Will most rainbow toned coins eventually turn black?

When I was a kid in the 80's, I was a comic book collector and almost every new book that came out would be sealed in flimsy plastic bag. The comics were worth more still sealed. But there was a belief that eventually all those bags would break down... kinda like how PVC flips break down and affect coins negatively.

So, in my head I'm thinking about all this and the question above comes out... will all those gorgeous rainbow Battle Creek Morgans eventually "break down" and turn darker and darker?

 

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I hope not. fingers crossed here. if they are stored properly.

 

I've asked myself the same question though for several reasons I generally steer clear of toners. Does the toning cease once the coin is in a sealed TPG slab?

 

I mean, clearly copper doesn't. @calcol recently showed me a OGH proof 2 cent pattern in 65RD, that was RB now...

 

Eventually, yes. It is inevitable. The timeframe is the question. Proper storage will prolong the inevitable.

 

No, the toning doesn't necessarily cease in a slab; they're not completely airtight. No, they won't all eventually turn black. It's not like PVC, where all the ingredients are already in place as long as you leave the coin in the bad flip - removing a toner from the atmospheric conditions which caused the toning will arrest it in place, as long as you keep those conditions away from the coin.

Keep in mind some of those brutal textile-toner Morgans, which sat in sulfur-impregnated bags (anti-rat procedure) for however long it took to achieve the toning, and haven't changed since. If this one isn't already black, anything's possible:

 

I mostly agree, but do believe it can be stopped. However, once toning is on a coin, its much more liable to have MORE toning. So, therefor, its harder to stop toning progression on an already toned coin than a non-toned one. Many coins I owned that were toned really pretty are now darker, and this is with me putting in sacrificial silver, a dessicant, and other things to stop it.

I believe its a huge danger toned coin collectors face and many have no idea that eventually the premium they paid for the "pretty" coin will go away.

If a coin is in a slab it helps. Put those slabs in ziplocs, in a safe with dessicant and some loose sacrificial silver, in a humidity controlled environment, and it will prolong it. However, one hour in a poor environment can ruin a decade of good preservation.

 

IMO, no.

Toning requires oxygen and other gases which are, by design, minimalized in a 3rd party slab.

No, 3rd Party Slabs are not "Air Tight" nor are they "Water Proof" BUT there is not a ready "flow" of air within a slab as the flow, if any at all, would be the result of pressure changes and as such, extremely minimal.

Even outside a 3rd party slab, the coins in question, the Battlecreek coins, have been removed from the environment which caused them to tone so, it only stands to reason that any subsequent toning would be minimal at best.

A coin which has turned completely black due to toning is simply a coin which was left in it's "artificial toning environment" too long.

Any attempts at "halting" a natural toning process aside from removing the coins from the toning environment would be futile guesstimates IMO.

 

You can't mess with Mother Nature...however long it takes, they'll turn black.

 

Toning is pretty much tarnish for the most part. Some tarnish is straight up black while other types are more colorful. At the end of the day, silver is a reactive metal that oxidizes with exposure.

 

So this beauty will turn black in my lifetime? I doubt it... it's in a dry environment and in a slab. What else can you do...?

 

I believe it depends. Once the toning has started it will continue as long as they continue to be exposed to environmental contaminants. I believe if you isolate them from those contaminants in a controlled environment and perhaps use intercept shield or such products, then the toning will stop.

If you can reduce the environmental contamination to zero then in theory they will never turn black. However the final stage and color of toning is black, so if you do not isolate the coins successfully then they will eventually be black.

 

My guess is that if they have toned this way in 125 years, Give or take, it will be another 200 years before they get terminal. But I agree with you in general.

 

But they haven't really. If you are talking about Morgans, most were in vaults in bags until the 1950's or 60's. As such, the vast majority only started to tone in the last 50 years.

I have seen coins in safeflips in "average" environments turn from pretty to very dark in a matter of a couple of years sir. I have seen corroded black ASEs 8 years old. It is more a function of environment than time, and coins isolated by themselves versus in a bag in vaults are simply more susceptible.

I agree with Doug. It WILL happen. Maybe not in your lifetime if you are diligent, but EVENTUALLY it will unless they simply start encapsulating coins in solid plastic like those cheesy bars that ruined so many Morgan dollars in the 1950's.

 

So, some of your earlier ones must be REALLY BLACK!!!

 

They toned while in the bags.

 

Not most from what I saw. Most were blast white, with the ones on the canvas taking the toning hit for the most part. I saw a number of original bags, (claimed original), in the 1970's and 95% were blast white, not kind of white like many morgans now, but brand new ASE fresh out of the box WHITE.

Toning will only take place to the extent reagents are available. In a large bag of silver, there is simply too much silver and too little reagents to tone most of the coins. However, as soon as they were released from the bags the level of reagents went up astronomically versus in the bag, and many of the coins THEN started to tone.