This darkening was on a couple of my Peace, Morgan and Washington silver coins when I acquired them many years ago. If it's merely tarnishing then why has it only happened to a few and not the hundreds of others? Is there a way restore their original luster without to bring out the natural look of a silver coin? I've included a photo of a Peace dollar as an example.
Not worth fooling with the coin. If you removed the color it would still sell for melt and possibly more to a collector.
I too enjoy a blast white coin. However, most anything you do to remove that toning will reduce any numismatic premium. Folks like their coins au natural these days. Best left alone.
Guess I don't understand the difference between toning and tarnishing. Remember grandma's old silverware and tea sets that would tarnish and look like new after she polished them up? I'll leave these coins alone and enjoy them just the way they are. Thanks Randy
Silver often changes color over time as it reacts with the environment. I believe the reaction is called oxidation. I use different words to describe oxidation. I use "toning" to describe mostly attractive color. I rarely use "tarnish" associated with coins but when I do it is for unattractive color. I use environmental damage for end-stage black corrosion color usually near the rims.
Silver discolouration is down to Sulphur. The dark coating is silver sulphide. In the jewellery world 'liver of sulphur' is used to create dark or even black silver jewellery. OK, In the US I guess that would be color and sulfur
People will pay a premium for that darkened state probably as much if not more than they would the blast white one. I know people who collect the dark ones because they are dark. Myself included. I won't pay premiums but when I bid on these type of coins I usually lose and some sell for more than you'd think.
I have four of these in Morgan and Peace varieties...interestingly they are all four 1921 dates...two high relief Peace and two of the last-year Morgans. They are all MS in my opinion but have hesitated to have them graded for the "toning" which runs from more flat to some subtle color in the gray. After reading all this info, I may try one or two...maybe one of each...with whichever of the TPGs is better (more lenient, higher) with this sort of thing.
This helps, I'll take good care of all the toned coins in my possession and admire them for what they are.
Not necessarily. Many, many times, dipping a coin to remove toning will increase it's substantially ! I once watched a guy at a coin buy a rare date Morgan, it was very darkly toned, almost black. He paid I think it was $36,000 or so. He took it, dipped it, and sold it at the same show $156,000. Now granted this was a rare coin. But a coin doesn't have to be rare for it's value to increase substantially because the coin was dipped. It all depends on the toning. If the toning is unattractive, and much of it is, and you remove that toning, then it's a pretty safe bet the value is going up. Of course, the opposite is true as well. If you dip a coin with attractive toning then the value will go down most of the time. And there are the neutral cases where it's not gonna make any difference.
Just to be clear..... If I dip the coin incorrectly, then I run the risk of damaging the hidden luster don't I? Which tells me I would rather leave that job to someone experienced.
That's the because there is no real difference, toning and tarnish are exactly the same thing. Toning is simply a euphemism for tarnish. What's more, tarnish is simply a euphemism for corrosion. But in numismatics is you use the words tarnish or corrosion when describing coins then people are going to think of that in a very derogatory way. But if you say toning their attitude is - that's OK then.
That is correct, you do have to dip it properly. And yes you do need to know what you're doing. My point Randy is that you can't just say that dipping a coin will reduce the value of a coin because it just isn't always true. Yeah, it's true sometimes, but it's also not true sometimes. And yeah some may say it's a fine line, but when talking about coins, what isn't a fine line ? With coins, fine lines are important, often very important.
