I've got a question for you all. Is it possible for a PCGS slabbed coin that is not marked (Genuine) to be artificially toned? Could anyone tell me for sure that this is a naturally toned coin? I love the coin, but the seller is charging an outragous amount, and we are trying to work out a deal. When I look at his other items for sale, he has similar toned that are ICG and NGC slabbed. If you are a natural tone expert please PM me.
I'm not an expert on AT or NT but that looks fishy to me. Usually NT coins are not evenly toned on both sides. And the green color looks like its seeping through the coin all the way to the other side.
ASE's are known to naturally tone in surprisingly colorful ways. It's not my cup of tea but if you like it go for it! Lance.
I would like it if it wasn't for all the speckles on the front. Looks like someone sneezed while slabbing it and was too scared to wipe it off.
MS-67 This is for "Mint State" (the grade) and "67" (the numerical designation of that grade). A superb-quality coin! Any abrasions are extremely light and do not detract from the coin’s beauty in any way. The strike is extremely sharp (or full) and the luster is outstanding. This is a spectacular coin!
I actually like the speckles but I wouldn't call that market acceptable, I would think this coin even smells like AT
We need some Kryptonite in this thread. I'm by no means an expert, and this type of subject has come up time and time again, but to me it don't look right to be NT. Looks "baked".......
Yes it is possible. PCGS will grade a coin if they feel the toning is market acceptable. Sometimes a coin "slips through the crack", and sometimes it's just a very good AT job. There have been cases of AT coins making it into slabs. - IIRC there was a pretty notorious AT ASE that was in a PCGS holder (couldn't find a pic of it though). With 100% certainty, no. Imo, it's particularly hard with toned ASE's. Like Ikeigwin said, ASE's tend to tone in some very colorful ways, the problem is, a lot of the colors that appear to naturally tone on ASE's are questionable colors (in terms of market acceptability). The biggest is that dark purple color, on most other coin series that dark purple is a notorious AT color. Those are diffused lighting pics, does the seller have any other pics listed? Diffused lighting pics taken at an angle generally are going to show the toning at its strongest. Straight on pics with regular lighting (along with the diffused pics) will give you a better idea of how the coin looks in hand. I would never buy a coin from diffused lighting pics alone. Here's a random example off Heritage it show the difference: http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=1166&lotNo=3319
I don't believe for one minute they would tone like this without a little help. Many disagree though. I also asked this question JCB. http://www.cointalk.com/t191968/
Greg, that link you provided? Looks like Moses came back and pulled that one out of the burning bush........
Mike. You and I both know you don't get those kinds of results without some sort of "cooking"........
Yes - and it happens in all series by all graders(not just toned but cleaned also). It just has to be what they term market acceptable and not what they decide is AT. I agree with Doug on toning - sometimes it is impossible to tell if a coin is AT or NT. And of course he has a whole lot more knowledge than me. In the case of this coin I agree with green it almost looks baked - key word is almost. Not positive myself. I have seen(not in hand) a few of these with wild album toning. Which is what I thought of with the 1991 you posted.