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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Burgess, post: 7666991, member: 105098&quot;]Verdigris and toning are two different things.well not really, but it sounded nice saying it. Hahaha.</p><p>Verdigris is a reaction of copper and water moisture oxygen and contaminants.</p><p>There&#039;s a decent write up and progression chart on it here: <a href="https://crescentcitycopper.com/why-does-copper-turn-green/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://crescentcitycopper.com/why-does-copper-turn-green/" rel="nofollow">https://crescentcitycopper.com/why-does-copper-turn-green/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Toning, well that&#039;s early stage verdigris on copper, verdigris is &quot;terminal toning&quot; of copper. With silver, terminal toning is black, at that point it&#039;s a corrosive also it&#039;s a silver sulfide.&nbsp; A good chart of toning progression colors all the way to terminal is here: <a href="http://www.jhonecash.com/research/sunnywood_classification.asp" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.jhonecash.com/research/sunnywood_classification.asp" rel="nofollow">http://www.jhonecash.com/research/sunnywood_classification.asp</a></p><p><br /></p><p>In either case, copper or silver, toned coins can be pretty and it doesn&#039;t hurt anything until it gets to terminal. At that point it becomes a problem as silver sulfide or copper oxide both as a thick layer that includes sulfur, chlorides, and all the stuff that&#039;s bad found in air and water in micro particles that have built up over time. It&#039;s when it&#039;s terminal, whether copper or silver, the toning or patina becomes corrosion and can damage the surfaces and should then be &quot;conserved&quot; to remove this layer that has built up to a thickness that&#039;s reached problematic.</p><p><br /></p><p>As far as toning. Some like it, some don&#039;t. My opinion, for me it&#039;s a natural occurrence of copper or silver, and it&#039;s going to happen at some point given enough time and the right environmental conditions. Even if you notice it, it&#039;s usually got a really long way to go before it becomes a threat to the coin, and someone that hates toning may dip a coin multiple times and damage the surface trying to keep their coins white when they could have let it ride once it starts and wait for purple/black before conserving. Even then conserving can only be done so many times before it damages the surfaces.</p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s my understanding that it takes moisture and oxygen for toning to occur, and it take&#039;s a carbonate or sulfide to speed it up on its way towards terminal. It&#039;s my belief a coin would never tone if it were stored in a container&nbsp; and kept in nitrogen in place of oxygen or in a vacuum let&#039;s say, removing the oxygen.</p><p><br /></p><p>I know from pest control, if you have a pest problem, if you remove food or water, or break the life cycle, the pest problem is ended. You remove one of the links so they can&#039;t proliferate. I&#039;d think the same applies to toning.</p><p><br /></p><p>What I know is I have 2000s silver proof sets all in their OGP bought from the mint. All have been stored in the same place under the same condition&#039;s yet one set has colored up drastically compared to the other 9 sets some are older most are newer. Why? It&#039;s got to be a conaminant in the mint packaging of that one set probably a sulfur compound in the packaging.</p><p>What I&#039;m saying is its not random, it&#039;s controllable and even possible to retard it. Many have had success with dessicant use to take up the humidity in their storage place, no moisture, no toning.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, at what point does toning become verdigris? &quot;When the toning is terminal&quot; is the simple answer.</p><p><br /></p><p>But it&#039;s a complicated question when it&#039;s thought about,&nbsp; and I hope I&#039;ve taken some of the mystery out of it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Disclaimer: I&#039;m a hobbyist not a professional or expert.</p><p><br /></p><p>By the way, Zinc rot isn&#039;t actually rot, and also totally controllable it&#039;s not a death sentence for a zincoln cent, just like seeing sign of toning isn&#039;t a death sentence either.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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