Need some help.. Natural Toning or Artificial on a Kennedy..

I really like this one and although it is not as good as the deep purple one I saw on here, this is really nice but I just don't feel 100% confident it is real toning. Seems like a reputable seller for sure but I just do not know how to tell. I say 95% real but that is why I am doing a poll. (Edit the other choice got deleted)

 

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It deleted my other choice!

 

Is it just me, or is this pool biased?

 

Well I had one choice as artificial but when i posted it was gone.

 

Negate that I messed it up, the title of the poll is the first choice...opps my homer moment for tonight.

Edit : MODS can you please change this to where it has Artificial as a choice? I can not find where to do it.

 

AT.

 

I think the coin is AT -- I'd bet that in-hand the colors would not be as vibrant/neon and be more dullish in reality (i.e.: the pictures looked juiced). And those pictures look to be the signature style of a certain seller on eBay who's been known to sell definitive AT'd coins in his store.

 

Absolutely, totally, 100% doctored.

I've bought a few coins like this, knowing they were AT'd, just to see them in hand, and I was always disappointed. The colors in that image have heightened saturation.

Don't you think that if the coin was legit, the seller would have had it slabbed by PCGS or NGC to maximize his profits? (Not that PCGS and NGC can't make mistakes, they sometimes do.) But if that coin was NT and lived in a reputable slab it would sell for well over a hundred dollars on a good day.

 

Well in the morning I looked into it further. I do believe it is artificial. I have contacted the seller to ask him to confirm. This will be a neat lesson. Even if it is artificial, it would be nice to have as it looks awesome. For those wondering if real or not, I will post a link to the 'other' coins up for bid....then you will have your answer.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Coins-US-/2...527&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_ssn=cwbyup1051

 

Ethan, we already have our answer. This seller is a well-known coin doctor, and he says so himself. Read the entire description of the coin...

This auction is for a beautiful 1964 Proof Kennedy Half Dollar, Rainbow Toned (AT)*, 90% Silver.

*(AT) = artificial toning, this coin has been exposed to an electrical field, no heat or chemicals are used.

It's all there in plain view. Coin art.

 

Wow I missed that totally....well that explains it....my bad on that one.

Shouldn't bid late at night..

 

Wow, just got a message from the seller, he asked me to read the entire listing. He then cancelled my bid. That was a classy thing to do for my screw up.

 

I have no objection to coin art, mind you, and that seller is not engaging in any subterfuge - the artificial toning is spelled out in large, bold letters. I just don't think it's very good.

I bought a coin from him, also a 1964 Kennedy, and it didn't look anything like the pics - so maybe there is a bit of subterfuge, but a lot of sellers juice their images.

The colors on the coin I received were very pale and shallow, almost as if the coin was covered by a weak hologram. It's difficult to describe, but it didn't look anything like the toned coins that the reputable TPG's consider market acceptable, that much is certain.

 

I'm going to say NT, but a highly juiced image. This color correction may look more like the coin in hand, but it's impossible to say without knowing the color of the album it's in. Also would need to see the reverse, so actually I'm going to say: not enough evidence to make a determination.

 

Natural

 

Doug is going to come on and give us a lecture about how it doesn't matter what we think because TPG's have their own definitions of market acceptability, which is all well and true. Then we can have a debate about what constitutes AT and NT for the thousandth time.

 

N-Album Toning

 

Since I don't send my coins to TPG's, my determination of the Franklin would rely entirely on its appeal to me and me alone. In hand, it might look NT enough, but even so, I don't care for the unsightly spot in the left field, and I would pass on it.