Happened to see this on E bay this afternoon. This is the most classic example of Artificial Toning I have ever seen. The seller admits in his listing that it is AT, done by anodizing. Just for those who don't see obvious AT that much--well, here's an incredible example:
I think it's gorgeous as a work of art. I'd like to float it in a lucite block and use it as a paperweight. As far as numismatic value, blecch.
Makes me sad in my pants to see what has happened to a nice coin due to this toning premium nonsense. Just as sad as when in the 70's I saw nice original coins being dipped because of the white coin nonsense. Both extremes, when they lead to people messing with coins, is simply sad.
Lol, ours retone actually quite nicely after they have been cleaned. You cannot tell it from the pic, but my avatar has a light pretty rainbow tone in hand.
Makes you never want to buy a toned coin seeing how easy it is to alter in that u-tube video. Thanks for bringing that video in Riff and for showing the example Morgandude
EASY?!? I decided to do an experiment once, since someone had mentioned that some ATers did so by putting it near the oven. I roasted like 20 dimes in my oven at 375˚, trying to figure out if I could predict how long the coins had been cooked. I got nowhere, but even in my cooking I found that blue toning was uncommon, and not a single one went rainbow. They were all extremely obvious. (note: not a single coin with numismatic value was harmed, just post 2000 clad junk)
That is exactly what my dad says when he sees toning. Says it looks like someone put oil on the thing:devil: