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What's up with toning?

Started by mlovest,

10 posts in this topic

mlovest

mlovest

Posted
Posted

OK, another newbie question. I was just checking out an auction site with tons of toned coins including Kennedy's and Ike's. Why do these coins get toned, and why is this a good thing? Wouldn't most collectors prefer a coin that looked like it was fresh of the press with original luster and shine? What am I missing?

 

Thanks!

Mike

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airplanenut

airplanenut

Posted
Posted

Well, toning can be caused by many things. First, you have artificial toning. As premiums for nice color are rising, coin doctors are applying color to coins in hopes of making them more valuable- this is usually detectable, and the value actually drops. Artificial toning can be made in many ways, such as with sulfur, literally cooking a coin, or using a high-powered flame.

 

Natural toning, however, can be worth many times a coin's original value... it depends on how nice it looks. Natural toning is generally a reaction of the coin's metal with the air. For example, silver tones the most, and it is the reaction of the air (sulfur) with the coin. You'll see many morgan dollars, which were stored in bags at mint vaults for years, with rainbow crescents that are from where a coin was exposed to the bag (the crescent comes from where the coin was covered by another)... since the coin didn't touch the bag at all points, it attained many different colors from being slightly farther/closer to the bag at certain points.

 

The sulfure at the end of a coin roll, for example, is another way to cause toning... of course, there are many ways that I can't think of right now...

 

Wouldn't most collectors prefer a coin that looked like it was fresh of the press with original luster and shine?
Well, that depends on who you ask. Naturally toned coins are receiving very large premiums because they are unique and beautiful... other collector's prefer white coins that are as they left the mint. Of course, since toning is natural, many coins that are over 100 years old and still white have been dipped to take away whatever toning they acquired.

 

I personally love toned pieces, and do pay premiums for them... TomB is another one who pays for the toning... I've seen what he has, and is it nice!!!

 

Here's just one toned coin that I have, and it came with a premium... (it was toned with the paper from the end of a roll... it's obverse is white)

 

85-o_r.JPG

 

Jeremy

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BillJones

BillJones

Posted
Posted

There has always been a group of collectors around who really liked attractive toning. Tastes vary on this, but generally type of toning that Airplanenut showed in his photo, that is a little more even, is the ideal.

 

Over the past couple of years the demand for beautifully toned coins has exploded. Now people are paying very high premiums for these coins. I won't comment on how appropriate that is because all it will do is start a fuss, BUT I will say that not all coins with toning on them are desirable and worth a premium.

 

Dull brown and unattractive tarnish is not attractive IMO and is not worth a premium. In fact it can lower the value of a coin. Toning that is applied artificially is a rip-off, but people still unwittingly buy such coins and sometime the services certify such pieces when they really should have been rejected for grading (a.k.a. body bagged).

 

Right now attractive toning is really “in.” Will it remain that way? Probably, but exercise some sense before you pay many multiples of the normal price for a toned coin. Yes, naturally attractive toned coins are really scarce and worth some extra money. The supply of artificially toned (a.k.a. “AT”) coins is limited only by the number coins that coin doctors can make. That should tell you what THOSE items are really worth.

 

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Beijim

Beijim

Posted
Posted

Here's an example of an eBay coin that may not have occurred naturally:

 

i-1.JPG

i-2.JPG

 

I'm not saying it isn't pretty. I'm just wondering how Mother Nature got such perfect and brilliant target toning in just eleven years...

 

893scratchchin-thumb.gif

Beijim

 

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