Are "Rainbow" Toned Silver Dollars Really This Popular?

Rainbow toned coins have a major problem.
Why?
All coins tone. That is, unless they are prevented from doing so.

The reason has to do with the fact that the toning is extremely delicate from a chemical point of view, and as a result, can be unstable over the long term.

You buy a really attractive rainbow toned coin, then a few months or years later, most of the beautiful color is gone. Such coins need to be completely sealed from the atmosphere, or they will loose their attraction.

The only way that it is possible to maintain a rainbow toning is to seal the coin in a very stable environment, such high integrity air tight sealed holder.
That form of protection may be at odds, when it comes to the way present and store all other coins in your collection.



There is always the temptation for the fraudster to carefully heat treat a blast white coin, to artificially create a beautiful rainbow toning, then try to sell it.
Rainbow toning is really a very mild form of corrosion.
Therein lies some of the reasons why I prefer original blast white coins in high MS grades.

It's no where near that simple or easy. The rainbows have to have the right look for big premiums and the heat ones have a different look.

There's plenty of examples of beautifully toned coins that have remained the same for decades

As beautiful as some toning looks, the term "toning" is a just a better sounding word than "tarnished" when selling these coins. So, as has been stated, these coins must be stored properly b/c the tarnishing will continue until the silver is dark.

As Basebal said, the artificial toning is a different look. You can google this topic and find places where the differences are described and shown. I did this quite some time ago but admit I forgot the details except to say I remember something about the colors being different or in different sequence than natural tarnishing (oops) toning

@Keith - Stunning Morgan!

The cliff notes condensed version on toning is that all that matters is the final look of it. Anyone who claims they can 100 percent say how some toning happened (short of being in a tightly controlled sealed mint bag) is over estimating their ability.

With that said, no it is not easy to replicate the looks that bring premiums. If it was so easy it would be happening everywhere and the premiums would erode.

There's specific looks that get the huge premiums. Just think of toning like art, anyone can like or dislike various looks of it but understand how the market views a certain look in general

Many of the Canadian dollars have outstanding colorful toning that comes naturally from the materials used by the RCM for commemorative boxes and the "fancy" specimen/proof set holders (i.e. non-poly.)

However, this also makes white examples good candidates for artificial toning. Done properly, it is indistinguishable from natural toning, by the average collector or by a TPG. Otherwise, it is more easily detected as "artificial" toning due to patterns, colors, etc.

Two of my Canadian dollars, the first is in its original packaging (not a TPG), the second was already "slabbed" when purchased.




Another raw example from my collection, this 1966 Irish 10 shilling obtained its colors from its storage box, much like the BC dollar above.





Of course, even being in the OGP is no guarantee that a coin hasn't been artificially "enhanced". However, over a lifetime of collecting, you get a feel for certain issues that are known to tone spectacularly because of quirks of their boxes/holders, and the Canadian commemorative and specimen dollars are one such example.

Mine has a red lined black box with a black insert; I think the red "lining" is the source, but who knows.

Awesome Coin purelywasted! I picked one up last month but unfortunately not toned like yours...