Natural or man made?

This Buffalo is one from Angle Dee's set of toned Buffalo nickels they are selling. Are this beautiful coin and others like them likely naturally toned or doctored in some way that is acceptable to the TPGs? What's the most likely scenario?

 

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Based on the picture alone, I would say AT. I understand Angel Dee to be a reputable dealer, and I'm not certain why they're selling this coin under their name.

 

It looks like AT to me, too!

FWIW, I don't think there is any way that a doctored coin can be acceptable to a reputable TPGS.

Chris

 

This coin caught my eye on twitter today and was a PCGS post saying that the owners of Angel Dee's had accumulated a toned set over the years and were now putting them up for sale individually.

 

I'm going with AT to my eyes also. Most NT buffalo's I've seen are toned in reds orange,and golden colors. I can't recall seeing many greenish,blue,purple colors. Not on the coin as to what the OP has posted.
The toning just looks to busy for NT.

 

If it's slabbed, it doesn't really matter anymore, at least to a lot of people. The numisgods have given their blessing and is oftentimes all that matters.

With that said though, it's certainly not on par with much of the god-awful garbage often posted here, and is actually rather attractive imo.

 

Is it a Matte Proof, or a circulation strike? If it is a Matte Proof, I have FAR less trouble thinking the toning is natural. Why? I'm told the tissue paper they used in that era had some fairly unique outgassing properties, and if it was stuck away for a long time in the original tissue, this is not impossible.

Oops, never mind, it's a Denver coin. I'd want to hear a plausible explanation for this color.

 

But again Jim where is the line drawn between NT And AT? Is it NT because of what it's been exposed to , or AT because it's been heated? The colors on the OP coin I have seen on heat treated coins more so then anything else . Especially on nickles.

 

Most likely scenario is that you are going to get a lot of guesses when no one has actually seen the coin in hand to see what it really looks like and not just how the picture is presenting it.

 

Aren't pretty much ALL rainbow toners with the possible exception of bagged Morgans pretty dependent on lighting angles? Every rainbow toned coin I see in the hand can look VASTLY different as you tilt and rotate it. Again, the exception is some Morgans, which present as a more stable look.

I just remembered, I do have one otherwise rather ordinary MS 1913 Type 1 Buff that has some interesting rainbow stuff going on. And what you see absolutely DOES change considerably as you tilt and rotate it. The color is nowhere near as radical as on the 1915-D above, but it is there at even the quickest glance.

 

Well the images could also be juiced to enhance the colors. The tone may not be so extreme in hand.

 

LOL! Poll: who has ever seen a photograph of a rainbow toned coin and later seen the coin in hand and said, "Wow! The color on the coin is so much more vivid than in the photo!" Yeah, me neither.

 

I agree with Doug. I have a 1913 Type I that looks just like it. I pulled it out of a manila envelope in which it had been placed maybe 40 years before.

BU buffs can and do look like this. Are 50 times as many AT than NT? Maybe, I just know for sure they CAN look like this naturally. Of course, this is not saying the TPG will agree.

 

Very true, I have seen some as well. I agree with in all honesty that it is more likely to be NT. However I do suspect that some of those purples/violets probably need some lighting assistance to not appear darker

 

You've obviously never seen my attempts to photograph a rainbow toned coin then lol

 

So if you put a coin in a manilla envelope and leave it 40 years and it tones, is that AT or NT? What constitutes AT or NT?

 

I would say NT, some will say AT. To me AT is extreme intervention like applying chemicals or a substance to induce toning, subjecting it to extreme heat like an oven ect. Anything where you just simply leave it where it is and let nature take it's course I consider NT