Old Albums that Tone Coins

[Buried_In_Cents]

I'd love to get some insight on this from folks with more experience with toned coins, specifically toning that takes place during longterm storage in albums! To clarify, I am not talking about accelerating toning by deliberately putting an album in an environment that would encourage toning, I mean simply from the coins sitting in the album over a long period of time. For sake of simplicity, also assume I'm only talking about two-sided albums with the sliding plastic windows, not a coin board or push-in album.

As far as I'm aware (IE what I've been told), modern Whitman and Dansco albums will tone coins placed inside, but modern day Littleton Albums won't. Is that true? I can understand older Dansco albums, but do the newer ones still do the same thing? I have a growing collection of Dansco albums with no coins yet inside, and I'm curious what to expect.

I've heard before that the older Library of Coins albums are the best option for taking blast white coins and letting them tone over time. Is that true? Would something like an old Meghrig album do the same thing as well?

Does anyone have a preference for what albums they'd use for long term album toning?

Thanks in advance!

[usnchiefc]

B_I_C,

I am no expert in toning but do have experience with storing coins in albums in excess of 30 yrs. In short, my old Whitman coin albums have toned all coins similarly while other albums i.e. Dansco in same environment have not (dont own Meghrig albums). They all toned in similar patterns for example in the pics I've attached toning is strongest on right side of coins on both Obverse and Reverse and strongest toning occurred to coins closest to album page openings.

Hope input helps and thanks for making me root through albums I hadn't seen in years!

I enjoyed it.
r,

[Buried_In_Cents]

B_I_C,

I am no expert in toning but do have experience with storing coins in albums in excess of 30 yrs. In short, my old Whitman coin albums have toned all coins similarly while other albums i.e. Dansco in same environment have not (dont own Meghrig albums). They all toned in similar patterns for example in the pics I've attached toning is strongest on right side of coins on both Obverse and Reverse and strongest toning occurred to coins closest to album page openings.

Hope input helps and thanks for making me root through albums I hadn't seen in years!

I enjoyed it.
r,

Very very cool! This is exactly the sort of toning I was told Whitman albums would do. I'm surprised to hear Dansco albums didn't do the same thing (only because so many of my mentors are adamant that danscos will tone coins) but that also makes me feel confident that if I don't want my coins to tone I might be safe using one.

[Earle42]

Toning is to silver coins as rust is to iron nails.

But b/c silver tarnish can be colorful, the word "toned" was introduced to create a market so that tarnished coins could be sold.

Some are beautiful!

Your coins tarnish in the albums you mention b/c tarnish is a natural result of silver being exposed to air (oxidation). Something that seems to accelerate the process in albums you mention is that the albums have cardboard in them.

Air circulating over the silver's surface tones the coins.

Cardboard absorbs moisture from the atmosphere. Any album made with cardboard will tone coins.

Where you see the coin surfaces touching the cardboard, you see the fastest degradation of the coins (rim toning). That moisture in the cardboard aids the oxidations process. If not stopped, the coins will eventually turn black just like any tarnished silver tea set or silverware will.

How to inhibit toing:
When using a 2X2 holder, the coin is sandwiched between two layers of "plastic" where, for the most part, the air will not reach it. Although dollar coins typically are large enough in diameter you will be able to see the rim of the coin when you look at the 2X2, so these can still tone.

Air Tite coin capsules keep air (pretty much) from circulating over the coin's surfaces, but are more expensive than a 2X2.

Coin slabs are not air tight and coin's can continue to tarnish in them.

I personally use ziplock bags with silica gel packets for my best coins. I remove all air from the ziplock and seal the bag.

[Buried_In_Cents]

Very pretty tarnish, I must say. I've seen some real toned up beauties, pictures hardly ever do them justice (although websites like Monster Toned Morgans prove that it can be done.)

In the case of the Morgans on that website, the culprit is storage conditions and the bags themselves storing the coins. The canvas bags were treated with sulfur and kept in a cool, dry place for an extended period of time. According to the website, quote, "These bank bags had been laced with trace amounts of sulfur in order to prevent rats from ripping into them, and it was this sulfur that reacted with the silver surfaces of coins and caused a thin silver-sulfide film to form. This film refracts light and is what causes us to see beautiful colors—a phenomenon known as thin-film interference. The specific colors we see depend on the thickness of the silver-sulfide film, as certain colors get reflected and others get absorbed when light hits the coin. The variation in thickness was caused by the way coins sat in the bags—many sat at an angle, causing the sulfur to reach certain portions of a coin’s surface with differing concentrations."

The conditions in those bags that toned up the Morgan dollars are not the same conditions that tone coins in albums, even though the end result of the coin being toned is similar. As you say, there's something in the cardboard in older albums that reacts with the coins when also exposed to the air. I know that most paper made before recent times was not treated to remove acid (Wikipedia article on Acid-Free paper). I've seen plenty of coins ruined from being stored in old yellow envelopes, the acid in the paper reacting and blackening the surfaces of the coins.

All this in my post is a roundabout way of saying that I fully agree with you. There's definitely something in the cardboard itself that reacts with the coins; it's not simply a matter of environment. The kind of cardboard or paper matters. I just don't know which albums would be the best, either to keep them from toning at all or which cardboard is best to encourage toning in the way you want. The more I look into the subject, the more it seems like the best way to keep coins from toning is to just store them in something like an Air-Tite capsule and do your best to maintain a neutral environment.

I guess one question I haven't seen answered is, okay, being in contact with cardboard will tone coins. What if you have your coins in non-pvc plastic archival flips, and have those flips in a double row coin box? What about something like an intercept shield archival box? Is something like that a waste of money?

[Earle42]

I have no personal experience with Intercept Shield but know of them.

I come from the viewpoint of a former high school chemistry/physics/more teacher and just applied a basic knowledge of oxidation concering decisions to store my own coins.

Basically the least amount of surface area that will be exposed to air circulation is going to keep the coins safe.

Flips allow more air circulation than a 2X2. The 2X2 has more actual restricting surface contact with the coin so the surface is better preserved than a flip.

Again, the idea is to restrict air coming in contact with the surface...especially in a humid environment. People in places like Arizona do not have the toning happening in their albums like people in humid areas.


I asked a local furniture store to have the guys unpacking furniture (from boxes they get shipping in) to save me the silica gel packs. Within a month I had more than I will ever use.

Most of my coins with luster are in 2X2s. Those are in old 35mm slide boxes with gel packs included.

Better coins with luster go into Air tights if I want them in a set (I use EN Cap pages meant to hold air tights), and others go into square coin tubes or Air tight capsules inside plastic ziplock bags I remove the air from.

I have had these bags go for 3-5 years without losing the vacuum! I sometimes double bag them.

Sorry for any repeat...it's late and I am tired!