Colorful question

[rollmeupabe]

Well, at the risk of sounding stupid, here is a question I have had for awhile. When I first got into collecting again 2 years ago I saw references to RD (red), BN (brown) and RD/BN (red/brown). I did not know that "red" referred to the shiny new look of lincoln cents so I filled a cup of pennies that are truly maroon red in color thinking they were valuable. Is this color caused by some kind of corrosion of the copper ? If you don't try to clean them they look very nice. Does anyone collect them ?

[Gabe]

I think what you have are toned coins, which is actually corrosion on the coin. Many people collect toned cents, and I always separate them from the rest when I come across them in rolls, but they only carry significant additional value when: 1) the toning is nice and doesnt make the coin ugly, 2) and when the toning occurs in larger denomination coin like half dollars and dollars. There are too many toned lincoln cents to really affect their value much. You can probably get a couple of dollars for a toned 1960's cent on ebay.

[Robert]

The copper in the cent reacts with oxygen over time to change from a bright orange/salmon color (as it appears to me) to a brown color. Factors such as moisture, handling (oil from hands) and sulfur in the air all contribute to the rate of this reaction.

I think your "maroon" coins might an intermediate step between the two extremes of "red" and "brown".

My opinion anyway.

[GarryN]

Its not easy to find nicely toned Lincoln cents in any year. There are proofs from the 1950's and 1960's that have nice toning and may be inexpensive and the high end matte proofs 1909-1916. Alot of mint state Indian cents and Indian proofs have spectacular toning. But I believe that the premiums that are attached to copper or bronze and silver toned coins are manufactured and there is no real basis for it. I hope that the hefty premiums stabilize as the public refuses to pay ask prices.