I first posted my staff series victoriatus in December 2016. I had purchased it uncleaned and it had just returned from a 4 month trip to a professional cleaner and was basically blast white. Since then it's largely been sitting in one of my archival paper envelopes in a safe deposit box at the bank and in that time has started to tone appreciably. I recently retrieved it to use as part of a "show and tell" with other collectors while at NYINC and decided to take a few pictures of its progress while it was out. While I've tried placing other coins in the windowsill or leaving them in a humid guest bathroom to tone them, this one has done nothing but sit in that box and has toned down better than any of the ones I tried to kickstart toning on. I don't know if this should be attributed to the particular alloy used in this coin or the cleaning method my cleaner used or some other variable, but I am excited to see what a few more years will do to it. December 2016: January 2018: If you've got any before-and-after pictures of toning I'd love to see them!
That's a great result! Did you open/take it out of the box often or was it a relatively contained environment for the year timespan?
Mostly a relatively contained environment. My schedule is usually so packed that I can't even access my coins during the week so the box gets opened once or twice a month and I handle a few coins and check for BD as i have time.
As a kid collecting U.S. coins, I recall a trick we used to induce toning was storing silver coins in yellow (manilla) envelopes. I think the paper had some sulfer content that accelerated toning. So, I'm kinda surprised to see your rapid progress in archival envelopes! Looks great.
How it started: June 2017: right after a soak of ammonia mixed with distilled water. After this was taken I gave it another bath to remove the remaining spots of gunk. January 2018: it might be a little hard to tell since the photos are brighter, but the coin overall has darkened a bit, especially the high points. Its been in a PVC-free plastic holder, occasionally being taken out. Not only do I like the type, the style, and of course the price I paid, my experience cleaning this helps make this one of my favorite coins in my collection. The toning is far from spectacular but hopefully its still relevant.
