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As The Coin Turns: An 1890 Seated Quarter Story
Morgan White
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Anyone have any theories?
Heritage pic from 2014
2014 reholder with a + upgrade.
2016 starting to turn.
2025
It looks pretty severe, like the kind of toning that eventually goes terminal. I think something happened during the reholder.
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The original slab is a gen 4.0 (1998-2002) so the coin must have been stable for around 15 years before the reholder.
Here is a story I can share. My best friend from high school was also a coin collector. Mike was devoted to solid WHITE coins. He thought all toning was tarnish. He put together a small group, 6 or so, certified Morgan dollars. One day he shows up at my house with a sob story about how his ex-wife robbed him blind. Claimed about all he had to his name was his clothes and these few coins. Mike wanted me to borrow him $5,000 to get back on his feet. (I do not borrow money. If I help someone out it is with the specific fact known that I only give money if i can afford to and I absolutely do not expect repayment). I do the same with books, tools etc. makes life easier. I simply demand they help somebody else out at some point.
Mike knows this fact well so he insisted I take his coins. I didn't want them. I didn't want them with my other coins. So I put them in a small metal candy box and then completely forgot about them. I stupidly put a business card with Mike's current phone # on it.
3 or 4 years later my woman is doing her routine thing of dispensing with anything she feels can be called clutter. I look in the box and all the coins (PCGS slabbed) have that brown edge toning you have picture. do with that what you will. James
I am out of my depth here but I would assume it is storage conditions that caused the toning.
Was this coin kept with other coins that had a similar fate, or left with (or in) packaging or paper products?
Maybe handling during the grading process?
I also wonder if the newer holders are not totally sealed and allow some air or gas movement?
I like tone, and think the coin looks better now than in previous photos.
https://www.autismforums.com/media/albums/acrylic-colors-by-rocco.291/
Sorry, but what does “terminal” mean? Thanks in advance
Old thread that covers the subject https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/902955/terminal-toning-discussion
It is my understanding that terminal is when the coin goes black.
Scale from the following website https://www.monstertonedmorgans.com/all-about-toned-morgans
https://www.autismforums.com/media/albums/acrylic-colors-by-rocco.291/
Almost looks like it was kept in an older Dansco album rather than modern slab.
I’m certainly not an expert on how silver coins tarnish/tone, but yes I agree it looks like album tone, or perhaps it’s from the graders greasy fingers when they were handling it by the edge. I don’t know why that toning would expand across the coin though, unless it was badly mishandled? Really nice coin though, I do like that bluish edge toning on mint state silver.
Whatever the cause of the toning, it wasn’t “from the graders greasy fingers”.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
God comes first in everything I do. I’m dedicated to serving Him with my whole life. Coin collecting is just a hobby—but even in that, I seek to honor Him. ✝️
To the best of my knowledge only ICG claims to hermetically seal their holders. To be honest I don't know for sure if even they still do that. All other holders are not air tight. A fact I mentioned learning the hard way. James
From my limited experiments testing whether a slab was airtight, PCGS slabs did not have any water penetration when submerged in my bathroom sink for about 5 minutes. Surprisingly, the CACG slabs had some seepage and sea bubbles escaping, but NGC slabs were the least airtight by far. I will give credit where credit is due, but I wasn't expecting that at all.
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Is it possible PCGS conseved the coin while it was being upgraded and this is the result of an improper conservation? The original owner may have noticed a spot and that’s why he had the coin conserved.
I'd imagine the current tone is caused by some dip residue remaining from when it was dipped white.
Doesn't seem to be an issue at the current point, and it seems to add a bit of character to it.
The only thing is though, it was stable in the original slab for 15 years. It started to turn after the reholder.
Exposing the coin to a different environment after those 15 year could very well have started the change.
I would have liked to see a photo immediately before it was sent for reholder. It might have started toning in the original slab.
https://www.autismforums.com/media/albums/acrylic-colors-by-rocco.291/
Only about 100 days between the two 2014 pics above.