Question about rainbow toning from a relative newbie coin collector

Hi everyone

I own a new but popular metal detecting forum, and as such, I am just now getting very interested in coin collecting, specifically semi-rare or rare dates in exceptional condition. I love to dig coins, and have dug some nice ones, but now I want to buy coins that are investment-worthy, but also coins that I enjoy personally.

I find myself being attracted to coins that have a fairly significant rainbow hue, but I am questioning if this tone is fake or can be faked. I want coins that are uncleaned and that have their original patina. Why do coins develop this rainbow tone, if they do so on their own without "help"?

There are a couple of ebay auctions right now with such coins that are demanding a premium (slabbed coins in proof condition or AU), and although the coins are beautiful, I can't help but wonder if this toning is the real thing. What is the real thing, and how do you know?

 

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Hi Epi. Welcome to CT!

The topic of toning can be a long one, with lots of opinion... I will give my brief insight on the subject,

To answer your question, yes toning can be created artificially.

Coins (especially silver) coins will tone for many reasons naturally. Exposure to air, old albums with certain chemicals in the paper, old bank bags, humidity and temperature, etc.. The colors and severity vary from coin to coin. The ones that develop the rainbow colors command a higher premium. Why? Because they are just darn pretty.

Buying a toned coin graded by a top TPG is not a guarentee that the coin was not artificially toned. However it does guarentee the grade and the fact it's genuine. Enhancing the "patina" as been practiced since coins were collected. So the biggest lesson I learned was that artificial toning is also used to cover a cleaned coin or scratches.

So be careful, and think about your decisions. Don't rush on them, because trust me..another one will come along.

 

Welcome to CT!

Natural toning of coins (rainbow and otherwise) is done by the effects of sulfur and other oxidants on silver or other metals. Its also the same as "tarnish". But since it can produce beautiful colors, it can be appreciated. Until it can be too much and goes completely black.

Natural toning can be differentiated from artificial toning in most cases, either by the progression of colors or how those colors flow on the coin and in between the device and lettering, etc. Artificial toning can be told apart from natural usually by color, color progression, or how it is on the surface, either it looks like it "flowed" on or it covers the devices the same as the field, which usually doesn't happen with Natural toning.

Here is a web page that gives some good information. It's a start anyways. http://rg.ancients.info/guide/toning.html

 

Welcome to the neighborhood!

Greg and Kasia pretty much covered what I was going to say. The only thing I should add is that you shouldn't rush too quickly into buying coins until you learn more about the hobby and have a better understanding of the types of coins you desire. Yes, it is a hobby, first and foremost. If you want something as an investment, buy real estate.

Since you like "color", here's something in your honor.

Chris

 

Wow, thank you so much for the help! I really appreciate the information. I think they are beautiful coins, but I was wary (apparently rightfully so, in some cases).

Thanks too for the welcome! This is a great place :thumb:

 

First of all, welcome to the forum!

I'll try not to cover what Doug and others already have here.

The vast majority of rainbow toned coins are Morgan dollars. You almost need to know a little history to understand why this is. In short, they made so many under government mandate, that they produced more than was needed. They really only circulated well on the west coast. The rest of the country barely used them.
So millions of them sat in mint bags. Some for decades. The pittman act melted down roughly half the mintage of all the original Morgans. The silver was then in turn sent to Great Britain or made into Peace dollars. The original mintages for these are almost useless info now because nobody knows how much was lost.
Anyway, to get back on track, they sat stored in burlap bags with high sulfur contents. The ones around the outside touching the bags, or near the bag, tended to rainbow tone, depending on the conditions it was under. While the ones inside toward the center were mostly protected and remained white. Many had part of their face touching the bag while the other part was covered by another Morgan, leaving a crescent tone from the overlapping coin protecting it.

For a good gauge on what was possible by this effect and what natural toning should look like, look up "Battle Creek Morgans NGC star" on ebay. I've got one that has an entirely plum colored reverse. Pics in my album. These were bags stored in a basement by a private collector for 100 years that still had the original mint seals on them. The dealer that bought them opened them to find one of the most brilliantly toned hoard of Morgan dollars ever found. Most were sent to NGC for certification and many (but not all) from that hoard got the special label.

Anyway, this is why most of the rainbow toned coins you see are Morgans. Peace dollars did not have the same experience so genuinely natural toned examples of them are rare.

Other than that, you have album toning and many mint sets toned in their original packaging leaving us with some really nice looking Franklin halves, quarters and dimes. Some coins toned at the ends of rolls.

It is smart to ask the question and acknowledge the problem though. There are some really bad, colored fake toned coins I've seen on ebay. Natural toning is a progression of colors that you will see on many various auctions from many different sellers that looks similar. If one seller has a bunch of different denominations of silver coins, from old or modern years, all displaying the same colors and toning patterns, you'll probably want to run the other way.

 

One other word of warning. Many of the sellers selling these toned coins have excellent photography setups. You'd be shocked at how photos can make coins look FAR better than they do in real life. The photo just screams for you to buy it. And then when you get it, it's not really that dramatic at all.

Here is a Morgan I used to have.



It was really sweet, but I traded it on something else. This photo was the sellers photo. In hand, the toning was much darker and harder to see without turning it at an angle. You buy enough of them, eventually you will pay big bucks for something that turns out to look much different than the picture. I'd stick to buying toners at shows for that reason.

FWIW, this is a natural, standard, toning progression on one of these.

 

Heres another prime example for you. This one caught my eye a while back and I had to have it. The seller wanted $320. I talked them down to $250 and bought it. Here was the sellers pic:




Here was the best pictures I could take of this same coin. It looked more like my pics.



I kept it but then ended up selling it at a show for $170. It was an $80 lesson but coulda been worse.

 

First you need to understand the basics of toning, read this:

The Science of Toning

Then read the best thread about the NT vs AT debate on this forum:

Why did NGC bag this coin as NT?

If you still need more information, read these useful links about toning:

A Color Chart for the Thin Film Color progression
Natural Toning
The Science of Dipping and Toning
Monster Rainbow Toned Morgan Dollars
Toning Question
The Toning Premium Thread

And of course we can't forget a thread that shows how volatile this topic can be, and the reason I no longer post on this forum.

How to Tone Coins

 

Lehigh!

Glad to see you here sir, even if you "aren't posting". I wish you could change your mind, as I miss your posts.

To Epi-Hunter, you will find toning to be very complicated. Many of us agree on the two extremes, badly artificially toned ones, as well as well toned natural ones. The "discussion" comes in the middle. You can learn a lot reading here about the subject, but I warn you some posts have gotten heated. Most of us are friends here, we just disagree. Lehigh's posts are especially informative on the subject, (I am trying to grovel to get him to come back ).

Welcome!

Chris