RD, RB, BN. Toned Copper

KlectorKid

How do graders know what attribute to give copper coins if its completely toned, like ANACONDA's from a recent post?

Blade

Kid,
I have seen a bunch of these from Texas Bullion Traders. They really look for the original red. If those blazing blues, greens and other colors obscure the original, it gets lower than RD.

coppercoins

<< <i>Kid,
I have seen a bunch of these from Texas Bullion Traders. They really look for the original red. If those blazing blues, greens and other colors obscure the original, it gets lower than RD. >>



I concur. If it's not "red", it's considered "brown".

nwcs

Or it could be RB if there is still a lot of red left in it.

shylock

KK -- Business strikes are more clear cut since they usually only tone brown. This is a great question in regards to proof coppers since they often don't fit into the RD/RB/BN spectrum.

The grading services have concocted their own formula for squeezing every color into the narrow red/brown category. You have to wonder why they bother since the color label loses all its meaning and purpose in many cases, and also makes sheet prices deceiving. Perhaps they should just label some copper proofs TN for toned. Or simply label all fully toned examples RB. When I see a beautifully toned IH proof it makes absolutely no difference whether it's RB or BN as far as prices go.

For colors other than red and brown:

Deep tones like blue, violet and dark green get classified as "BN" even if they don't have a trace of brown on them. Usually only the standard copper tones like yellow, gold and light orange are granted the "RD" designation. All others get thrown into the "RB" group, including sea green, pink, burgandy and burnt orange. The huge number of coins with color combinations from all these groups is where it gets even more unscientific and arbitrary.

Here are some NGC examples that clearly don't fit under the current color standards: link. You have to wonder why, for example, the first coin gets a RB designation with only a blush of pink on it while the 1905 is graded BN. I wish they'd consider alternatives for this.

KlectorKid

Thanks for the great info Shylock and others who contributed there numismatic knowledge.