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Message:: [QUOTE="rhoggman, post: 392565, member: 13987"]I am not an expert on gold toning, and GDJMSP seems to really know his stuff, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.  But they even claimed that King Tut's mask/ gold coffin was as nice as the day it went in the ground. Then you hear about all the sunken treasure that was almost preserved by the salt water.... So I understand the questioning. What I think is that gold alloyed with just about any metal is subject to tone/ tarnish whatever you want to call it. This is usually caused by the deposition of materials onto the surface of the coin/ jewlrey or whatever. Metallic ions are actually attracted to most other metals, and most other metals are also subject to a number of other destructive forces, where gold's is very limited. If you read GDJMSP's statement about restoring luster he descibes the essence of luster on the surface of a coin, and how luster can be damaged, or revealed, but not "restored". To answer the question to the best of my ability I would assume that the more pure the gold is, the less likely that it will tarnish; however there is no garuntee that it will not. There are even thought to be microscopic plant life that can slowly destroy the surface of gold which would give it a tarnished look. So while a .9999 pure Maple Leaf/ Buffalo may be beautiful for a very long time there is always a chance of some tarnishing/ toning to take place however unlikely it may be. Furthermore; .0001 of that coin is unpure. What is that .0001 subject to, and how much will it affect the coin?????   So really there are multiple reasons why this is possible, but there could also be favorable conditions where something that is gold could be perserved in a pristine state for a very long time.[/QUOTE]

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