Need Help to see if My Opinion is correct.

[Fairlaneman]

First off it makes no difference which slab this coin is in. What I am after is whether my opinion about this coin is wrong or possibly correct. I think the coin is Artificially Toned. What do you think ?

 

 

On the obverse the color in the right field appears to be stacked upon the coin in layers. Up on her cap the color goes from dark to light to dark. Does this look correct to you ? Now for the reverse which really made up my mind.

 

 

The thing that makes me think AT is in the left field where right in the middle of the dark tone you see perfectly White spots. No Color period just plain white. Color also looks to be stacked or painted on the coin.

 

Thats what gave me my opinion. Please remember it makes no difference which slab this coin is in. I just want to make sure I am not viewing Toned Mercs of this type incorrectly.

 

Thanks Much.

Ken

[TomB]

Please keep in mind that my opinion is based completely on your images and that this is not the best way to determine these things. Keeping that in mind, I think the toning is genuine. I have absolutely no problems with the coin as is. I see quite a few Mercs from the '40s with that grey-aqua-blue-violet look to them and have also seen quite a few coins with white spots where there is no toning. I have chalked that up, in general, to the planchet wash or to light spots of oil retained on the coin.

[EVillageProwler]

Ken,

 

I also agree with TomB, and I too think the toning is natural. However, it's been my experience that if the toning is good enough (i.e., market acceptable), then the services won't beat themselves over trying to answer the AT vs NT question for that specific specimen.

 

Regards,

 

EVP

 

[andy007]

With my limited experience, I agree with the others, it looks ok to me and toning I have saw on other Mercs as far as the white spotting and changes of toning.

[keithdagen]

Ken,

 

I've seen a LOT of Mercs with that toning scheme recently. Pretty sure it's from album storage. The white spots on the Mercs are new to me, but I've seen them on many other coins, usually with some little bit of dirt or dust or something that stops the toning in the area immediately around the spot.

[truthteller]

Looks good to me. Light white spots are a good sign to real toning. Dark black spots are not.

 

TRUTH

[TomB]

Just to touch on something Truth mentioned; it is often a bad sign when you have small, pinpoint dark spots on a coin. These aren't "flyspeck" spots I am writing about, these are spots that are raised and black and that have a small void of toning typically immediatley around them and are then encircled by more colors. This is an unintended byproduct of solvent toning on coins where the impurities in the solvent used to AT a coin accumulate while the solvent is evaporated to the point where they leave a residue behind.

 

The coin in question still looks okay to me.

[PQSeated]

I'm not a toning expert by any means so I won't even venture on an opinion. I do have a question, though. What causes the "splotchy" toning on coins? If the same chemical or whatever is reacting to the metal, wouldn't it be the same color? The only thing I could think of is the distance from the chemical, but there are different colored splotches in the same area. Could it be caused by different levels of certain metals in the planchet, somehow reacting differently to the chemical? So many questions.

[Oldtrader3]

Looks ok to me also. I have seen several Mercs with similar toning. I also think that it is album toned with some dust, lint or dirt creating the white spots.

[truthteller]

Oldtrader is correct on the white spots. Lint or dust blocks the toning interface with the silver. Real splotchy toning is sometimes created when coins are in paper envelopes in humid environments. Coins that go through cycles of humid and hot to dry and cold often have varying types of toning within the same area on the surface of the coin.

 

TRUTH

[gmarguli]

Looks fine to me. I've seen a LOT of Mercs that are toned like this. I would have no trouble buying the coin raw with this toning.

[Fairlaneman]

Thanks Folks for the opinions and the explanation of how this type of tone comes about on a coin. The explanations were exactly what I was seeking with the question.

 

I'm thinking that because of the lower grade and lack of any nice luster on this coin possibly this is why the tone just looked quite strange. Just plain dull and not real attractive.

 

Much appreciated.

 

Ken

[MikeKing]

Thanks for the education on the 'flyspecks' TomB

Mike