Posted 11/18/2012 5:15 pm
Part of the problem is, toning (either intentional or unintentional) is caused by chemistry, and chemicals can't read your mind, so they don't know whether the chemical reactions they are undergoing are "intentional" or not. Nor can they remember their own past. "Artificial toning", when done properly, uses exactly the same chemicals that cause "natural" toning. The results look identical to "natural toning" and are chemically indistinguishable.
The TPGs don't have time machines and can't read minds, either, so the only judgement they can make is a subjective, comparative one based on how the coin in front of them looks, right now. If it looks much the same as all the other coins they've already graded, then it passes. This is why coins that have been exposed to unusual environments for prolonged periods and wind up with "weird but natural" toning, get rejected by the TPGs, while the alchemist's doctored coins pass with flying colours.
Therefore, they (and you) can only be certain of detecting AT when it's done poorly: using chlorine bleach, for example, or cigarette smoke. Both can produce an effect that looks kind-of-like normal toning, but is chemically very distinct: not only will the coin smell different, but the chemical scanners deployed by the TPGs can detect the difference in surface compounds easily.
The TPGs don't have time machines and can't read minds, either, so the only judgement they can make is a subjective, comparative one based on how the coin in front of them looks, right now. If it looks much the same as all the other coins they've already graded, then it passes. This is why coins that have been exposed to unusual environments for prolonged periods and wind up with "weird but natural" toning, get rejected by the TPGs, while the alchemist's doctored coins pass with flying colours.
Therefore, they (and you) can only be certain of detecting AT when it's done poorly: using chlorine bleach, for example, or cigarette smoke. Both can produce an effect that looks kind-of-like normal toning, but is chemically very distinct: not only will the coin smell different, but the chemical scanners deployed by the TPGs can detect the difference in surface compounds easily.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
