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Why buy blast white.........the world has gone mad!!!!

Ok sorry, I just couldn't resist since the question of toning premiums keeps coming up on these boards. In my past life, I didn't own one toned coin just shiny white ones.....now it's what I prefer.

For me it's a question of character......whan I owned blast white coins each and every coin looked identical. Now that my collecting tastes have evolved I want to purchase coins that seperate my collection from every other run of the mill collection. Since I don't have the financial backing to purchase high dollor rarities.... buying coins with color (character) allow me to have a collection unlike any others.


Now I am not picking on folks by starting this thread I just thought it would be nice to see opinions on the flip side of the issue.


So why do you buy untoned coins??? image

Comments

  • FairlanemanFairlaneman Posts: 10,423 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I don't, I spend them......imageimage

    Ken
  • dthigpendthigpen Posts: 3,932 ✭✭
    Bawh, I don't like colorful toning and I don't like blast white, I'm a fan of good old fashioned tarnish (Monochrome toning).
  • topstuftopstuf Posts: 14,803 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Toning is just another thing to "promote." Coins came from the dies.....shiny and bright.
    It's like FSB Mercs
    FS Jeffersons
    Bugs Bunny Franklins
    VAM's
    And any other assorted minutiae to confer a "rarity" factor to the hobby now that actual rarities are mostly unavailable.

    Personally, I find reeding striations to be ......FASCINATING!

    image
  • ziggy29ziggy29 Posts: 18,668 ✭✭✭
    I buy coins I like. Sometimes they have a little bit of toning; sometimes they are "blast white." I can appreciate a really nice toner as well as anyone, but I won't pay 10x the value of an untoned coin to own one. I'll live vicariously through the photos of others who are more willing to pay $300 (or whatever) for an MS-64 common date Morgan.

    I don't think anyone (well, I can think of one person on the forum) is saying that collecting blast white coins is preferable to collecting toners. It's simply a matter of questioning the current market froth as seen by the huge premiums some toners (including some that most would consider unattractive) are obtaining. In the coin market and elsewhere, there have certainly been some "tulipmanias." I'm not saying toned coins are there yet, or that they will eventually "crash to earth" like tulips, but I'll let other people take that chance. Nice toners will always command a premium, and sometimes significant (and rightly so in some cases), but personally, I'm not concerned that in the long run the marketplace will support the level of premium we're seeing today.

    I have no horse in this race, so I don't care if I'm wrong and I'm certainly not passing judgment on those who choose to pay what I consider "moon money" for toners. For the sake of those who have invested a lot of very strong money in them, I hope I'm wrong.
  • In some cases, white coins are far more difficult to locate than toned .

    Take Franklins for example. If you had all the thousands of 1958 MS65 examples in one place, you could not help but notice that 9 out of ten coins are toned. If you go to MS66, the difference is even more striking, as less than 1% of all MS66 1958 Franks are white.

    So in some cases, brilliant white coins are rarer.
    "Wars are really ugly! They're dirty
    and they're cold.
    I don't want nobody to shoot me in the foxhole."
    Mary






    Best Franklin Website
  • tmot99tmot99 Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭
    I collect both. My Washington set is mainly white, therefore I will finish it with blast white (if I can find them). I am currently working on a half dime set that I prefer toned coins.
  • mgoodm3mgoodm3 Posts: 17,497 ✭✭✭
    I prefer my coins to have some toning on them, doesn't have to be colorful. I'm not a big fan of red copper (unless proof) and prefer BN or RB.
    coinimaging.com/my photography articles Check out the new macro lens testing section
  • KP's theory was basically why I started collecting toned Peace $. I knew that I could never afford gem grade Peace $ (MS65-MS67) but I wanted a unique set, a set that had character. Stupidily image I decided to do a toned Peace $ registry set. In the first several months of looking I was told by countless dealers to not even try, I would never complete it and just to put together the highest grade registry set I could afford.

    Well here I am -- over 2 years later and 1 coin away from a complete set with at least a dozen or so dups. All the coins are MS except for the 1928-P and I still need the 34-S and I'm quite proud of my set. Not all the coins have monster color, and I'm always looking to upgrade pieces for color/grade, but it does have character. Each coin looks different. Each coin has different types of toning. Some of them I paid a premium for and others I didn't.

    As for collecting "white coins" -- I got a few of those -- in albums -- slowly toning!

    image
    TPN
  • I think that an original, thick white skin is very attractive on a coin. And I think it's rare, too. I personally don't like the dipped look.

    Dan
  • First time poster on this board.

    I myself don't like toning much. I have a few coins that have a uniform golden tone that I really like, but I rarely like rainbow colors on them.

    PR70
  • I use to prefer Blast White Only myself but as time has gone on I am about 50/50 White to Toned............It all just depends on the specific coin now.

    I now go both ways! imageimage
    Bill.

    Bust Half & FSB Merc Collector
  • I'm a fan of untoned/untarnished coins because of the history. When I look at a brilliantly white, 1930 something coin in great shape, I'm seeing the coin exactly as the people in the 1930s did. I've always thought that was kind of neat. Now if I'm putting together a set, like I did with my Roosevelt Dimes, I'll do everything I can to get high grade, blast-white coins. If price or availability doesn't allow that, I'll pick up a toned/tarnished coin for the set. But if I ever come across a blast-white version of that, I'll replace the toned/tarnished coin in my set and keep the toner separate.
    I collect the elements on the periodic table, and some coins. I have a complete Roosevelt set, and am putting together a set of coins from 1880.
  • I like both, but have leaned toward coins with color lately. I like PL and DMPL Morgans (with and without color) as well.

    However, I will not let a sexy color on a coin make me overlook strike and surface preservation. image
  • GRANDAMGRANDAM Posts: 8,505 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Why would anyone want a bunch of old rusty and tarnished coins?

    Make mine BLAST WHITE!!!!!!!!

    GrandAm image
    GrandAm :)
  • that's it! I'm about to upload a blast white coin for icon upload day!


  • << <i>So why do you buy untoned coins??? >>

    Uhhh cause they all look the same?? image
    Collecting eye-appealing Proof and MS Indian Head Cents, 1858 Flying Eagle and IHC patterns and beautiful toned coins.

    “It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” Mark Twain
    Newmismatist
  • I don't like colorful toning AT or NT. I like blast white.
    image
  • I like toning, but I also like white coins that seem original with lots of luster. Somebody posted this one recently.

    image
    image

    image
  • dimplesdimples Posts: 1,286 ✭✭✭
    I'm currently putting together a peace dollar set. The majority of dollars available are yellow or unattractively toned. So I'm only including blast white or original white thick skinned coins in this collection. As TPN said there are very few attractively toned dollars to pick from.


    PS super luster is a MUST, not dipped out pieces.
  • 66Tbird66Tbird Posts: 2,858 ✭✭✭
    For me I started a blast white collector, then moved on to Benson type toning. Best of both worlds I guess.
    Need something designed and 3D printed?
  • I like blast white. Makes you know how the coin looked the day it was minted!! image
  • Cam40Cam40 Posts: 8,146
    Depending on what the coin is, for me, determines what i think it SHOULD look like.
    monster toned SAEs, while they may be attractive to look at, doesnt jive with the age of the coin.
    Toning on those, to me anyway, means mis-handled, or improperly stored. But they are 99%ers
    and will tone up easily if not sealed in a good holder and stored `properly`.

    And some coins are intentionally toned to distract you from, or cover up, some problem like contact marks that
    might be there.

    I think people should use common sense when it comes to toned vs white coins.
    What should the coin look like for what it is and what its age is.

  • ziggy29ziggy29 Posts: 18,668 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Depending on what the coin is, for me, determines what i think it SHOULD look like.
    monster toned SAEs, while they may be attractive to look at, doesnt jive with the age of the coin.
    Toning on those, to me anyway, means mis-handled, or improperly stored. By they are 99%ers
    and will tone up easily if not sealed in a good holder and stored `properly`. >>

    image

    Totally. I look at monster-toned SAEs with the same suspicion as blast white (say) Seated Liberty coins. I have to think the vast majority of them have had their colors intentionally manipulated, whether by AT( for the newer coins) or by dipping (for the older). Sure, every now and then there may be an SAE that toned "accidentally" without intentional human assistance, and there may be very old coins which somehow were stored in a way that greatly reduced the natural chemical reactions that lead to toning.
  • I think their are some good points being made by all in this thread. That's all I really wanted, a two sided discussion on the merits of both. I personally don't have a problem with either, and neither should anybody else...............if we preferred the same type of coins......I don't think any of us could afford to be in this hobby as the demand would most likely outstrip the supply image


    So some of us like Minnesota coins...you know un-tanned................


    and some of us like Florida coins......tanned image
  • Cam40Cam40 Posts: 8,146
    "Only in America will people pay large sums of money for bong residue on their coins"

    They also pay alot for that which creates that bong residue.....imageimage
  • boiler78boiler78 Posts: 3,057 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I like both actually. image

    A blast white deep cameo proof has amazing eye appeal.
    image

    but then again so does a nicely toned coin.
    image

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