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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;WingedLiberty, post: 1119708, member: 26030&quot;]I just bought this colorfully toned 1958 Franklin Half Dollar for $57 on eBay, a price I was happy with given the unique character of the coin.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I loved the fact that both sides of the coin showed such striking color.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH]112733.vB[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>My first thought when I saw the intense color was that the toning must have been done by artifical means (even though the coin was blessed by PCGS as MS-65).&nbsp;&nbsp; The seller described the toning as &quot;Mint Set Toning&quot;, something which I had never heard of.</p><p><br /></p><p>So I did some web research and found out that up through the year 1958, the U.S. Mint issued Official Mint Sets in cardboard holders covered with green tissue paper; and the high sulfur content in the paper sometimes caused colorful toning if the coins were left in the holder for many years.&nbsp;&nbsp; Below is an original 1958 Mint Set cardboard holder and tissue paper (note the Half Dollar shown is not the same coin as above).&nbsp;&nbsp; I had never seen one of these old original cardboard Mint Set holders until now!&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;<b></b></p><p><b><font size="3">1958 Mint Set</font></b></p><p>[ATTACH]112734.vB[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Starting in 1959, Mint Sets holders were changed to soft plastic, which reduced the chances that the coins would tone.&nbsp; Below is the original 1959 Mint Set packaging (very similar to that used today).</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="3"><b>1959 Mint Set</b></font></p><p>[ATTACH]112735.vB[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>So this coin I bought was sort of an end of an era for colorful Mint Set toning due to the old original-issue cardboard holders and tissue paper.&nbsp; An era that ended in 1958.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Interesting how these holder decisions made years ago by the U.S. Mint, which might have been nothing more than an afterthought at the time, have such visual repercussions on coins that we all get to gawk at 53 years later.</p><p><br /></p><p>I think this historical aspect of cause and effect is one of my favorite things about collecting coins.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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