i need help with a 2.50 gold piece i purchased.

i picked this up today and am wondering if this is normal for some of the gold to look like it is faded around the lettering on both the front and back? thanks for any help.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Looks normal to me and also just curious whats the grade also a picture of the obverse i like old gold.

 

its a 55.sorry i'm having trouble downloading the front.

 

The reverse looks normal. How about seeing the front?

 

Well… Two things. Those lovely old Indians are incused so they wear differently than other coins….. Secondly, it appears that quarter eagle is in a TPG slab, or is that some other type holder? If it is a TPG slab, I believe you can be confident that nothing funny is afoot here.

 

its in a pcgs holder.i looked up the number and its legit.i was just worried because i always thought gold was never supposed to fade or change colors like this.will this hurt its value any? i paid 490.00 for it,which did'nt seem bad.thanks for all you're advice!

 

You did well.
Sometimes Gold Coins tone, but this has no impact on the Price.

I remember @jwitten was a Strong Collector of These.

 

thanks again everyone.

 

Some slight color differences isn't a big deal. Nice coin!

 

90% gold can tone, because it has 10% copper., even even .9999 fine gold can tone, but it's rare and takes a long while. longer than the .900 fineness. I've seen ti from an orangish yellow heading towards and orangish red on 90%.
if anything a bright yellow would be an indication of a possible dipping and not quite right for it's age. possible, but even just minted the 90%ers dont' go the shade of yellow that dipping will cause sometimes.

the picture posted so far looks like good, honest toning to me.

 

I learned a lot from everyone's posts.I'm happy now that i know what i have.

 

Buying it slabbed, from a trusted dealer, don't hurt either. Nice piece. How about a 'shot' of the obverse?

 

The thing that concerned me the most is between the lettering it looks like it's white.It almost looks like the gold was rubbed off of it.It especially looks like it if you look at the letters C and A of the word America.I'm relieved though that everyone on here says it's just toning. this is my first Quarter Eagle Indian.I have 4 other older gold types and have never had one that toned.It's interesting how the.900 reacts differently.

 

yeah, toning, the darker yellows, oranges and reds/browns are just deeper toning while the lighter color is a much thinner layer in those spots. I have my theories, which everyone else has, opinions as to how and why toning does what it does, so I won't get into it. But toning isn't necessarily uniform in thickness,and can develop differently especially in alloys like this where the 10% copper is pretty reactive while the 90% gold isn't very reactive at all, the concentration of copper in some areas could be higher or gold in some areas higher, causing spots to just not tone at the same rate, same as other areas.
And high spots, open fields, and low spots can layer toning differently although all in the same environment and exposed to the same conditions.
On that coin the design is incuse not raised, you can see where the toning has come off around the rim where the coin has made contact over the years, The next highest point is the surface/fields, and the design itself is the low point. the minor interruptions in the toning could also of been handling before it was slabbed many years ago.

It's also difficult to grade these due to the design in my opinion.

 

Thanks John, all good points.I figure with it not being in a holder for so many years ,and being handled must've contributed to much of the toning.I did'nt realize that under a high powered magnifying glass that the color could appear to be a white silver looking color.I am used to seeing toning colors as red,orange,or brownish.

 

FYI, here's my 1909 AU55 from PCGS. Worth $539 at eBay.

 

Here is mine just for you to compare it to.

 

There is a discussion among the Ancients about gold coins that were toned by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. But to me the key factor is that gold and copper are a mixture, not a compound. There is no such thing as Copper aurite or Gold cuprite. Gold and copper alloy are more like salad dressing: oil and water. So, the copper will tone because that's what copper does.

I take it that the type-ahead corrector does not know "incuse" which mine just changed to "inches."

 

Oh good golly..... That has been there all week like that. I loathe the spell fixer.

 

I agree, do not need another momma