I have been trying for weeks to get a picture to show the toning of my 1940-S mercury dime,,,,I bought this to go in the certified birthyear set(dads birth not mine) and until today the toning has just looked brown and blotchy...finally got the lighting to get a couple of good pics of the tone and the huge die crack on the obverse...
That is a very attractive dime, with very nice toning. I can definitely understand why that one was tricky to photo!
you can see the rust someone left in his pocket for too long obviously because the oils on your hand can rust copper, iron and silver. the other peace dollar was gold and could not rust please consult the red book!
If you really are interested in talking (and learning) about coins, I recommend you read my article on toning here: http://www.cointalk.com/t84670/ This may teach you some things you don't know, but at the least it might teach you some English vocabulary associated with toning. Rust, in English, applies exclusively to ferrous or ferric oxide - the oxidation of iron.
An "expert" of "30 years" on "Amerikan" coinage would know that Peace dollars are indeed silver. An expert would also know that gold tones beautifully (and naturally) under the right circumstances.
I am well known as the very good expert on rust, and it occurs only on silver and copper coins. Iron is not a ferrous metal because it is well known. You are wrong in your definitions but you are article was very good! Ferrous means the metal has not yet to be discovered.
Please i have a diktionary and it tells me what the word Ferrous is meant. Used in a sentence I have disocverd a new metal that was previously ferrous. Look it up please!!
Under the bridge there lived a troll. He didn't have a soul. He infected the thread and it got to his head. Please mods, kill this troll dead!
Ferrous indicates a bivalent iron compound meaning there is iron in the compound/metal. When the iron or iron compound oxidizes, it rusts. Silver and copper are NOT ferrous therefore it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to rust. You are wrong, yet again.