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Why are many IHC Proofs so Colorfully Toned?
OneCent
Posts: 3,561 ✭
They were issued by the mint wrapped in colored tissue paper?
Has anyone had the experience to see this mint wrapping "intact" or as issued by the mint with the IHC inside?
Has anyone had the experience to see this mint wrapping "intact" or as issued by the mint with the IHC inside?
Collector of Early 20th Century U.S. Coinage.
ANA Member R-3147111
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<< <i>Why are many IHC Proofs so Colorfully Toned? >>
Could it be MS70?
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<< <i>Why are many IHC Proofs so Colorfully Toned? >>
Could it be MS70? >>
It's a shame that many gorgeous, naturally toned proof IHC's will now succomb to the fate of being ridiculed as being MS70'd
How does that saying go, about a few bad apples.
Another hoard of Indian cents was owned by coin dealer Wayte Raymond (these may have been a subset of Proskey's coins). Raymond kept these coins at his summer home in Moutauck, NY - on Long Island by the salt air of the Atlantic Ocean! Needless to say these did not survive very well, and many spotted examples undoubtedly come from this source.
From the Heritage website......Beginning in 1878 and continuing beyond the end of the Indian Cent series, Philadelphia dealer David U. Proskey, as well as some others, began buying the Mint's entire stock of unsold minor coins. Many of the coins bought by Proskey remained in a huge hoard that was later passed to Wayte Raymond and F.C.C. Boyd. Raymond's coins were sold to various dealers in the early 1940s, among whom was Charles French. The latter's Troy, New York firm French's listed these proofs in ads in The Numismatist at this time. The Boyd part of the hoard was sold to Tatam Stamp and Coin of Springfield, Massachusetts. As a result of this distribution process, many post-1877 proof Indian Cents remained in the original Mint wrappers for anywhere from 30 to 60 years. These wrappers imparted iridescent blue, purple, and magenta toning to the surfaces. Although beautiful to behold, such coins typically receive a Brown color designation from one of the leading grading services.
It is a shame that recently a few have tried to replicate this toning and have slipped a few past the grading services. Still a wonderfully toned proof IHC is a joy to behold.
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
I don't know the proofs, but I know copper. Copper proofs tend to react even worse than business strikes over time, after sitting in their original wrap or in albums... to a much greater degree than their counterparts minted for commerce.
Collectors, over the years, did their best to help a coin by "storing it" even if the storage was "improper", the colors that became part of the coin also created much suspicion as cohodk eloquently states above.... and then comes the "MS70"..and some coins benefited while some were hacked like a bad tribesman by the rest of us.
Way back in the old days, numismatists were not in great numbers and storage over time was probably not the greatest. We couldn't control our environment like we can now. Many of these coins are suspect, but their beauty is something to behold and they are really one of my favorites of all coins.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
roadrunner
This ones not a proof, just a nice MS example:
-David
Link to info and a page shot
The Eliasberg collection was full of them.
<< <i>My new book (finished just today and off to the printer) has a whole section devoted to these coins. I talk candidly about them, their history and the on-again off-again collector acceptance of them.
Link to info and a page shot >>
Any chance that you can change your sample page to the page discussing the toned proof IHC's
Just gotta wait for the book.