I can't tell you how many times I have been asked - "how do you tell an artificially toned coin ?". My standard answer is - there are times when you can't. That's because I've known some people who could do just about anything they wanted to with a coin. They could take a coin, tone it up, submit it to NGC or PCGS and have it slabbed in a heartbeat. Luckily, there aren't that many of those people around. And even more luckily, the one's I refer to have only done it to prove that they could.
Sadly however, there are those who practice artificially toning coins and then selling them, often for high prices, to those who can't recognize even a poor job of AT. Perhaps the following links will help some learn how to identify artificially toned coins as well as naturally toned coins.
Tone Coin Collectors' Society TonedCoins.org
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Real, Artificial - In Between
IN A NUTSHELL: Toning can add natural beauty, and value, to coins. Or it can be the result of tampering by a coin doctor. There are ways to tell.
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