Nutty squirrel seems to be toning.

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CanuckCoinGirl
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Nutty squirrel seems to be toning.

Post by CanuckCoinGirl » Fri May 06, 2022 10:09 pm

Does anyone have the 2017 $20 The Nutty Squirrel and the Mighty Oak Silver Coin or the one that came out around that time with the canoe? These both had wood embellishments on the surface of the silver coin. I have 2 of the squirrel coins that were in mint boxes, and the coins contained in plastic capsules, but on both of them, the surface side with the wood has toned, even though the other side is silver. Just wondering if anyone else had seen this. I had not seen any comments online about this previously. It does actually look very pretty, but just curious about how common it is.

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CanuckCoinGirl
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Re: Nutty squirrel seems to be toning.

Post by CanuckCoinGirl » Wed Jun 01, 2022 12:46 pm

So after looking at this for a bit, the answer may be rather simple. Wood and bark only have about 1% sulfer content, but they both do off gas sulfer naturally and slowly. Heating causes sulfer to be released. This coin has a number of oak leaves that are wood, which could contribute to toning themselves, but also a combination with how the wood was attached to the coin for the 3-D effect could have catalyzed this too. You can artificially tone coins by placing them on a block of oak in the sun. The more pure the silver, the longer this could take.

Bill in Burl
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Location: Golden Horseshoe, ONT

Re: Nutty squirrel seems to be toning.

Post by Bill in Burl » Wed Jun 01, 2022 3:36 pm

Where are you located canuckcoingirl? I like your posts.
Bill in Burl

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CanuckCoinGirl
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Re: Nutty squirrel seems to be toning.

Post by CanuckCoinGirl » Thu Jun 02, 2022 11:37 am

Winnipeg...

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