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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1628530, member: 19463&quot;]People forget that today&#039;s brightly polished silver will have &#039;natural&#039; toning in time.&nbsp; Republican denarii will tone more like 90% US coins than will later denarii with lower grade silver.&nbsp;&nbsp; We see more toned Peace dollars now than we did when I was a kid but they are 50+ years older.&nbsp; Metal detectors have caused a great increase in new hoard and freshly cleaned ancients.&nbsp; Steve&#039;s coin is pretty now but it will be gray when he is my age and nearly black when his great-great grandchildren inherit his coins.&nbsp; &#039;Toners&#039; are fashionable now so we see them.&nbsp; There was a time where many of the US &#039;gems&#039; I see would have been considered candidates for a dip.&nbsp; The question is what is &#039;natural&#039; and what is &#039;artificial&#039;.&nbsp; Manila envelopes of the not acid free variety, living in a coal burning town, handling with dirty fingers and a dozen other things will speed or alter the progress of silver from bright to dark.&nbsp; Many of our finer ancients have been in collections longer than is possible for most of the coins we now see as &#039;toners&#039;.&nbsp; I won&#039;t be around to see how this plays out in 50+ years but some of you will.&nbsp; Let me know how it goes.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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