I do hope you have picked up a copy of the Red Book to help you learn more about coins. Besides that, there are also a number of books to help you learn about the hobby. And stay away from YouTube and get-rich-quick books and you'll be fine.
We did pick up a book, and it was red, but as far as it being the "red book".. I dunno. We will definitely stay away from the "get rich through coins", because #1, we know most of those are scams, and #2, it is NOT about the value of the coins. It is about the collecting, and collection, and looking at the history... and the thrill of the hunt!!
R. S. Yeoman is the author. The Official Red Book. A Guide Book Of UNITED STATES COINS That's on the cover.
You're thinking of the 40% silver sets. Their mintage figure was mandated by congress, the mintages of the clad proof sets were not and the mintage were the result of demand simply from the number of sets ordered. The Mandate for the silver sets WAS way too high, and they made the mistake of REQUIRING the authorized mintage to be struck. So at the end of 1975 they had to hurriedly strike millions of sets which were stored and then six years or so later melted down. (The mint didn't keep good records and even today they do not have an "official" mintage figure, just an estimated one.) After that they learned to specify a maximum mintage but did not require the authorized mintage to be struck.
When I was a child my hair was blonde blonde blonde, it darkened as i turned into a teen and young adult. Today my hair turns grey. My hair hasn’t corroded it aged. The metals that make up a coin that are still apart of the earth age too but are protected from aging badly. The coins in our airtight, moisture proof capsules still age but they are protected from aging badly or too quickly/naturally. Corrosion in the form of toning is not corrosion, it is natural aging. There are elements in our environment that react upon a coin just like our sun induces a change in my hair colour. Coins are art. Art needs to endure the test of time for folks to be happy. People are art too but to avoid an argument I won’t mention the artist. Funny we haven’t put some in airtight, moisture proof capsules like our coins to stunt their aging but then again, who wouldn’t want to find the fountain of youth. Toning is aging. Corrosion is the eating away of something, like, decay.
A lovely metaphor, and one to which I can personally relate, but it's totally irrelevant to the corrosion of metal. To the best of my knowledge (and I'm a biologist), hair does not corrode. The difference between "toning" and "corrosion" is one of degree and perhaps aesthetics. They are not different, chemically.
To me, corrosion is this: To me toning is this: Both are a result of exposure to elements in its environment. Both results can be forced to peak early with human meddling. Both left alone, without force, will get to each result in time, aging. I’m trying to say that aging is not damage but a natural fact just as it is in humans. As well, just trying to “stick up” for the “little guy”, a toned coin.
Buy another one........they're cheap as the devil. As for someone tampering with that set? Ever try to open one from that year? It is no easy task.
I really want to be attracted to the ancients but I really haven’t found that one attention grabber yet. They’re all probably out of my budget anyways. I think I would find my passion for them if I were digging them out of the ground or tombs myself.
The archaeology side isn't all it's cracked up to be. Long gone are the days of the likes of Schliemann and keeping what you dig, like Priam's Teeasure.
Toning is the interpretation of the interference of light through a thin film of corrosion products on the surface of the coin. What colors you see and how vivid or subdued they are is dependent on the thickness of the corrosion film.
I need to find my thread from a few months ago. I had a proof set with just the cent toned like this one. I believe some of the moderators were convinced it was AT.