Would a bag of 1,000 severely toned silver dimes weigh more than a bag of 1,000 silver dimes that aren't toned?
I suspect it would have a tiny effect, but undetectable due to the fact that the coins themselves have a weight tolerance that would hide the difference.
Yes they would. Assuming the toning was silver sulfide for every two atoms of silver contributing to the toning there would be one atom of sulfur. Sulfur does have weight so the toning would weigh more than the silver alone. How much more is going to depend on the thickness of the toning. and how much of the coins are covered by the toning. So if you took a bag of shiny untoned silver coins and weighed them very carefully, then spread them out in a reactive environment until they were well toned and then carefully reweighed them again, you would see an increase in weight.
How about this toned set for a rip off sale? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Special-Ton...16?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item3cc9e40214
I would never pay more than 200 dollars for any coin. I see some that i know are worth the asking but i set a limet on what i buy and how much i pay for them. Buying high dollar coins have an up and down side. The seller you buy it from is glad he got rid of it for the price he wanted and now its your turn to try and find someone that you can sell it to and make a profit. Coins go up and down in price and value all the time so its more like gambling when you buy it and hope it will hold the value you pay for it let alone the nice profit you hope to get once you try to sell it. I buy low grade coins and if i lose its not much and i get more enjoyment out of them because i cannot lose but just so much. Its supose to be a hobby but from what i see here its gotton to be more of an investment thing for most. That takes the fun out of the hobby fast.
I won't disagree. But, there are probably only a handful of people who have access to a scale that is capable of detecting that weight difference.
And those who do will be able to show you that a fingerprint weighs more than non-black toning, most likely. The sulfur in "colorful" toning will add less weight than any visible dirt or debris. And all of these are much smaller than the normal tolerance in planchet weight, never mind weight loss due to wear. (Of course, coins with gum or glue stuck to them will weigh more.)
Basically I'm thinking if you have a bag of morgan doallors and let them get heavily toned the coin might gain .00001 grams in weight in which case the total weight of the 1000 coins in the bag would increase .01 grams. But yeah it would take a very high precision balance to detect it. Definitely not worth trying to do to increase the amount you are paid for your scrap silver.
I agree it would microscopically add to weight, but at the same time microscopically take away from recoverable silver. Either would be so tiny as to not be a factor. Put it this way, lightly circulated or BU but banged around so that the little tabs on the reeding started breaking off would be a much higher factor. Theoretically OP you are correct, but the difference would be so tiny as to not be measurable by any buyer or sellers. Edit: One thing I would clarify. We say "toned" and generally mean light tarnish that can be attractive. If instead you are meaning what we generally say is "corrosion", then yes, the weight difference can be measurable. A severely black, corroded coin will have easily measurable difference in weight. Too much weight with the corrosion on it, and up to 5% or a little more loss of weight after the corrosion is removed in my experience.
BINGO!!!! The toning is only a few atoms thick (or even just one) and it takes about 2.2 x10^21 atoms to make on gram.
