Black Ring Airtites

Because it's pretty easy to look up cross-linked polyethylene and find out that it is indeed an inert material.

Not a valid comparison at all. We are not talking about design flaws with the Air-Tites. We are talking about the physical properties of a given material. Big difference between those 2 things.

But I will repeat my earlier question to you - how do you know with any degree of certainty that the black on your coins was caused by the foam rings ?

My point is Chris, you do not know. You are merely assuming the rings were the reason. As I said, there could any number of other things that caused it, including things done to the coins before you ever bought them.

 

Chris knows me well enough to know without a doubt that I would never, ever, call him a liar, or an idiot. The reason I dismiss his claim is exactly as I have explained - inert materials cannot, repeat cannot, cause any toning or discoloration on coins. It is a physical impossibility.

For what, from whom, and why ?

 

Think things all the way through Chris. First of all the entire point of the inventor doing what he did was to provide an inert coin holder system that could be used on any size coin. Yes, he knew that the holders needed to be inert, that's why he chose to use the materials he did - acrylic and cross-linked polyethylene. And yes he did that in the very beginning. Acrylic was invented in the 1800's, cross-linked polyethylene was invented in the 1930's, so both materials were readily available and their properties well known when he decided to use them.

Secondly, Air-Tites were invented and first made in 1980. Based on your comments you bought the holders sometime in the early '90s - 10 to 15 years after they had been on the market. So the reputation of the holders and their effectiveness was well established by the time you bought them.

Next, if there was something wrong with the rings or if the rings caused coins to tone and/or discolor, don't you think that would have been well known by the time you bought them ? But yet, other than you, never once have I ever seen or heard of a single report of a problem with the rings. The reason there has never been such a report is because the rings are, were, and always have been made of inert material. There was never any change in the materials used to make the product.

How do I know that ? Well if you read what they have posted on their web site you'll see there have never been any change. But more than that, the evidence supports that there has never been any change. The evidence supports the fact that the rings have always been made of inert materials. What evidence ? The millions of coins that have been stored in them for 32 years are the evidence. If the holders or rings caused what happened to you then there would be others who it had happened to as well. But there aren't any others, there are no other reports like yours.

I understand the reason for your thinking Chris. You put the coins in those holders and after a time the rims turned turned black. So you assumed the reason for that was the holders, the rings - black rings, black toning - it must have been the rings. But that is an assumption, nothing more. As I said before, making that assumption is akin to assuming that because coins tone in TPG slabs then the slabs must be the reason for that toning. But you and I both know that is not true. The reason it is not true is because the slabs are made of inert materials.

Think about it, how many silver coins that never got anywhere near an Air-Tite holder with black rings have you ever seen that toned black, especially around the edges ? What caused them to turn black ? The ordinary toning process is what caused them to turn black. And toning is caused by a multitude of things, but most often just the air is enough.

I do not doubt for a minute that you had a bad experience. But it was something else, not the rings, that caused it. There could be any number of other things that caused it. But more likely than not it was nothing more than ordinary toning.

Now I know that nothing I ever say will change your mind. You will believe what you choose to believe regardless of what I or anybody else ever says. But perhaps my comments will have some sort of impact on what others believe. Which is why I have made them to begin with.