How To Tone A Morgan Nicely

I for one like naturally toned coins, I look for them all the time. I have seen a few sellers on E-Bay that are heating up or doing something to make the coins he is selling look the way they do. I have looked over many tables at a coin show and never have seen a total of 150 true toner's but on the Bay there are 3 sellers that just in the last year have sold over 4000 of them and they all look the same.

My biggest problem with this is the same one I have with cut rate or self slabbing sellers. When they sell this trash the buyer is for the most part a beginner. That beginner will learn! and some will feel shafted and stop collecting!!

I collect because I enjoy it, it is not how I make a living. I hope later in life what I collect will go up in value. If we cut the number of collectors by 20% the value drops on almost all coins, a few rarer ones will hold there own but in general coin values will drop. Simple supply and demand.

I post on a tread a while back about what we get from collecting. My statement was and is more the WHY. The basic reasons for collecting are Investment and Enjoyment. But like many Investments it's always good to be balanced. If you collect because you enjoy it and it takes up some of your time that is a good reason. Kind of like golf....If you golf for 30 or 40 years and then look back. You have had many years of enjoyment to go with your sore shoulder and back....But what you spent on greens fees and clubs, balls, tee's and gloves is GONE. ZERO return on your hobby!!

Collecting coins for 20 to 30 years looking back I have all the enjoyment and what I own in hard assets is still worth more then my golf bag. Anything over zero is a gain. Collecting done right is a balancing act of Investment and collecting, just like most portfolios you have some winners and loser's. The key is to have a better then 50% winning ratio.

Back to toning SORRY. I like them, I also like brunettes, Dogs, and the outdoors. My one buddy likes Blondes there is no right or wrong and like all coin collecting.... look the coin over closely and always buy the coin!

At the ANA National Money Show in Sacramento I saw a lot of rainbow toned Morgan dollars and no other type of dollar or denomination which should raise questions about the legitimacy of rainbow toning. One would expect that the circumstances which cause rainbow toning on a silver dollar would affect any other silver coin in that environment the same way so, where are all of the halves, quarters, dimes, et cetera with rainbow toning? Why is it that more than 90% of the rainbow toned Morgans have those colors on the obverse only and rarely on the reverse?

I have been collecting coins since 1966 and only recently has there been such a number of rainbow toned Morgans appearing on the market. I personally believe that the rainbow effect is man made and deliberate. I remember attending the Long Beach, CA shows in the late 1970's to early 1980's and the dealers selling rainbow toned coins were suspected of artificially toning them that way and none of the dealers I dealt with regularly wanted them in their case.

Those ebay toned monstrosities are easy to pick out ... they're equally toned on the obverse and reverse. If you can picture the environment that Bio described, how would both the obverse and reverse be in contact with the bag equally ...
Then check out a gorgeous rainbow toned PCGS or NGC slabbed coin. Turn the slab over and the coin is almost white.

I don't know if the two notorious ebay AT'ers (cwbyup and mel-ko) know this and figure the buying public is ignorant or if they are unable to dip and cook on only one side.

Easy Fix: If the slabbed coin does not have a (*) designation, do not pay a premium for it.

That way, you won't get stuck with a slabbed coin that someone baked in an oven (!)

Not being a collector, I take a totally different view on all of this toning thing..... NT...AT... it is all the same thing to me.

While I feel that Bio and SeatedNut are completely correct in their conclusions on how toning is arrived at, I see the entire issue as being a controversy over intent (rather than cause).

There is nothing whatsoever "natural" about a silver dollar.... (it was man made)..... there is nothing natural about a canvas bag (also man made).... whether toning is caused by long term sulfur exposure by unsuspecting mint workers or short term liquid chemical treatment by evil coin doctors, or sunlight's effect on an envelope on the window sill by interested experimenters, or long term album storage by innocent collectors, the effect is the same.

Did toning occur deliberately or unintentionally? To me, that seems to be the big flap.... I like the pretty ones, and I could not care less how this was done (because in my estimation, none of it is natural).

I also read that there was a difference in the way the dies were polished. I don't remember exactly but it seems like the Peace dollar dies were polished using a type of acid. I imagine the '21 morgans would have been done the same way as well.

I have a confession to make. A couple of months ago, I noticed one of my Mercury dimes might have had an attribution. When I posted the picture, a few people pointed out that it was solder. They were correct. But this coin also had a very black spot on it, so I decided to try to remove the spot. With TarnX no less! Which, of course, was totally wrong and ruined the coin. BUT, while I was experimenting with various methods, and had used various products on the coin to remove said black spot, I also noticed that at some point the coin rainbowed in color, but then quickly turned black. From this "experiment", I know that some of the coins that you see for sale with the rainbow patina are, in fact, manmade. I am just not the type of person who will continue to experiment with various methods to achieve something of this nature to deceive people. And, I will never buy a rainbowed coin!