This past week I purchased 3 bu rolls of wheat cents off of ebay. I have a question regarding the coloration on one 2 of the rolls. Two of the rolls have what appear to be toning splotches on some of them, lines on others, and then again rings on some. The color is almost as if a red brown coin would have, but the coloration is not brown at all. They have a yellowy brassish look on the outside edges off of the rim, and then an orangy red in the centers or in blots. The brassy color reminds me of a bullet casing. The orangy red looks like a brand new cent. What is odd is that the natural red color looks to be the tone. Can cents tone from red to a brighter yellow, almost as if turning in reverse. A select few of these have spots on them also that resemble a silver color or shade. It almost appeared as wear but I'm not sure as I've seen older brown cents in AU and MS with this. I've attempted to catch these in photograph for almost 3 hours now and have given up. It's immediately noticeable in hand to naked eye. The camera either glares or appears one color. I'll try again tomorrow.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/155375661292 This is the link to the item. In the first 3 photos it's the Roll with the white sticker and blue painters tape around the lid. These pictures do not show what I'm trying to capture, but in photo 6 in the 2nd row from the top down there are 5 reverses shown. The outside right one has an example of what I'm asking about but the picture does no justice to it. I dont know whether to be excited or discouraged with these as I can't tell if it is a very nice toning or if it is evidence of very careful cleaning. All have good luster and none of these spots are in any way what I would consider brown. They are full red imo.
Here are what I could capture. Some are at an angle as that is the only way I could capture the color change and even in these it isn't as pronounced.
Also, should I be concerned about these photos? I have around 10 coins with this coloration on them. This one is the worst. And a few with fingerprints this color. What is this stuff? It appears like a mold. It doesn't look like verdigris on circulated cents, but does remind me of outside damage on primary power lines. I have little experience with coppers natural reactions. Also the picture of the rolls side by side show the color difference of the two outside rolls to the center one appearing the same as a stack of circulated cents. I dont want to be one of those butthole buyers, but do you guys think I should consider returning these. The seller specified no refunds. At the same time I bid on what looked to be the cleanest, most lusterful looking rolls on ebay for under $30 a roll after looking for a week. I didt even consider the thought of returning. Seller had great feedback.
Thanks for the welcome. I'm actually a frequent visitor for several years now. Usually I'm reading and viewing and most often in the Roll hunters forum lurking or in the search options. I'm going to be playing with more camera setups in the future. Any thoughts on the reverse photo in my last post? My concern with the toning in the others was possible cleanings. I know what cleaned circulated cents look like, but not what happens on fresh red copper
Being "all over the road" was not my intention. I tried exactly the opposite. I tried to be thoroughly clear on what was concerning me yet I could not capture it through my phone camera after a few hours of trying. I then tried several times this afternoon after watching several videos and did the best I could and I attached 10 photos. It's hard to see, and the pictures are not nearly as pronounced as the coloration/toning is in hand, BUT, it IS visible in this photos if you look, albeit "toned" down. Pun intended. I attempted to contact an old friend who is a photographer for help just for this websites benefit and have not had a contact back yet. I'll be attempting improving my photography with what I have yet again a 3rd time in the next half hour or so. There is a genuine effort being put into this. If you'd care to be more specific on what you mean by all over the road, I'll offer as much clarity as possible. Saying I'm all over the road and then saying "all you can say" is pictures isn't "saying" enough as I offered pictures even if they aren't truview quality.
Looks like you got lucky with some nice toners in there! CONGRATS! There's a lot of us that actively collect those....ahhhhem.
I suspect (and hope for you) this coin has similar toning to yours. There are a lot of us that collect and cherish toned coins.
Alright fellas, this is my last try. I left out any that had only the brassy tone(or is the deep red the tone??) on the rims as I wasn't satisfied with their captioning. So I only selected a handful of these to show with the splotched toning as it seemed to show up better. Pretty random examples used also as I played around for more than 2 hours with lighting and angles. No editing was made to these besides cropping. I wish I had a nice Nikon now lol. Lastly, I'm going to have to go through these pretty good with the loupe as yall will notice from photos 3 and 4. Those 2 photos are the only duplicate coin as well. Photos 1, 2, and 5 are all individual coins. Photo 5 is from the square tube Roll. Photos 1 thru 4 are from a round roll and that entire roll is toned this way in differing degrees of those 2 colors. Ive noticed several of these are weakly struck but that's part of the game. P.S.- I may be all over the place now... and special thanks to you BadThad. I'm stoked I had you responding. I'm a huge admirer of your posts and am highly appreciative of the thought you put into sourcing comparative photos through my frustration. I hope these are taken well enough for both community responses and community enjoyment. Feel free to GtG
Copper is the most reactive of the three classic coinage metals. You can expect most any 60+ year old copper coin to have some toning or spots on it. Some worse or more attractively than others depend on how the coins were stored and sometimes what kind of rinse residue the mint left on them. pristine, “perfect,” red cents are surprising scarce from this era. If you can get one in a high grade (MS-67+) holder, the registry collectors will pay some astonishing prices. As you might guess, very high grade, in the holder coins are few and far between.
Looks like natural toning. As @johnmilton said they are 60+ year old copper coins. Pretty sure you can't return them when they say no refunds.