Toning On A 1922 Peace Dollar

Thankfully I didn't pay very much for it, so I'll keep it as a education/reference piece.

In both coins, you see the same dark blue and purple color progressions. That isn't natural color toning from normal coin storage environments.

Textbook blowtorch toning, as others have said you'll seldom if ever find that all-over blue/purple color in a naturally toned coin.

@LazerPig

I've done some googling on Blowtorch Toning and it looks like you may be right. Same colors. I would have thought the heat of a blowtorch would cause ugly scarring on a coin.

For AT, I had always been warned to look for that sickly "burnt orange" color. Another collector once described it as the coin looking as though it had been "peed on". Here's a typical example from ebay:

I hate most rainbow toned coins. Yes a few are probably genuine but there are so many "baked" coins out there and you know a lot of them end up in clean holders.

My only toned Peace dollar.

SpeedDemon- Toning can be beautiful, unique, original, gives variety, tells a story, draws attention, it's natural, sparks curiosity..

Must I go on?

Blast white coins in a Dansco all look the same, it's monotonous.

Chances are they were dipped/tampered with to get that blast white color.

I like blast white coins, but for someone that doesn't understand the appeal of toning, that's stubborn.

Unfortunately my camera isn't very good so I can't get better pics than that. After reading around I'll conclude that LazerPig is likely correct, that this was artificially "toned" with a blowtorch. As far as AT is concerned it's one of the better-looking examples. At USD 30, it's not the end of the world, better to learn this lesson now. Some mid-century Canadian silver will tone like this naturally but those are only .800 silver and have much smoother surfaces because the RCM started chrome-plating the dies in WW2 to preserve die-life. You guys are correct that the more granular, frosted Peace dollars shouldn't tone in these colors.

@jimbucks: Gorgeous piece, congratulations, definitely hold onto it.

@NumismaticsFTW: Probably the most offensive problem to me with silver coins (other than holes and "ex-jewelry") is "Dipped-To-Death". I've seen some butt-ugly zombies that score high technical grades. For something like a Seated-Liberty, I'd prefer a "long-ago-cleaned" with contrasting patina in the recesses than dipped-to-death. Even if a dipped coin looks alright now, if it was improperly rinsed it could look terrible in 20 years.

@LazerPig: It would be interesting to hear from older collectors who remember the 1960s releases. Since 1878-1935 US silver dollars were coined as a bailout to the silver mining industry and most sat in Treasury vaults, they would have been kept in fairly dry and inert conditions. So if they were still mostly brilliant by the 1960s, most "monster toners" would have become that way in the years after.