Naturally Toned Or Artificially Toned? 1925 Peace Dollar

I believe it to be totally natural toning.

Toning looks original in my book. If it's AT it was well done and doesn't matter.

Edynamicmarketing has been artificially toning coins for quite some time now. His work has been showing up recently in new PCGS slabs (often with true views), and it is believed he has been gassing coins in rattler holders and then sending them in for reholdering. There are none in PCGS secure holders, as I doubt they would get by the sniffer. Heck, I doubt many if any would get by a grader.
Ssuperdave, when the Anaconda Peace dollar from about 10 years ago (NGC ms66*) was discovered to have been created by gototoning, Brandon came out and disclosed that the coin had been enhanced from its original artificial toning.....it fooled a lot of people, NGC included. Heck, it got a star! Looking at it now it looks like a cartoon. How it was enhanced, I don't know. BTW, NGC purchased the coin back.
Benny w, it bothers me as well as you that this coin came from someone who does business with endym, a kind of guilt by association. Is it real or is it AT? I don't know for sure. I have not seen one that looks just like this, and if you harbour any doubt I would recommend you return it. If you like it in hand, keep it and enjoy it!

The problem with making sellers like this go away is, nothing they're doing is against any "rule." A TPG opinion is just an opinion with no force of law behind it. Enhancing the look of a coin isn't against the law. The only way to keep sellers like this from succeeding is to quit buying from them.

I'll play devil's advocate here for a minute and ask should it really matter that a coin has been "enhanced" via AT? If you see a coin, especially slabbed, with unique toning and it really catches your eye and draws you to it, then what is so bad about buying it and enjoying it, even if it was AT? Theoretically, isn't this one of the main tenets of coin collecting? If exposing a coin to a certain environment or condition that makes it tone uniquely, without doing anything else to it, then shouldn't that be a "value added service", at least in theory? Coin appeal plays a huge role in coin collecting and if someone is able to enhance the appeal of a coin through AT, then couldn't that be seen as a good thing? I think what bothers people is the fact that enhancement is not being disclosed and people perceive this lack of disclosure as an intentional attempt to deceive or defraud. Furthermore, there is a stigma surrounding artificial toning and somehow it has been imbedded in our heads that artificial toning is "bad". I ask however, where did this come from? Who decided this? Isn't beauty in the eye of the beholder and if artificially toning a coin enhances the eye appeal for someone then why not? How is artificial toning different than natural toning that occurs in say an album, or a bag, or whatever aside from being much much faster. Isn't the end result the same?

Please note that my above comments with respect to artificial enhancement are only in respect to artificial toning, not any of the other techniques people use to "enhance" a coin in order to deceive a perspective buyer. Also please note that I am not a proponent of artificial toning, I'm merely asking questions.

Also received coin in the mail and it's awesome. Better in hand.

jbuck, who decides market acceptable? As a collector, I have my preferences and am very picky about the things I like. I couldn't give a hoot about what the market thinks or finds acceptable - it is simply irrelevant. It's like choosing a wife, should you care about what the world thinks about the person you intend to marry? If a coin is appealing to you and you like it, the rest should simply be moot (assuming you have the means to purchase it). At least that's how I think about it.

The only time market opinion becomes relevant to me is when the ability to sell a coin is a factor. I participate in a market and if I am looking to sell a coin then I best heed what "the market" thinks. It is in this context and this context only that market opinion becomes paramount.

There is a buyer for everything, as I am sure you are well aware. I see people buy what I think are some of the ugliest coins ever and this happens everyday. There some pretty ugly Chinese coins out there that people buy and bid on almost religiously. So I say again, for a personal collection, one needn't always consider the whims of "the market".