1909 S VDB RED to Brown process

I am thinking of buying a RED 1909 S VDB Lincoln cent. I will buy it in a graded slab in the hope of slowing down the inevitable oxidative process. Housed in a (imperfect) graded slab and stored in optimal conditions, what is the guess-ti-mate of how long it will take to start to turn Red-Brown and then finally Brown? I would like this coin to be part of my legacy collection that I will pass down to my young daughter and her eventual children. The fact that this 109 yr. old coin is still red obviously indicates it can be a very slow process. So, I know your response has to be only a ballpark one but I would appreciate your advice nonetheless. Is there anything else I can do to preserve the ''Red-ness'' ? Or, should I just buy a less expensive brown one and be done with it? Or possibly, can this coin ''always'' retain its Redness even without some new future storage invention? Thank you for your advice.

 

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Just get the brown. If you bought the red you would worry too much.

 

Your intent is awesome. Perhaps a beautiful and rare silver coin can be bought and later inherited.

 

If it were me, I'd probably buy a RB vs. a Red. IMO, you are correct though. If it survived this long in a slab as RD, than chances are it will last for quite a while.

 

Pick one that you know has been in the slab for several years.

 

Thanks guys but what are the chances a ''red'' stays ''red'' through a few generations if housed and stored optimally?

 

I don't think your chances are all that good but you could get lucky.

 

Good idea but I have that box already checked off.

 

Why? Is it because any toxic elements w/in the slab have been expelled and neutralized with the passage of time?

 

No, it is because no slab is airtight. It will reduce the effects but not eliminate them. If you live in a desert , it won't be as bad as if you live on a sea coast. You could reduce to close to zero, by putting it into a glass chamber with an ampule like glass tube, pump out all air, and fill with argon , and melt the glass tube shut, But that is rather extreme. Jim

 

Is there any advantage in maintaining the redness of a 1909 cent that has been slabbed recently vs the same coin that has been housed for many years?

coin that has been housed for many years?

 

Not all possibly, but the only way to tell if all of the sonic welds are still holding or haven't produced a pinhole. I had my first coins slabbed about 30 yrs ago and some of the red are still red, but I live in a desert. There are good reasons why the services stopped honoring their original replacement policy for Copper coin color change within the slab.

 

Older the slab with a 1909 RD the better, right?

 

Can't hurt. But remember coins like that are usually broken out for regrading as most think standards have weakened, so sellers want good money for rarer ones in old slabs. Jim

 

The general rule of thumb is the older the holder with a red copper coin the better off you are. This is because if the coin was slabbed say 30 years ago and had maintained a red color, the surfaces are pretty stable and it was stored properly. However, the newer the holder the more the variables can sway the odds of it turning. Simply because you don't know the history of the coin.

 

Well said.

 

I’d buy a rb that’s mostly red. A lot of the times I find them more attractive anyway. And just cause a coin is in a straight graded red holder DOES NOT mean it’s strictly original mint red. There’s doctors who specialize in getting the original red color back on coins that have toned and they get by the tpgs all the time

 

A recent thread here claimed that any old copper that was still red, had been treated with some secret double probation dip.

 

I don't think your daughter or her eventual children will be too upset if you pass down a red copper that turned brown!

Agree with others try and grab an older holder pristine example but even then there's no guarantee of anything. Personally for my own collection I skip right past red examples because the premium isn't worth it to me and like mentioned above can get just as nice eye appeal with RB examples.

But again I'm sure the eventual recipients of your collection will enjoy the coins because they came from you not because they stayed original mint color.