Toning A Couple Early Date Bust Halves

The first 1807 is very beautiful to me! Wonderful toning!

it doesn't look unnatural and would likely straight grade. 100x better than the horribly cleaned capped bust coins that are super bright and shiny, so thumbs up here.

You should double check those youtube videos, basic darkening of a coin through a long-term natural process is in no way similar to egg toning.

Keep in mind no vivid sulfur "egg color" was added to either coin. Just a soft blanket of deep russet toning developed to darken the fresh scratches on each example. Egg toning is instant and gives a bright, unnatural rainbow progression that is obvious to the experience toning analyst.




I mean... to each their own. You don't have to like the process. I would think that hating the process and the people that do it to this light of degree is a little dramatic.

I'm not a fan of intentionally altering a coin for any reason or by any method, unless it's to preserve it for the future. What is the intent here?

What do you do with terminal case coins coinfrog? Jewelry pieces, holed, polished, ground dug and dateless coins?

I dipped a dateless Seated Liberty dollar in silver test solution and now I know that it is an 1844. Other people use Nik A Date on terminal Buffalo nickels for the same reason. Right now I have a number of these terminal cases on keychains, rings and in my pocket. They'll never improve, and as such I'm not interested in preserving them in pristine condition. For me cleaned coins fall into a grey area - some are worth preserving untouched, and others are way beyond that. The polished 1843 Eagle in my pocket will always be shiny beyond any hope of collectability, but it will always be an 1843 Eagle. Same with the heavily chopped Trade dollar in my belt buckle.

They're the only coins I can carry around without worrying about spoiling them. They are what they are. Old money. Like the old Buffalos and Lincoln cents I used to fill Whitman albums with. Finding them was the challenge, without regard to their condition.

The intent is to hide the cleaning marks or other marks to obtain a higher grade and profit on resale. Most collectors do some type of surface alteration on coins for example, spot cleaning, conservation, dipping, storage toning, etc. The coin doctor line is crossed when heat or chemicals are used to accelerate toning to hide surface imperfection or create artificial color to obtain a higher grade or profit. On the 1807 the coin went from a F15 Details cleaned to a possible straight grade VF because the cleaning lines disappeared with the accelerated heat toning. The OP has demonstrated a simple process to accelerate toning to hid cleaning marks that may fool the TPG's or collector's buying raw toned coins.

Every year or so I polish a couple of English sterling display spoons, just as previous owners have done for the last 300 years. I don't want the rainbows and tarnish.

It's peculiar that what makes the spoons unattractive is exactly what coin collectors desire. In circulation the coins didn't look this way. It's the effect of being stored for a hundred years, away from light and pocket wear. Out of daily use a coin develops an unnatural appearance. I avoid blotchy looking high grade slabs because the coins look awful, like the unpolished spoons. An MS66 grade doesn't fool my lying eyes.

The appreciate the opinion @Slider23. It is good to draw the line when one becomes a "coin doctor." Here is my response to some of your statements, and hopefully we can collectively come to a consensus through civil discourse.



My intent was clearly stated in my last message, no strings attached. Certainly not to deceive and certainly not to make profit. These coins will be staying raw and not sent to a TPG and resold.



I suppose I do not fall under your definition because I am not trying to make a higher grade or profit.

By your definition, actions done by a coin doctor:
-Dipping a hazy modern silver commemorative (chemicals used).
-Using ANY type of paper containers (wrappers) to store coins (chemicals: sulfur found in paper).
-Utilizing NGC or PCGS conservation services, which nearly everyone here recommends (chemicals).

You cannot define artificial color.

There is a reason why the term "coin doctor" has no formal or agreed definition with the numismatic community. I am sure the vast majority of everyone here has fallen under your definition of coin doctor.



This is where I would disagree with you, because you are assuming the coin was graded correctly the first time. I aim to purchase many bust halves in ANACS holders because they are undergraded and often do not deserve the details designation they were offered. I recently picked up an 1836 bust half in AU-50 Details Env Damage that has a simple drift mark (minute planchet flaw) and think it would grade a straight AU-58. ANACS tends to misgrade bust halves more than other TPGs. I do not think this coin was cleaned, just basic circulation chatter that is only natural on any coin AU-58 and below. Additionally, no lines disappeared. They are still visible.