The Toning Project (The Beginning)

I don't actually know how to subscribe to a thread, but I'll be sure to keep checking in on this one. Maybe it should be moved to Main Coin Forum? I'm interested in contributing to the project, but I'd only be using UNC Roosevelt dimes. Not all of us have uncirculated Mercs everywhere!

Generally speaking, I think toned circulated coins look weird, fake even. For that to happen, the coin would have had to have been pulled from circulation and stored in a manner that facilitates toning.

The counterpoint to your hypothesis is that while there is less surface area that needs to react, there is also less surface area that is able to react. There are videos on YouTube that show how to tarnish silver using a sealed container with a boiled egg to raise atmospheric sulfur levels. I know the goal isn't to artificially tone a coin, but using that set up with an UNC and circulated coin will allow you to determine which tones/tarnishes quicker. [I don't have anything to test this with, but if a silver stacker on the forums wants to try it, please go ahead.]

Another factor we'd have to consider is whether bodily oils found on circulated coins provides a barrier against toning.

Thanks, Mark! I was hoping for something less intrusive, as I get too much email already. A facebook/eBay like alert on the top of the page would be fantastic.

"Forced natural" toning is not natural by definition. If you want your coins to tone naturally, put them in envelopes with old paper that has a high sulfur content, and stick them on sunny window-sills for a few years, being mindful against excessive humidity. The chemical reactions involved in silver toning are not excessively complex and quite predictable, but the reactions do not proceed rapidly without artificial catalysis. Addition of other compounds to the reactions will vary the results of the toning, which is why different types of paper pulp and methods of processing the paper or storage medium being used result in different toning colors. Left to its own devices, and exposed only to atmosphere with a high concentration of sulfur, silver by itself will not tone in an appealing manner; it needs "help" from being stored in/on a substrate material such as a paper envelope, cloth rag, plastic flip, etc.

Circulated coins do not tone while circulated because the act of circulation is removing an atomic layer of metal (and therefore the oxides formed on its surface) with each touch, rub, and shake. In addition, as struck, the same microscopic finish that lends luster and brilliance to an uncirculated or proof coin provides a structured lattice-work for orderly toning to progress. Disturbing the surfaces of the coin will change the pattern of the toning because the microscopic finish of the surface is being thus altered, in the same way luster is diminished by handling and circulation over time; the prismatic or iridescent effect of deep color toning is also affected negatively by excessive surface/finish disturbances.

I was under the impression that by "forced" you meant accelerated.

I have a few ounces of rounds I could "experiment" with, but they are .999, not the same alloy as circulating coins of the past. But if you would like me to try something, I'm willing!

Id actually like to nail down a true definition of what constitutes Artificial Toning.
I understand that using heat to tone coins produces peach and light blue toning and this is Artificial.

With the increase of the popularity for nicely toned coins The skills of the cheaters and swindlers to artificially tone coins has also increased.
Also the standards at the TPG's have fallen because of market acceptability ( Some Idiot will buy it)which is also an unfortunate turn of events.
I also consider the practice of purposely exposing coins to various elements/conditions to deliberately accelerate the toning process to be AT as well.

Call me Old fashioned But I refuse to buy or even recognise these Manufactured toners.
Forced natural toning and Artificial toning is exactly the same thing