Why aren't artificially toned coins conserved?

Quite simply, they guess. Granted it's an educated guess, but it's still a guess.

But when you are talking about AT coins it needs to be understood that there are basically two kinds of AT coins. 1 - the ones done by amateurs and people who don't have a clue about what they are doing, that can usually be readily identified as AT even by a novice; and 2 - those done by people who do know what they are doing that cannot be identified with any degree of certainty by the TPGs, or anybody else.

 

No, water will usually do nothing. But acetone or xylene will often rinse what you are calling chemical toning off the coin.

Experience. But it's not quite as simple as the way you worded it. All toning, natural and artificial, is caused by chemicals. But what you have to understand is that those chemicals can be in the air (a gas form), in a liquid form, a powdered form, a paste form, or even a solid form.

What most people call natural toning results from the chemicals being in a gas form. In other words the chemicals are present in the air that surrounds the coin. Toning from storage in albums, paper envelops, paper coin rolls, coin holders, coin cabinets, or even just sitting on the dresser or in a drawer - all of those are caused by gasses. Some people think that the toning is caused by direct contact of the coin with the album or paper envelope, or whatever. But it isn't. It is caused by the gasses put off by those things. The reason you see toning develop close to edges of a coin that are in direct contact with the object, is because of the proximity of the coin to those gasses being released by that object. That's where the greatest concentration of gasses are, by the edges of the coin.

But there is even more to it than that. Moisture (the humidity in the air), temperature, and time also play a part in toning. There are a thousand variables involved with toning, everything matters, everything has an effect. And that is all just with natural toning.

When artificial toning is employed, the chemicals, in any of their various forms, can applied directly to the coin, or merely in close proximity to the coin. The chemicals can be concentrated or scattered, minimalized in other words. But the result is going to be the same, the chemicals will act on the coin and cause toning.

Bottom line, anything that man can intentionally do to a coin mother nature has already done. Toning, no matter how unique or unusual it seems, can be 100% natural. Or it can be 100% artificial. There is no way to tell for sure if it is one, or the other. All you can do is guess.

 

As to the designations, only PCGS uses the phrase "questionable color". NGC will just label the coin Artificially Toned. Same for ANACS and ICG.

 

I'd agree that it can end up that way, if dipped for too long or too many times. But there are literally millions of 90% silver coins out there, and in NGC and PCGS slabs, that have been dipped and still have great luster. And no, there is no visible scarring on the coins whatsoever.

 

Sometimes yes but not always. That was my point, it's not an absolute. I have seen coins that were completely black and then dipped, and out comes a coin with booming luster.

There is one particular story often told on the bourse of a scarce, even somewhat rare, Morgan that was completely black and purchased for $26,000 by a major dealer. He then discussed with his friends at the show the possibility of dipping the coin. They all told him he was crazy to risk such a thing. Dip a coin that you just paid $26,000 for ? Well, he did it anyway, said he had a hunch.

So he cracked it, dipped it, was pleasantly surprised that his hunch was right, and submitted the coin. The coin came back up-graded 2 grades. He subsequently sold it for $226,000. This is not just a story, this is a true story !

Yes dipping coins is always a crap shoot because you never know what the out come will be. You may get lucky or may be unlucky and lose your butt. But many, many, darkly toned, completely black, coins have been dipped and turned into huge success stories. Many have also turned into complete disasters.