes in the toning and I only have had these coins for about 6 months.