Ok- finally: A question on Dansco toning
nwcoast
Posts: 2,884 ✭✭✭✭✭
Sorry for the delay. 
Dansco albums, as much as we love them, have a tendency to tone coins over time.
This is especially pronounced in my Peace set. Just over the past six years the toning has accelerated significantly.
So much to the point that I’m thinking of pulling the coins have getting them into something more stable.
I like the toning- up to a point!
The set ranges from 62-65’s. Some are worth slabbing and some not.
Any thoughts on this folks? I have already graded and slabbed my UNC 24-s, 28 and 34-s earlier.
My 21 is especially dark! The reverse, not pictured here- is really dark (from a previous paper album.
Not great photos here- they’re just phone photos to roughly illustrate the issue.
I might imagine Ricko suggesting that I pull them and dip and the truth is that if left on their own here, the toning along the edge of my 21 is getting so dark that I’m concerned it could go ‘terminal’.
Happy, humble, honored and proud recipient of the “You Suck” award 10/22/2014
Comments
😮
@ricko is gonna be very disappointed
I hope I have not missed it.....
Cheers, RickO
Not yet...
Check again RickO!
Posted and to the top.
Happy, humble, honored and proud recipient of the “You Suck” award 10/22/2014
In my experience it takes a long time for coins to significantly tone in a Dansco. Longer than with a Whitman Classic holder, in general. Regardless, again in my experience, those coins with original skin (patina) on them that have remained white will likely tone to a lesser degree, and will take longer to tone, than those coins that have been dipped prior to being put into the holders. So, if some of your Peace dollars were dipped previously then they might tone more quickly.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
I put my albums into a large Tupperware container with large desiccant cartridges inside to try and slow down the toning. I have Danscos, Library of Coins, Meghrig, and Intercept Shield albums and even the Intercept Shield albums were toning the coins. Where I’m living is close to the ocean and the humidity tends to be above 60% all the time. Cardboard and other materials outgas more when the humidity goes above 40% or so so I figure if I keep the albums under that in Tupperware with desiccants inside then the toning should be slowed down enough that I don’t end up with environmental damage. I don’t mind nice light peripheral album toning, but don’t want it aggressively damaging the coins.
Mr_Spud
@nwcoast.... Thank you... I feel so much better ....
.... Yep... album tarnish is progressive... some types worse than others. And @TomB has a good point as well. Coins that have been dipped will experience tarnish much more quickly. Cheers, RickO
I wonder if the ones toning were dipped and not neutralized well.
I like that kind of toning!
Perhaps, though it would have had to have happened prior to 1964 when the majority of this set was aquired by the friend that left it to me. I haven’t dipped any of these.
Thank you for that info on dipping and Toning TomB. I hadn’t known that!
And thank you Mr-Spud. I suspect humidity has indeed played a role in this as for some of the time these were stored in a fire resistant safe. I only later learned that humidity can be very high in these types of safes. Learned that HERE on this forum- thank you again.
So, back to the safe deposit box, where humidity is an unknown, or into a Tupperware with gel/moisture protection precautions.
I’m actually thinking of tearing them out of the album and submitting the worthy coins to our host before they darken further!
Happy, humble, honored and proud recipient of the “You Suck” award 10/22/2014
Aluminum as a chemical element maintains its shine by forming a thin, transparent layer of aluminum oxide on its surfaces. I suspect other metals do the same, but dipping a coin exposes more atoms to the environment thus creating the opportunity for more advanced toning. The concept is similar to how fossilization affects prehistoric remains.
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