I have been thinking about toned coins and came up with this. The toning process is a chemical reaction of some type on the metal surface of the coin. If it is a reaction, it is still probably happening. If it does not stop, what is going to happen to all the coins that are toning? Will the toning eventually turn into damage and eat away at the coin? If so, I feel sorry for all those who paid alot for those coins.
Toning is a group of chemical processes depending on the metal of the coin. If we have a toned coin in our hand: If it stays in the same environment ( on the coin's surface), it will continue to tone until it turns to corrosion or becomes limited in the reaction. If the coin is isolated or greatly reduced in the exposure to the same environment, the toning will halt at this point. This is why so many questions on the best holders to use or how to limit environmental factors such as humidity and sulfur, oxygen,etc. Jim
You didn't stipulate a time frame. If you would really like to know what will happen to all those coins, this is my prediction. In approximately 1,000,000 years all those coins will have returned to their original status as just elements and/or compounds and/or mixtures. Naturally there will still be those that try to preserve those coins in that future but just will not succeed. I'll be there to attempt this and if you want, I'll let you know for sure how this all works out. :goofer: In realality all metals combine with other substances eventually. If a metal, a coin, is kept in a completely air tight, gass tight, temperature stable invironment, sort of vacuum, nothing should happen to that coin. However, it is not proven that over a long period of time cosmic radiation may have some effects on coins.
No reason to feel sorry for us. Most of us understand that the chemical reaction essentially stops when the coin is removed from it's toning source. Atmospheric oxidation is much harder to prevent but also takes much longer. As long as the coins are stored properly, there is no reason they can't maintain their current appearance during our lifetimes.
