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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Burgess, post: 4848519, member: 105098&quot;]I&#039;ll do my best here.</p><p>1st there&#039;s 3 years here 09, 10, 11. 3 different years of production.</p><p>2nd there&#039;s a D mint mark in there. The finished product is noticebly different from Denver as opposed to Philly, it just is. Denver strikes are always better in my opinion.</p><p>3rd dies wear as they strike coins some pictured are definitely sharper strikes than others pictured others are weaker suggesting later die state.</p><p><br /></p><p>Those things noted, Yellowstone and Chickasaw are later die states than the rest. Freshest die states are Puerto Rico and Gettysburg. Guam appears to have a fresh obverse die and a late reverse die, and Olympic and Mt. Hood appear to have a middling obverse die with a fresher reverse die.</p><p><br /></p><p>As coins are struck lubricant is applied to the plachets, this can be over done or underdone or even done just right but this lubricant builds up. In the press and has to be dealt with from time to time and some is left behind on all the coins struck.</p><p>&nbsp;I would say what you are seeing and what I am seeing in these pictures is a combination of all these factors. Different aged coins, different die states so different lusters, and different toning due to the lubricant applied during the strike. This toning can be accelerated also or retarded depending on your storage conditions/environmental factors. No encasement sold will stop toning completely if its not a vacuum and airless, it&#039;s a natural progression of metal with air as it ages, it&#039;s oxidization. You can slow it to a crawl, but you can&#039;t stop it, and you can certainly speed it up.</p><p><br /></p><p>Is it normal to notice a difference in coins that are 9-11 years old that you bought 8 years ago? Yes. They would be much further along had you left them sitting on the counter to complete open air untouched for the last 8 years at least the side that was up.</p><p><br /></p><p>That Olympic coin looks terrible on the obverse, below average uncirculated with a lot of contact marks. The others are better but they all won&#039;t break MS65, with the exception of Puerto Rico which looks pretty gem to me but the reverse may he hiding contact marks also in the wall and waves.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;d of been more concerned with all the contact marks on them considering the markup littleton puts on stuff they sell.</p><p>The toning is pretty inevitable.</p><p>I like to take my new fresh coins from rolls, dip in pure acetone for a couple seconds then dip in distilled water and air dry, then put them in 2x2s and they still will tone in time even though I&#039;m sure there&#039;s no lubricant left behind on it from the mint. Where I am is high humidity and even with climate control over time it has its effect.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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