Morgan Dollar Toning

I am sorry, but you poll is of little use to the advanced collector. Since you don't want hear about "this and that" I'll end my response here. You are over simplifying a complex issue that can be of great importance to Morgan dollar collectors.

Someone only wants to know if you like toning on certain coins. Simple.

I'm sorry, but it really depends.
Since you don't want to hear, I'll stop right now.

I'm a beginning collector. I didn't ask the question to serve the interests of the advanced collector.

As a beginning collector you should be willing to listen to the advice of those who have involved in this hobby for many years. Toning is a complex issue. There is natural toning which might be desirable. There is artificial toning that can used to cover up problems like the fact that a piece is damaged or that it is a counterfeit. The Chinese have become adept at making their counterfeits in steel look like old toned silver. Artificial toning is also used to make a piece look "beautiful" to some in order to induce them to pay massive premiums for coins that are otherwise altered or ordinary.

Many Morgan dollars without toning are perfectly okay. Large numbers of these coins were stored in Treasury bags and vaults where they were away from air and sunlight for many decades. Many of these pieces have the same color they did from the day they were made. A few of them have picked up some color, sometimes some very nice color, because they were in contact with the bags in which they were stored.

Some Morgan dollars have been dipped to remove tarnish. If this done correctly on pieces that might benefit from such treatment it is perfectly okay. If an expert cannot tell if a brilliant Mint State piece is unable to tell if it has been dipped, what difference does it make?

Other Morgan dollars without toning are collector traps. These piece may have had their surfaces brightened by moving the metal. They may have been polished. They may have been gone over with a wire brush to simulate original mint luster. This is called "whizzing." A coin can be dipped too many times or left in the solution for too long. They come out "white" but the luster has been impaired.

You can have others try to help you, or you can go it on your own, and maybe waste a lot of money. Most all of us here have paid our dues for one reason or another. One of my goals is to keep those dues as low as possible for new collectors.

There is no automatic premium on toned coins.

The only pieces that bring a premium are those that a fairly large number of collectors find to be "attractive," and there is the challenge. In order to learn which ones are worth a premium, you need to look a lot of coins and learn what mint luster looks like. Only the pieces that have mint luster coming up from attractive color bring premiums. Dull toned coins do not.

What is attractive color? That is a good question. The premium value toned coin market is a tricky one, and to be honest it's place where I don't play if the prices are double or more above normal.

I'm a fan of toning, so, yes. Although, I also love original blast white Morgans. Actually, I just like Morgans!

Too bad I can't afford many of them.

Tarnish!