July
issue . 2007,
Toned vs. White!
I had a great conversation with
my friend Charlie Brown and Patrick Anthony this week
about white coins vs. toned coins and we all agreed that
not enough people are educated about this subject. Coins
that are white bearing a date from the 19th century and
early 20th century are 100% coins that were dipped out
at one point. Like old silver wear this metal content
cannot stay originally silvery white forever, the fact
is that you have to dip it if you want it to be “flashy”
again. This is not a bad thing (taking off the corrosion
and toning), as long as it is done correctly and the original
skin is left of the coin. Now a day’s unfortunatley
too many “white” coins are turning milky and
cloudy, giving them all very unattractive appearances.
Believe me I DO love a nice white, flashy, lustrous or
deep mirrored silver piece (business strike or proof)
as long as it has not been played with and stolen of it’s
original surfaces, because at the present time these coins
are very rare because so many have been ruined. So throw
away mintages and pops, because when a “white”
coin has an attractive original appearance it is definitely
rare at the present time and will continue to become even
rarer as time goes on. It seemed the past 8 or so years
“white” coins were very popular and people
wanted the “deep cameo” look on a proof coin,
or a “white lustrous” look on a business strike
coin so of course all the crack out dealers and doctors
over dipped way too many silver coins and you can just
walk any bourse floor and see in cases how rare a silver
coin is to have an original “white” look.
They are out there and can be found but the fact remains
that too many of our historic coins have been ruined because
of a “money making” fad which could have been
stopped by the simple education dealers should give customers.
Now toned coins are also rare,
because yes they can be artificially toned unfortunately,
although that is much more a rare case because dipping
a coin is so much more easy to do so don’t be so
paranoid buying toned coins. There is nothing like a deeply
rich toned coin with rainbow colors, bull’s eye
toning, or one side toning. To me these coins show the
life of a coin, they tell a story and give each coin their
own uniqueness about them because not one toned coin is
the same as another. The fact is eventually every silver
coin tones and would eventually turn black or very dark
if it were not encapsulated or preserved by dipping it
some way or another. So to have a beautifully toned piece
of silver holding your favorite portrait and design is
like an artistic masterpiece and should be viewed as such.
These coins are rare and will continue to become very
scarce with the potential of out performing many other
coins in the rare coin market because of these facts and
because people are becoming more educated and will want
to own these coins which there are not enough of.
Don’t let this market insight
make you weary of buying “white” or “toned”
silver pieces, because all it takes is a simple conversation
with the dealer who should be happy to explain why the
coins appearance is as it is. To me it’s fun to
explain why coins look as they do, every coin has a story
and holds a journey of beauty and history within its peripheral.
Enjoy the rest of the summer
and happy hunting!
Dean - dean@coinace.com