About 8 years ago I got a State/Territorial/Park sampler from Littleton for 1999-2011. After looking at them upon receipt, they have been stored in the original tubes since. I opened the Territory/Park tube and was surprised to see some of the color differences - as if the underlying copper was coming through. In real life, Puerto Rico, Gettysburg, Mount Hood & Olympic all appear silver-white, just a bit of color on Chickasaw & Guam, quite noticeable on Yellowstone. Is this normal for clad coins of that age? Pictures are all on a grey background and all lighting from a north-facing window. Don't know why my digital camera decides to shift colors a bit. Obv & Rev taken from exactly same position. Last pic is at an angle to try to show the same amount of reflection from all coins - gives best impression of what I'm seeing.
You'll do better by storing each coin separately. Even 2x2's would be better than tubes. Of course if you buy in tube quantity, putting the coins separate holders is a lot of work.
You need to understand that the clad layer is composed of Cupro-Nickel.. That's 75% Copper and 25% Nickel. It's not the Copper core that is coming through. It's the Copper in the Cupro-Nickel Clad that tones.
Kanga > I actually just got some 1.5x1.5's and 5x6 pocket pages to put them into, for a binder instead of using folders. Least expensive way of easily storing while being able to look at both sides. Recent Lincolns, Jeffersons, Roosevelts also going in as the Whitmans have filled up. Mr Ed > I thought toning to that degree took much longer than 8 years! Of course, I never liked sitting in the sun just to get a tan. Thanks, guys, for the responses!
Coins start toning the day they are made. There is a good chance that the coins will tone even faster because of the change in holders/storage. It's minor toning and can be corrected if you wish to bother with it.
I'll do my best here. 1st there's 3 years here 09, 10, 11. 3 different years of production. 2nd there's a D mint mark in there. The finished product is noticebly different from Denver as opposed to Philly, it just is. Denver strikes are always better in my opinion. 3rd dies wear as they strike coins some pictured are definitely sharper strikes than others pictured others are weaker suggesting later die state. Those things noted, Yellowstone and Chickasaw are later die states than the rest. Freshest die states are Puerto Rico and Gettysburg. Guam appears to have a fresh obverse die and a late reverse die, and Olympic and Mt. Hood appear to have a middling obverse die with a fresher reverse die. As coins are struck lubricant is applied to the plachets, this can be over done or underdone or even done just right but this lubricant builds up. In the press and has to be dealt with from time to time and some is left behind on all the coins struck. I would say what you are seeing and what I am seeing in these pictures is a combination of all these factors. Different aged coins, different die states so different lusters, and different toning due to the lubricant applied during the strike. This toning can be accelerated also or retarded depending on your storage conditions/environmental factors. No encasement sold will stop toning completely if its not a vacuum and airless, it's a natural progression of metal with air as it ages, it's oxidization. You can slow it to a crawl, but you can't stop it, and you can certainly speed it up. Is it normal to notice a difference in coins that are 9-11 years old that you bought 8 years ago? Yes. They would be much further along had you left them sitting on the counter to complete open air untouched for the last 8 years at least the side that was up. That Olympic coin looks terrible on the obverse, below average uncirculated with a lot of contact marks. The others are better but they all won't break MS65, with the exception of Puerto Rico which looks pretty gem to me but the reverse may he hiding contact marks also in the wall and waves. I'd of been more concerned with all the contact marks on them considering the markup littleton puts on stuff they sell. The toning is pretty inevitable. I like to take my new fresh coins from rolls, dip in pure acetone for a couple seconds then dip in distilled water and air dry, then put them in 2x2s and they still will tone in time even though I'm sure there's no lubricant left behind on it from the mint. Where I am is high humidity and even with climate control over time it has its effect.
I started coin collecting in the later 50's when I was about ten. Shinier was better, less wear was better. I may have rejected error coins because they weren't as perfect, or rarer coins 'cause I already had a better one. And of course, it was a "hands on" hobby with no gloves, except for 4 proof sets in plastic cases from 1959-1962. Sometimes the coins wouldn't stay in the holes in the Whitmans so I held them in with tape doubled over on the back. My collection went into storage when I started college. Storage included Minnesota winters and Arizona summers, many in the garage, for 55 years. Same thing for my stamp collection and "First Day of Issue" covers. Yikes! After my wife died earlier this year I decided to start on the coins again for something to do. Probably 90% of my coin collecting knowledge has come from this site in the last month! And I did buy cotton gloves. At least some of the damage on the quarters pictured here (obtained 8 years ago on a whim) was probably caused by me.
