Has anyone ever had a older proof set (1964 or older) that has dark red spotting on the silver coins that are in sealed mint cellophane packages? I got a proof set a year ago from my local coin shop, but returned it a week later after finding the dark red spotting on the coins. I bought a different set on ebay advertised as toned. When I received the set the color of the toning was similar to the dark red of the previous set. I'll take some photos of my second set in a few hours after the sun comes up. The spotting looks like red phosphorus?
Yup, I have seen this, particularly on the dimes. In fact, I had one 1961 set in which the entire dime had gone brick red.
Yup, not that common, but not unheard of either. On the other hand, I have two 1955 flat packs that are all blast white.
That answer is not obvious. I can see that some of the boundaries between the cells of the packaging are open. What I cannot see is whether the outer boundaries have opened. If they are, the source is probably external, almost certainly the manila envelope or info sheet.
I broke up a 62 set. The franklin was solidly toned both sides with this color, and the quarter / dime were Partial.
Could the toning itself be caused by degenerating cellophane? I’m not an expert on packaging, but it seems that stuff, at some point in time and depending on the storage environment, would simply come apart.
Mine was coming apart also, when I bought it, I bought 3 64' proof sets that were completely brilliant. two of them being accented hair Kennedys. And never associated it to being AT, just a reaction to it's storage conditions.
I like this theory. In fact, I always thought that "yellow '61 nickels" and "blue '62 nickels" were due to plastic breakdown components. But one nationally known cent and nickel specialist insists it's alloy trace elements.
The outer boundaries appear to be intact. The ones between the coins show separation. The penny is showing a green tint around the rim.
