Just for fun, I picked up this State Quarter 2005 S proof US clad quarter set, from a known coin manipulator, just for fun. The set has attractive, but seemingly obvious Artificial Toning in my pretty experienced eye. I bought it just for fun, as it was cheap, and seemed obvious to me. Here are the pictures: My question is, how was the toning accomplished, if it is AT, as I think? There are no holes in the holder, where gas could have been injected. There was no manipulation of the sealed Mint holder that I can observe. So, any ideas on how they Artificially Toned the set. I have no pretense that this, or other similarly toned State Quarter proof sets all miraculously toned, in a similar manner.
Did the Mint start sealing those lenses, and if so, when? I've popped open any number of them with just a fingernail. But even if they are "sealed", put them in a vacuum chamber, suck out most of the air, and let in some stinky stuff. It'll get sucked right into the holder.
You don't even have to use a vacuum chamber and you can still gas them to cause toning - in any coin holder of any kind. And do it in a matter of hours.
I saw a proof set that sat on the dashboard of a car in the heat of summer for a few weeks and the coins all toned much like yours.
Oh, it is almost certainly AT. Some of the blue may come from the cardboard inserts, that are deep blue. However, I have never seen identical toning on all coins like that in a set occurring naturally.
I've read here at CT that subjecting sealed sets like that to low heat (leave in oven at lowest temperature?) could tone coins.
Not with that kind of plastic—it would be damaged.Moisture might be a possibility for NT, but I think it is more likely a gassing. For $24 bucks, it was worth it as a curiosity.
Your set made me think of my Canadian set... To me this beautiful. I mainly bought it for the caribou quarter and 50 cents coins. I also kept the dime, but gave the rest of the coins away as gifts to coin friends.
Anybody still think it could be NT? This is only a small listing. This seller has pages and pages of gassed coins. Wait until he sees his feedback from me, although he has been reported to eBay many times for fraudulent toning.
I believe as @-jeffB mentioned that the 1999 set is not sealed-meaning it can be easily opened and reclosed. So the coin doctors just take the coins out and heat them (or apply gas/chemicals) and then put them back into the package. I recall that thread too. I believe there the heat was intense enough that the packaging became warped (so it was more obvious of how it happened even if the guy didn't tell us).
I wondered which of two sellers provided these, mother-natures-showroom or edynamicmarketing -- but looking at their latest completed listings, it appears they're the same entity. edynamicmarketing has been on my "exclude sellers" search list for years now.