Unusual Tarnishing Over 15 Years That Coins Have Been Stored In An Album. Any Ideas What Caused It?

You might want to contact them and include photos.You should stick with albums by Dansco or Whitman.
John1

The ones a mentioned are fine, it is folders you need to avoid, especially for nicer coins.
John1

If I'm understanding this correctly, the "corrosion protection" pages caused corrosion? Toning is technically corrosion. I wonder what special "technology" is in these things.

Numark,
Can you post a full pic of the album please?
John1

That's just a theory of mine, because it seems too coincidental that the coins would tarnish in such a particular pattern that happens to match the anti-corrosion page. Or, perhaps it's the other way around, and the parts of the coins that didn't tarnish are thanks to the page, but it failed to protect the entirety of the surfaces.




It's one of the ones with a slipcase and the green cover that states, "Archival Quality" in gold lettering. Was there something you wanted to see about mine in particular? Feeling too lazy to upload a photo, but I will if it's helpful. :) There's another anti-corrosion page just before the first coin page, but those coins were tarnished to begin with, so there's nothing noticeably unusual about them.

Yep, album. I contacted Littleton, as you suggested. Hopefully this will get a response:

"Hello,

I purchased your 1909-1958 Lincoln Cent Album approximately 17 years ago, along with the matching slipcase and "Littleton's Corrosion Protection" pages. The album has been sitting in a closet almost the entire time since purchase, with the anti-corrosion pages inserted and slipcase on. A couple of days ago, I discovered that the reverse of many of the coins on the last coin page have developed highly abnormal patterns of tarnish: several evenly spaced vertical lines. I couldn't help but notice that the anti-corrosion pages are segmented with lines of the same spacing. It seems that the anti-corrosion pages had something to do with the resulting tarnish, or else failed to protect the entirety of the coins from naturally occurring tarnish. No other coins in my collection (including other copper ones) suffered any particularly remarkable tarnishing, so the former seems more likely. The anti-corrosion pages recommended replacement date has passed, but only 2 years ago, in 2022.

I'd very much appreciate your help in determining how the anti-corrosion page caused the damage. Or, if there's another plausible explanation, I'd be happy to read it, but I highly doubt that there is. I realize that this likely won't be an easy issue to address, but I know that a company such as Littleton that prides itself in "providing outstanding customer service to collectors since 1945" should be happy to help.

Photos can be found here:
http://goccf.com/t/461992

Looking forward to hearing back and reporting on your response!"

I bet that blame where you stored it, humidity.
John1

Littleton is a retail company that seldom distinguishes itself, so not surprising that their gimmicky stab at the coin-preservation album market fell on its face. I'd never buy anything from them.