I was looking for pricing on sold MS 64 Franklin 50 cent on ebay, when i noticed how splotchy the planchet is on this one. While i would pass if i was looking for one due to staining, whatever it is, i remember seeing that staining on other MS & proofs. Anyone know what causes that? Did it happen before or after it was slabbed on coins that don't appear to be cleaned? Thank you!
take your pick its toning. Mint sets and proof sets then used Pliofilm™ packaging, a Goodyear product, a brand of resinlike rubber hydrochloride that forms a clear, flexible, water-resistant, heat-sealable plastic made of rubber hydrochloride and used chiefly for making raincoats, as packaging material, and as fruit wrapping, patented in 1938. technically the plastic/rubber doesn't contain "PVC" but it does contain a chloride and it does degrade over time with heat or other factors and cause this blotchy spotty drippy pattern of toning. My opinion the coin should have been "conserved" before being encapsulated. a quick dip by a practiced individual and then a neutralization and then submittal for grading and encapsulation. As it stands it doesn't look as good as it could be, and it has a long way to go to tone up and even then it will follow thatpattern, which is the natural toning of these franklins that were left in the pliofilm. A couple quick examples of it from Ebay after coloring up to varying degrees. The best case scenario would be they were removed from the packaging before it had an effect on how it toned, next best would be a light skilled dipping and starting over on the toning process outside of the packaging. depends on if you like the pattern enough to let it ride or not. you can see on the slabbed coin that started the thread, in the picture, around the rim from 9 oclock to 3 oclock, there's the russet brown, it's got a long way to go before coloring up and it being out of the pliofilm and in a holder isn't going to speed it up either. Could be a bad picture and it has some more color to it in the early yellow to brown range and the lights not reflecting right, too bad there's no picture on NGC to see how they would of taken the picture.... but either way, yeah, it's going to be blotchy unless you were to crack it out, correct it, and send it in again.
Oh I forgot to add, prior to 1959, the mint sets were packaged on a cardboard card and in an envelope. so the toning is even worse than the pliofilm because of the sulfur content of the paper. proof sets from 1955 can be in the pliofilm, and 1955 and before can be in a cardboard box, and plastic bagged and tissue paper. Pickin and Grinin is right, it's how they all tone naturally from the packaging. I'd be suspicious of an evenly rainbow toned example, but again, also very possible people removed them from the packaging and put them in holders or folders, or envelops or cabinets and they toned up differently also. and I'd be fairly certain an untoned one was either well cared for since it was struck, or had been dipped at some point. I mean collecting supplies weren't all that great 60 years ago for longevity. 1950s is when air conditioning really comes on the scene with room units, and it doesn't get really widespread until the 1970s. 1960s is when they started building homes with central A/C also. Different times, and I think coins should reflect that reality in their appearance, which a lot of coins don't in my opinion.
