An artificial toning project

[truthteller]

Over the course of the next few months, I will be purposely artificially tone a 48 piece set of commems in BU. The goal of the project is to allow collectors of the series to understand what an AT coin looks like, the method of toning and the net results.This is purely for education only and no coin will be for sale. I will produce coins with several different methods, with several different appearances, and several different colors. The methods utilized will be simple, using heat, yet is complicated in the fact that most of the colors will 'look real'. Simple AT methods such as 'potato', 'tidy bowl' or 'sunlight window' will not be used, since these methods are arbitrary and usually will not pass throught the grading services. I will have the book of coins on display at a future Long Beach show and anyone will be able to view the book of coins(Megrig album). Already three coins have been toned, Wisconsin, Bay Bridge, BTW, any of which look like the 'real deal'. If possible, I will post a scan of the obverse/reverse, with before and after pictures, of a newly AT'd coin on this forum as time permits. I would appreciate any constructive comments.

 

TRUTH

[jom]

Post those pics! This should be an education.....

 

jom

[TomB]

Do not post the methods of how you AT each coin!

[Hoot]

Excellent Truth! Thanks for the education, albeit one of outcome rather than method. I'll ask that you be VERY specific about how to spot the AT with each and if this varies with the coin at hand. Thanks!

 

Hoot

[CarlWohlforth]

Your project is sure to help me learn more about detecting AT coins. It will be good to see them in person at Long Beach. Thanks in advance.

[truthteller]

The attachment is the obverse of a Bay Bridge. When purchased, the coin was 95% white, with slight haze or patina. The coin was subjected to a heat method. Now the coin has a perif. tone of light baby blue, violet and magenta. The image is a bit lighter than the actual coin.

 

TRUTH

[truthteller]

The attachment is of the reverse of a Wisconsin commem. When purchased the coin had a terrible black surface. The coin was subsequently dipped white, then toned with a heat method.

 

TRUTH

[truthteller]

The attachment is of the obverse of the Wisc commem. The tone was added using heat, with 3 series heat applications. The scan is a bit lighter than the actual coin and is 100% lustrous.

 

TRUTH

[GDJMSP]

truthteller -

 

Love your idea and the project. But please - be careful about what you say re: methods. There is enough problem already. I don't mean to be picky - but even what you are divulging now might be better left unsaid.

[Hoot]

The Bay Bridge is interesting to me for the very fact that this coin tones naturally to those colors. See the attachment for an NGC MS66 example.

 

Hoot

[jom]

The Bay Bridge is interesting to me for the very fact that this coin tones naturally to those colors. See the attachment for an NGC MS66 example.

 

Or someone did what TT did and got it into a holder....

 

jom

[Hoot]

My understanding is that these coiins toned this way in their original holder. Of course, I do not know but what I've been told. I purchased the coin from Heritage and inquired with Paul Simonetti at the time. It's been a year+ and the coin has not chaged at all in the holder. Surfaces are generally excellent and at the time, I'd have thought that a pure white speciment would have sold more readily. The coin has excellent lustre.

 

Hoot

[truthteller]

Hoot,

 

My Bay Bridge has more violet and lavender about the peripheries, it just doesn't show up well in the scan. Original Bay Bridge coins in original mailing holders had a totally different look. They appear more burnt orange and gold speckled. The mailing envelopes are quite rare. The holders were unmarked denison type with tear away paper. I have seen only one holder with three original coins in person Years ago the original color coins were dipped out. Mostly, the Bay Bridge will have an unsightly envelope tone with mixed charcoal gray and pukie green with some gold mixed in. Rainbow coins are very rare and must be examined closely.

 

TRUTH

[Hoot]

Thanks Truth! "Original Bay Bridge coins in original mailing holders had a totally different look. They appear more burnt orange and gold speckled." And this is how mine appears. Reverse attached.

 

Hoot

[sanmary]

Good post....I hope that this will help educate some collectors about toning, natural and artificial. As an experiment a few years ago, I put a Silver Eagle into a paper flip and left it untouched for almost 2 years. When I retrieved this coin it had a beautiful gold tone covering the entire obverse and reverse with a bit of blue mixed in near the rims. I showed this coin to my boss, whom I frequently sell coins to and his first comment was AT. His reasoning was it was "too recent" to have naturally developed this beautiful color. He learned that age is not always a factor and I learned just how difficult it can be to believe or not believe what natural toning is.

[LucyBop]

The content of Silver is greater in a bullion coin then say in a made for circulation 1964 and early silver coin. Silver (ag) is a highly reactive element especially when mixed with a sulphur source ie paper, cardboard....

 

So it is of no surprise that a bullion coin can and will tone rather speedily if given the right conditions for a reaction and oxidation to take place.

[TomB]

Lucy is correct. Also, pure and near-pure silver, of the purity that is used in bullion pieces, 0.999fine, will tone in blues and violets as its natural color. This is just the opposite as coinage silver, which is 0.900 fine typically.

[truthteller]

The attachment has an artificially toned BTW. End role toning. Very difficult to do, but very desireable by the AT doctors. This effect took several procedures, but the results look very real. The obverse is white and has the 'patina' which would fool most grading services. The coin is a '51P which were issued in rolls, so the coin with this toning 'makes sense', similar to '50S BTW and 52 Wash/ Carvers. Rims are lovely magenta/gold where the paper was crinkled on a role, while the centers are dusty white, where the coin would have been exposed to air.Scan is lighter than actual coin.

 

TRUTH

[Oldtrader3]

Good grief, it's getting scary out there! That BTW probably would have fooled me. I see the utra-premiums that these brightly toned coins are commanding and it causes me to intuitively release my Dot.Com-Stock, antibody.

[chinook]

How did this experiment turn out?

[physics-fan3.14]

Sounds like an expensive project, ruining all those great coins. But, it is a good idea. I am always leery of toned coins, because I really don't know enough about toning. So, this education is good. In the future, I think it would be helpful if you pointed out how you can tell that these are AT, like that end roll toned BTW. If I saw that, I would be convinced it was real. So how do I tell that it isn't?