Graded, Slabbed, Details, Artificial Toning

It could be a good thing, because it lets people know the truth about the coin. Who would purchase an ASE that is only rated an MS60 anyway?

I understand the philosophy, sort of--if they give "details" grades for things like cleaned coins, why not grade AT'd coins with the same label? At least in these cases, the buyer is on notice that they are being asked to pay $92 for a pretty piece of silver worth melt. If they want to pay that, go for it.

In ungraded coins, it's entirely up to the buyers, most of whom probably aren't able to spot AT (I just read a 32 page article on it and STILL probably couldn't tell in a lot of cases) to figure it out.

I don't know if it's possible to get ebay to crack down, either. As I recall, they let a guy sell a grilled cheese sandwich that toasted in a way that the charred areas looked like Jesus, for some ridiculous amount. At best, IF THEY can tell that a coin is AT'd, maybe they would require the seller to note that in the description.

That's fully market acceptable. It looks like a pci toner. At first pci will impart light pastel tones but advanced states look very much like this. It is well documented

This is not "AT" Burton. The color progression is correct, there are elevated chromatics and a concentric target pattern

Too unnatural looking, and, too young(2012) to tone this way..99% of ASE's do not tone at all, and, when they do, if from an album, it is outer concentric. Most AT's just don't "look" right, and, to me, this is a classic fit.

That's the basic problem...

The toning process, 'naturally' involves long term low concentration to specific contaminants inducing a pleasing visual appearance.

Various processes can apparently accelerate this achieving the same or a noticeably different result in less time. The noticeably different result is clearly AT, but why is the accelerated result NT when it's achieve by deliberate acceleration?

People forget that during the time we own coins we're really only their stewards for the future.

I'll grant you that was done to the bullion coin and it's a little different than what's done to a collector coin. But it's a slippery slope...

Fashion is the evil.

There was a time when the fashion with blast white. Coins were dipped with abandon and the surface is irrevocably altered. Over time they've retoned and now show their true colors as horribly damaged.

Because of the fashion of toned Morgan's people are doing the same thing again.

There probably are hundreds of thousands or even millions of Morgan's out there. But each coin lost is lost forever. And the day will come when there are no more than a tiny handful of original surface coins.

I'm as Numismatist first and a collector second. So I can't endorse any actions that alter the surface of the coin.

It should be passed out of our hands in the same condition it was passed in.

Yes I endorse conservation - true conservation - to preserve the coin we've been entrusted with.

That is absolutely incorrect. PCGS problem code 91 is "Questionable Toning" and NGC adds the "Artificial Toning" notation to the grading label. ICG will slab pretty much anything in any condition.