Toning on slabbed coins
capri
have picked up a few nice coins but it has never been a real serious
hobby for me. back in the early 90's I started collecting the Silver
Eagles, just because it is a nice looking coin and it is the only coin
that I have collected that has been slabbed, They are so pretty I
wanted to keep them that way. Anyway. I have a whole set of them now,
all NGC, PCGS or ANACS certified coins. I have them stored in a
plastic almost airtight container. I have not looked at them in quite
awhile. Took them out last night and noticed that several of the coins
have developed quite a bit of toning around the edges. Wonerdiing what
could have caused this? I have about 50 Morgans in very good shape
that are in a cardboard holder. the Morgans pretty much all look the
same as the day that I bought them. Same with the Seated Liberty half
cents. I'm figuring it probably has something to do with the plastic
container but are not slabbed coins supposed to be immune to this
sort of thing?
Just tossing it out to the group. Have a nice day!
Phil
Bremick
"capri" <prh...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:bdd59d63-d3c1-41cd...@t23g2000vby.googlegroups.com...
I store some slabbed silver coins in blue PCGS plastic boxes and have never
encountered any toning. In your case, I would think if the plastic were the
culprit, more than the edges would have been affected. Was it an "approved"
slab container? Based on experiences of others, I have tried several
experiments to acquire toning on unc silver eagles with no success so far
after about six years. I wrapped one in Kleenex in a small manila envelope
and put another in a manila envelope w/o the Kleenex. Both look today like
they did when I put them in there. I also stuck an unc silver dime in
there, too.
Maybe if you could describe the tone coloring, someone with better
experience can suggest the specific cause. Hopefully, it's attractive
toning which might increase the value of your coins.
oly
Your actions in having ASE slabbed (or perhaps you just bought them
that way) somewhat suggest that your definition of "casual" collector
is loose.
I've never delved into the representations of the TPGs too closely.
But I've read the numismatic press for decades and I don't believe
that any of the TPGs make any representations that their holders are
100% protection against possible environmental-related action(s) or
reaction(s).
Simply put, you may be assuming something that the TPGs slabs don't
offer.
oly
Beanie
"capri" <prh...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:bdd59d63-d3c1-41cd...@t23g2000vby.googlegroups.com...
As far as I know, none of the major TPGs have made any claims that coins
wouldn't tone in their holders.
They do claim their holders are inert and free of PVC.
Frank Provasek
developed very pretty deep purple rim toning after 15 to 20 years.
Around 1995, they modifed the slab to a slightly thicker version, and
none of the coins in these slabs have toned. Slabs are generally
airtight but not AIR FREE, there is no attempt to seal them in a
vacuum or in nitrogen or other inert gas. Some have claimed to be
able to tone coins inside the slabs using some high pressure gassing
system. But like those claiming that lasers are being used melt
hairlines away on Proof gold coins, I think it's an urban legend.
---
Frank Provasek Rare Coins www.frankcoins.com
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/frankcoins Texas Auction License
11259, Board member of Texas Coin Dealers Association,
Member TNA, ANA, PCGS, NGC, ICTA - Full Time Since 1991
capri
all in older ANACS slabs ('80's) there are a couple in
INS slabs. Interestingly..When I was buying slabbed coins at first I
did not realize that there were some by graders, shall we say,
rather loose about their grading of the coins so when I did I replaced
those with either ANACS, NGC or PCGS. I same year
with better graders. The interesting part is the 2 INS coins that have
toning on them now, have duplicate NGC coins, no toning
on those coins.............
I took some pictures, you can see them here. I wish the quality
was better.
http://s476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/Capri142/Toned%20Silver%20Eagles/
mazorj
I suspect that the farther down you go on the scale of TPGs, the cheaper and
hence less environnmentally protective their slabs are.
The slabs from top-tier TPGs probably can be characterized as "toning
resistant" by which I mean that while they are not 100% hermetically sealed
(hence their policy of not guaranteeing against toning) they do a decent job
of minimizing it.
At the other end of the scale, I once bought some"graded slabbed" coins on
eBay from a seller who owned or had a close business relationship with the
"grading service". Not only were the grades totally bogus - the coins were
rated PR70 but clearly had been dipped and/or whizzed - but the "slabs" were
simple soft clear plastic fold-overs (probably an acetate or similar
plastic) with a simple snap-seal around the edges, like you find on grocery
store potato salad containers. I bet that any coin in these "slabs" will
start to turn in a year or two, and the toning will be the ugly kind, not
the classic, pretty rainbow type.
oly
> "capri" <prh...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:8fd50e52-1dbf-4d91...@w2g2000yqb.googlegroups.com...
>
> > I just looked at the coins again, the toned ones seem to be mostly
> > all in older ANACS slabs ('80's) there are a couple in
> > INS slabs. Interestingly..When I was buying slabbed coins at first I
> > did not realize that there were some by graders, shall we say,
> > rather loose about their grading of the coins so when I did I replaced
> > those with either ANACS, NGC or PCGS. I same year
> > with better graders. The interesting part is the 2 INS coins that have
> > toning on them now, have duplicate NGC coins, no toning
> > on those coins.............
>
> > I took some pictures, you can see them here. I wish the quality
> > was better.
>
>
> I suspect that the farther down you go on the scale of TPGs, the cheaper and
> hence less environnmentally protective their slabs are.
>
> The slabs from top-tier TPGs probably can be characterized as "toning
> resistant" by which I mean that while they are not 100% hermetically sealed
> (hence their policy of not guaranteeing against toning) they do a decent job
> of minimizing it.
>
> At the other end of the scale, I once bought some"graded slabbed" coins on
> eBay from a seller who owned or had a close business relationship with the
> "grading service". Not only were the grades totally bogus - the coins were
> rated PR70 but clearly had been dipped and/or whizzed - but the "slabs" were
> simple soft clear plastic fold-overs (probably an acetate or similar
> plastic) with a simple snap-seal around the edges, like you find on grocery
> store potato salad containers. I bet that any coin in these "slabs" will
> start to turn in a year or two, and the toning will be the ugly kind, not
> the classic, pretty rainbow type.
Unless you go spend some additional money on "Intercept Shield" or
similar protection products, I tend to think you're giving even the
top tier slabs a little too much credit.
I even wondered whether the "Intercept Shield" products were still
available, but "googled" them and apparently they still are.
oly
mazorj
"oly" <oly...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:13803633-69f0-42aa...@u6g2000yqk.googlegroups.com...
oly
========================
True, although I didn't mean to make the top TPG slabs sound that good on an
absolute scale, just relative to their lesser versions from other TPGs.
By most accounts Intercept Shield works well, but if you really, really
wanted to stop all toning, corrosion, etc., you could encase the slabs in an
airtight container filled with nitrogen or helium or other gas not likely to
react with the metal. Accessing or even just viewing them would be a PITA
but anyone who would go to this extreme is likely to be mostly interested in
just protecting his investment until he's ready to sell. ;-)
Phil DeMayo
When ICG first started offering Intercept Shield protected slabs, they
had an independant accelerated aging test conducted comparing their
slabs with Intercept Shield against slabs from PCGS and NGC.
PCGS finished dead last while slabs from NGC offered surprisingly good
protection (at least compared to PCGS).
I didn't check, but the results may still be at the ICG website.