Are there tones hiding within your Brownies?

As some of you may know now . I have not been known to be so nice to my Wheaties. I had a penny with heavy environmental damage. I decided to give it a coin brightener bath in an attempt to expose more detail. I gave it several baths. It did not occur to me at first but on the second bath I noticed color.
The toning was gone after two more baths. I'm questioning the chemical process. The Dilemma is... Is there "natural" toning hiding under the oxidation or... Is the chemical process actually creating the toning "artificially"? I've subject a few more to a single dip just for some eye candy.

 

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The chemical would cause AT

 

Is it creating the toning or is it exposing toning? I ask because a second bath would remove the toning.

 

Were you using MS-70?

That is well known to create the blue toning you see there.

It is not uncovering it - it is causing a reaction with something on the surface to create the color.

This substance has been discussed at length for many, many years. You can do a quick search of this or any other forum to find the threads on the topic.

 

I have trouble searching these forums

I thought I answered you yesterday. Yes MS. I think I got sucked in to a relevant thread as per your instructions to search out the topic. After a bit more browsing and what I've found here I don't think I would ever buy a coin based mainly on it's tone. It seems to be too easy to replicate and IMO nice colorful toning is pretty rare and I can not personally be confident enough, that it is natural, to pay a premium for color. At this point I would rather take my chances with a bright coin.

 

I can reproduce this easily, they were just regular old brown Wheaties before the dip. I will remember before/after. TU

 

I can also remove the toning with a second longer bath. That is where I got my theory from. My theory was a little dip removes a layer and exposes toning another dip removes another layer removing toning and subsequential dips have little to no visible effect. I was thinking of it as a layer removal process as opposed to a chemical composition change.

 

What dip are you using?

 

MS

 

- I have to retract that toning can be removed by subsequent brightening.

 

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I have to retract that toning can be removed by subsequent brightening. It is only sometimes. I have not correlated the difference but some coins remain toned. I think the tone removal may have had something to do with the acetone wash. I've been able to replicate it quickly. But not just acetone. It must be a subsequent bath of brightener immediately followed by acetone dunk.

 

Chemicals cause AT toning. The toning is not on the coin until something comes in contact with the coin.

 

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Yes I should have said bath...

 

The method of removing the toning is leading to the confirmation the the toning is actually happening due to a reaction with the air and a certain oxide that has been formed on the coin. Also, not every cent will have this reaction and must be due to a specific oxide that has formed on the coin. Note the red areas remain on the 77 but the oxidized areas have toned.