Toned coins? Food for thought.

Nobody can deny that some toned coins are just beautiful, but have you considered what the future holds for your coins? Will a beautifully toned coin that carries a high premium today degrade to a terminal black state over time and loose the majority of its value?

I ask this because, as many of you know, I am a fourth generation collector who takes care of a collection that has been ongoing for nearly 140 years. As such, I worry that that buying toned coins may not be such a great idea. For instance, will this beautiful 1878-CC... (The coin that my couch stole)



look like this by the time my great grandchildren inherit this collection?



It is the stuff of nightmares.

 

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I'm pretty sure that's like the definition of a 'first-world problem'. Lol.

 

Lets hope not although I've seen 200+ year old silver with amazing color I bid on a stunningly toned 1803 half about a year ago it brought around 12k in ms don't remember the exact grade 62? Perhaps proper storage is key and I see many nice circulated early siler coins in that beautiful slate gray which I find ideal for them

 

But seriously I do have similar concerns myself.

The last post was intended as a funny, but seriously what's the key to preserving our collections for our hopeful future generations sake?

 

This will most likely come down to the storage method used to conserve the collection. A sulfur-free airtight coin holder would help slow the toning process quite a bit, such as what is used by the grading companies today. Though all silver will most likely succumb to the saddening black state at some point in the distant future...
-Mike

 

My question then is, how did the coins that are still in remarkable shape from 100-150+ years ago maintain their color and 'vibrancy' for lack of a better term?

Aren't ziplocks, and airtites a rather new invention? How did the 'old' generations preserve their coins without all these fancy new inert plastics and such?

Did they have silica packs in the 1840s?

I'm actually curious to this answer? How did they preserve the coins so dang well in some instances?

 

Dumb question, but what do you mean when you said that my couch stole?

 

I would imagine that most of the vibrantly toned coins from 150+ years ago have either been previously dipped or otherwise cleaned or they were stored in what we might call fortuitous conditions that allowed a combination of rather stable temperature, low relative humidity and little air flow. Regardless, there are astonishingly few US coins from 150+ years ago that are vibrantly toned.

The coins we have today stand a much better chance at long term preservation in or near their current state since toning is affected greatly by the continued exposure of the coinage metal to conditions conducive to toning. The advent of climate control, both temperature and relative humidity, as well as fairly inert plastics or other holders will allow for coins present today to stay close to their appearance for perhaps many hundreds of years.

 

What about the ancient silver coins that still look good? They've been around for quite a while and remain in remarkable condition.

 

It was the subject of this old thread.

http://www.cointalk.com/threads/some-therapy-my-friends.216383/

 

Living in New Orleans, heat and humidity is a major concern. I take most every precaution that I can take, but it is almost impossible for me to keep any cents red. After my collection was under twelve feet of water for two weeks following Katrina, some friends at NCS conserved the collection and put them back in intercept shield albums (for free!). Since then, almost every previously red cent has turned one color or another.

This is the reason that I have been having albums with air-tites made for my nicer sets. Plus these are going to be some pretty sweet albums.

 

I think many that survived in remarkable condition were either kept in a desk drawer a bank vault or a safe away from air and oxidation being an antique furniture dealer and restorer you will sometimes see drawers insides of blanket chests desk interior drawers etc that the wood looks practically new and unused due to them being kept closed and not exposed to air likewise the objects inside including coins didn't get any oxidation or air exposure this explains many of the remarkable survivors from the 18th and early 19th c

 

Many woods release gasses that are not particularly good for a coins preservation. I can see a good old safe as doing the job that you describe though.

 

Coins that were collected and kept in rolls stayed pretty nice as long as they were stored in somewhat reasonable conditions.

 

I wonder. Can you catch it right before it gets 'terminally' black, dip it, and save it for another XX amount of years? Repeating this cycle until the coin is useless.

At that point either way it will be damaged anyway. Either just stages before being terminally black, or continued dipping (even 50-60 years apart) will eventually eat away at the coin.

I'm curious still simply because I have a 'blast' white Thaler from the mid-1600s and am curious as to how it's remained silvery so long and even though it isn't a high numerical grade the coin is in awesome condition (IMO). I understand it was probably dipped, so as a coins worsens with toning should we be dipping after a certain point to kind of restart the coins shelf life?

 

all the more reason toned coins should sell for a discount not a premium but marketing always wins.

 

I commented once that the only sure way to KNOW that a coin has been cleaned is if you did the cleaning.