Artificial Toning

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There are too many gray areas.

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Not really, intent has alot to do with it but the way in which AT is performed is crucial. The way a coin is stored can lead to many different results. I would consider every one of your examples to be NT, whether you intended to tone or not. If it can be done naturally, I would not consider it AT. Many old timers stored their coins in wood boxes, kraft envelopes, or even Wayte Raymond albums. The albums in particular are notorious for their toning ability but the key is that the coins were placed in an album and time/chemistry took care of the rest with no outside "assistance".

However, if you start applying chemicals or high heat(baking/frying/flaming), that does not happen naturally. The examples I gave- baking in a potato and frying in oil- have to be done intentionally. If you make a sulfur and vaseline paste to smear on cleaned copper, that is doctoring. If the coins are receiving "assistance" then the process cannot be natural.

Disclaimer: The writings espoused here are soley my opinion and are meaningless in the grand scheme of things. It is only how I feel personally about AT vs. NT and is not meant to be taken as a set-in-stone guideline. Some may feel differently but I try to see the situation from all sides and tend to defer to NT if it can occur naturally.

I found a great looking 1976 nickel this past week while roll hunting, but it was clearly artificially toned. It is very easy to see on the reverse a three pointed pattern that seems to be soot from there the flame it it (stove or lighter, possibly). Still, the colors are the best I've seen so I kept it with other odds and ends.

I saw a picture once of a silver coin that had toned because it was laying in a bank bag. You could actually see the cross pattern of the fabric on the coin. It was neat.

Here are 2 same date supposedly end of roll toned morgans. I boght these when ebay first started from a antique dealer. In person one looks better than the other I think they had a torch put to them. Any opinons?

IHP08S, those appear to be authentic endrollers. The colors are right, and so is the geometric design. The reverses should be for the most part untoned (perhaps a little around the rim).
Learning the nuances of toning takes time, knowledge, and the willingness to look at lots of known AT and NT coins. The differences become fairly obvious in time.
Learning the differences between AT and NT is really no different than learning what a cleaned coin looks like, or a thumbed or whizzed or counterfeit date or mintmark coin. Heck, it's a lot easier to determine AT vs NT than to find evidence of laser usage and adding 'cameos'.
Like any niche of collecting you wish to pursue, it keeps coming back to knowledge as the key to being successful.
Here's a totally original toner from the Battle Creek Collection, my current avatar.


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