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 Replies: 8 / Views: 1,526 |
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Valued Member
United States
161 Posts |
Hello, this is my first post. (Female, 23 years old; quite the oddity) I'm wondering if there is any information on rainbow-toned coins (specifically the Walking Liberty half dollar). How exactally does does the rainbow patina occur? How can I tell the difference between real and fake toned coins? etc. etc. etc. I've searched with Google and haven't found anything significant. Please help me out! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2661 Posts |
 to the forum lizzyjo. I am by far no expert on toning, but give this thread a day or so and someone should be along who can answer you. Just to clear up your question a little, are you asking how to identify fake toning? ie. chemically toned. Or are you wanting to know how to identify a fake coin in general? |
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Valued Member
 United States
161 Posts |
Thanks for the welcome! To answer your question, I'm wondering how to stay away from fake-toned coins, i.e. those on ebay. I'd like information on how to identifty genuinely toned coins, whether it be on a website or an article from this website. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2797 Posts |
lizzyjo, To see examples (they are extreme) of artificial toning ... do a seller search on ebay for cowbyup or cwbyup (a derivitive of Cowboy-up). His AT is off-the-charts ridiculous, yet folks still pay for these doctored coins. When looking at the coin, if it appears the toning was spray-painted on the surface it's usually AT. Natural toning doesn't lay on the surface it's integrated into the metal and design and normally takes a long time to occur. Coin doctors try to speed up the chemical reaction that causes toning using applied chemicals and heat. No one can ever be 100% sure if toning is natural or artificial. The top graders at PCGS have been known to reject coins as AT that are known to have toned naturally. To protect yourself from the coin doctors, study some toned coins in NGC or PCGS holders. See the subtle color changes and how the toning appears to work with the design instead of contrasting against it. Of course, throw all this advice out the window if you see something that absolutely knocks your socks off.  |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
Quote:
No one can ever be 100% sure if toning is natural or artificial. Absolutely right. Many cases are pretty obvious one way or another; if you learn the proper color progression for toning, you'll be able to at least eliminate some of the obvious. Here's an excellent discussion on the subject: https://goccf.com/t/44856Quote:Of course, throw all this advice out the window if you see something that absolutely knocks your socks off. Absolutely righter.  One collects toners because they're beautiful. Your opinion of how natural the toning is might affect your price, but certainly not the desirability. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Glad to have younger collectors so there is a future to this hobby. As with anything there are always places that specialize in certain topics. For your toned coin questions you may want to try the TC forum. https://www.tonedcoins.org But for everything else in coins, stick around here. |
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Valued Member
United States
55 Posts |
Welcome to the site lizzyjo. Great question ! SeatedNut that you for the great information as I was wondering about that particular ebay user, along with answering many questions I had on rainbow toning. Being pretty new to the hobby myself, thanks for some great information from everyone in this thread. Tom Urban |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19947 Posts |
Toning occurs due to the reaction of sulfide and metal. A good book to read everything you'd want to know about the process is called Coin Chemistry.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
851 Posts |
The color of artificially toned coins seems to be 1 dimensional. Natural toning appears to have depth on the coin's surface.  |
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Replies: 8 / Views: 1,526 |
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Posted 06/10/2009 07:40 am
