How does natural toning occur? (and what are the conditions) and similarly, how would "artifical" toning happen? thank you
Regular toning, atleast in silver coins, occurs when oxygen and other chemicals react with the surface of the coin turning it colors. Often times old coin folders and high sulfur envelops can help speed up toning. I have also heard about pollutants from cars, gas heating systems, power plants, steel mills, etc can also expedite toning. Now... here is where the line gets fuzzy: You can help make your coins tone faster if you place them in a window and expose them to lots of air and sunlight for a period of months. Now some say this is artificial because you are conciously trying to tone the coins, other say it is not because you are not actually manipulating the surface of the coin, you are simply utilizing nature. Now what everyone agrees on is that artificial toning includes using chemicals such as acids and dyes to change the color of the surface of the coin. Some people also blow cigar or cigarette smoke on coins to give them a brown/yellow appearance. Ive also heard of things such as baking coins in a potato for several hours and thumbing the coin with some sort of grease or oil over a period of weeks. For more information I would recomend googling the subject.
You can also put the coins in a cigar box, most are made out of cheap woods containing lots of sulphur or other chemicals in them! It will expidite the process if you live in a warm climate and put the box out in the direct sun light! I personally don't consider this artificially toning, there have been thousands of these boxes containing coins over the years that have caused coins to be toned!
I have several old coins wrapped up in notebook paper...does notebook paper contain any sulphur? These are coins that I would rather not have toned...
Yes it does. Just about all paper products contain sulpur. But you can buy archival quality paper that does not contain sulphur - you just have to search for it.
Okay, thanks. I guess I'm going to have to spend some time unwrapping and rewrapping several hundred coins, heh. How about small plastic bags? I assume they are safe, yes? Also, how much time does it take for a coin wrapped in paper to show signs of toning?
It depends, sometimes the plastic can contain PVC. That's far worse than any paper. Your best bet is to store your coins in holders that were designed for coin storage. Again it depends - on many things. The paper itself, the temperature, the humidiity, where you live etc etc. It could be anywhere from a few days to years.
Just buy some 2x2's from hobby lobby or something its a much better way of storing coins because first off they are pvc free and are hence save for coins and second off you can see the surfaces of the coins whenever you want without having to take them out of their holders.
These are the ones that you staple together, yes? I have many of my nicer coins in those, but I like being able to take coins out and fondle them. I know it is bad for the coins, and I don't do this with my more valuable ones. I would really just like to find some PVC-free 1inch by 1inch plastic bags, to put my less-valuable coins in. So that I can easily remove them, if I want to.
As to toning of coins an important item is the material of the coin. Toning occurs in coins depending on where they are, what they are, how long they've been there, temperature, humidity and just about anything else. Invironment can play a massive or practically nothing amount of reactions in the toning of coins. For instance Silver does react easily with many, many other elements and compounds. Although Copper is highly reactive as a metal it does not react as easily as Silver. Silver can form Ag2S as well as AgCl easily whereas copper dose not react with S or Cl directly but will with one of their compounds such as the Cl or S acid group. If you are truly interested in how and why coins tone I would suggest acquiring a chem book rather than attempting to decipher numerous guesstamated possibilities.
I have some paper, it says 'acid free' on the package. I can't find anything about sulphur on the package. Is this paper okay to use for wrapping coins?
Acid free does not mean Sulfur free. It could simply be referring to no crystaline coumpunds that will become acidic when exposed to moisture. Regarless, wrapping coins in paper is not wise since most, not all, papers are porus. This means that moisture, gases, miscellaneous liquids can filter through to make contact with the coins. If you care about the coins and are collecting them, do not use paper to wrap them. In all chem labs a form of paper is used to filter out impurities in liquids indicating the liquids will pass though but some substances will not.
I'm going to go to the coin shoppe tomorrow, I plan on picking up quite a few of those small envelopes, and some more 2x2's. The coins I had been wrapping in paper were nothing special, I was just using paper for convenience. Thanks for the help.
You may want to invest in plastic rolls. However, note that they leave room for the coins to move and scratch each other.
I saw those while I was at the coin store today, I think I may pick up a couple next time. I bought a bunch of small envelopes, I really like using them. I sure hope the ones I got today are sulphur free. I asked the guy behind the counter, and he kinda hesitated for a second, before replying "I think so....yes." His lack of confidence was quite unsettling. While there I also loaded up on 2x2's and found a few interesting coins in the '25cent coin bin'. All in all, a pleasant experience.
