Been watching the Silver Eagles on ebay and have a question. Some of them show a toning starting on the older coins. What causes this? Is there a way to remove the toning without harming the coin, such as a quick dip in coin dip or a soak in acetone?
Coin dip will remove, but you need to learn how to do it correctly. Incorrectly will remove considerable luster, damaging the coin. An ASE in the improper environment will tone in days, even if the owner is not intending to tone the coin. I could buy a 2015 ASE today and in a week have a toned coin if I wanted it.
Use a coin dip (E-Z-Est of something like that), give it a 1-2 second dip and rinse thoroughly with warm running water. If you need more, repeat, but be careful not to overdip if you want to retain the luster. When dipped to your desire, give it a rinse with distilled water and let it dry.
Usually on junk coins. Always start at lower levels to see if a lower concentration will work. After a while you will get a feel for it. So get junk silver, start at maybe 1/3rd concentration and hold in there a few seconds. Take it out and put in a distilled water bath. See if it worked. If not, try half strength. It should normally only take a few seconds except for basket cases. You are just trying to get a feel for the least amount of coin dip in the least amount of time that will do the job.
Sure, if you store it in a sandwich bag with a raw egg, or something. I've never had a coin tone visibly during the time I've owned it. That includes red copper over a period of years. I store my coins in inert plastic capsules or slabs, keep them away from extreme temperature or humidity, and away from things like woods that will outgas, fingerprints, etc. I don't use things like Intercept products or desiccant, but, otherwise, I follow pretty much every bit of storage advice you'll see on boards like this. If you wanted to keep your coins from *ever* toning, your only real choice is to hermetically pack them under dry nitrogen or something.
Agree with everything you said here. Just wanted to note though, that pawn shops might be a good place to find junk coins, if you can talk them down to somewhere near melt value. There's a local place here that has a couple of completely black Morgans that would be good to experiment on, for instance.
Why would you want to remove beautiful toning? It is a natural process every coin goes through...I know its you coin and you can do whatever you want..but I DO know that nicely toned silver coins command a premium that has stood the test of time. JMHO. Thanks. MJH
"Command a premium that has stood the test of time"? No sir, that is not correct. Toned coins have not always commanded a premium. In my lifetime there were periods where toned coins were always worth less than white, untoned examples. It is not true all coins have to tone, toning is effectively proof a coin was stored in substandard conditions for a time, that is all it means. Toning is tarnish, its effectively DAMAGE. While in the past decade there has been what I would call an irrational love of toning, bottom line its damage to the coin that can be avoided with proper storage. If you had said "pristine, untouched surfaces have commanded a premium" you would be correct, but that does not mean the coin has to be toned to be classified that way.
