http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=250504958532 I would like to know what you all think about it. Thanks Kent
That is as fake as fake can be, and it is extremely painfully obvious. No one with any experience in toned coins at all would be fooled for an instant by that hideous coin.
Well I have no experience with them that is why I turned to the experts. Could or will you elaberate as to what makes this so obvious other than the fact the seller so many colored this way and they are of different dates and types. I realy don't cae for them but thought one would be a conversation piece but I don't want a fake or doctored piece just an affordable one. Thanks Kent
That color of electric blue is not a natural color. It is always contrived when it looks like that. The proper blue is not that outlandish. Keep looking and learning and only buy color in slabs until you are extremely comfortable knowing what you are looking at.
Kent, You shouldn't need more than your observation that an identical (obnoxious) toning pattern across dates and denominations is a tell tale sign of AT. The fact that you pointed that out and asked on this forum shows your suspicions of AT. Anytime you see this color scheme on a raw common AU/BU silver coin you should run away. That combination of cobalt blue, pink-violet, and orange yellow is not found naturally on any series of coin. Toning should have a progression of colors from yellow-magenta-cyan. In addition, the progression from one color to the next should appear gradual. Often times it is difficult to tell where one color stops and the next begins. Rainbow toning can often be bright and vibrant, but not to the point where it looks like paint as it does with your example. Here is an example of an AT Franklin Half Dollar that I purchased years ago. Notice this common AU coin has the same color scheme as the coin in your link. This AT on this coin is a little better than the one in your link because there are no really abrubt color changes. However the color scheme and progressions are way off. Here is what an NT Franklin Half Dollar should look like. Notice the gradual color progressions, correct color transitions, and vibrancy of color that is reasonable. Hoped this helped, Paul
those are good examples thanks for sharing them. I was just curious or suspicious when I saw so many with the same look to them. They looked painted and maybe by the same painter! I have learned a lot here nad the most important thing I have learned is to ask first buy later. Most and I mean 95% of the members here are willing to answer any question no matter how many times someone else ask the same thing. Kent
Sorry for my somewhat abrupt reply earlier. Lehigh is indeed correct, his knowledge on toning is superb. There are a number of things that immediately should warn you off of a coin like this. The first is the electric blue, neon, painted on look of the coin. The second is the abrupt transitions. Toning should have more of a rainbow gradual look. The third is that the seller has a large number with identical toning. There was a recent brouhaha where a few toner collectors discovered a major artificial toning operation that produced extremely convincing fakes - and they did it only because there were so many coins that looked similar hitting the market at the same time. These fakes were very convincing, and fooled even many of the experts. The fourth thing that I noticed immediately was the date. In 1959, the mint switched to cellophane packaging for their mint sets - before that it was cardboard. The 1957 that Lehigh posted came from a mint set and has the classic look. Because the plastic did not contain sulfur, coins 1959 and after are much harder to find with toning. Even if you do find toned coins of this date, the look is much diffreent. Knowing the right look of toned coins for their year, era, style, or probable storage is important. A coin stored in an album will look different than a mint set coin, or an envelope stored coin, etc.
I read a whole bunch of post a week or so ago about AT vs NT on here and it linked to another forum where I thought people were actually giong to linch some folks over this. i never will knowing by something fraudulent or support someone who is dishonest. I want to learn as much as I can about all types of coin collecting and even paper money even though I don't intend to collect any of it. You all have been very helpful with this post and even though the coins were not very expensive i didn't want to support fraud. Thanks Kent
