Artificial toned Franklin Halves

You're welcome to disagree all ya want, but what I stated was the truth.

Can hatchet job AT, like the coin you posted, be identified ? Sure, you bet it can. But any natural toning there is can be duplicated in a matter of hours. And in fact is often duplicated. And nobody, not foremost expert in the world, can tell the AT from the NT.

 

Why isn't everybody ? Because it requires knowledge. And some of those that have that knowledge are doing it, every day. They make a living at it. Many, many, of the attractively toned coins you see in NGC and PCGS slabs were "made" by people with that knowledge. It can even be done when the coin is already in the slab.

 

Do you really think I would explain it so others would know and it could become worse ?

Trust me it's a fact, not an opinion, a fact. I have no reason to lie, I don't even collect coins anymore. My purpose for being here is to have fun and to share knowledge with others.

 

Pretty simple, many of them don't want to believe it. And, because they like the way the coins look, so do I. I think many of them are gorgeous. And, because there is no way to tell AT from NT, so what possible difference could it make ?

 

Why ? You pay premiums for coins because you like them, right ? If say a coin has exceptional luster for the grade, is high end for the grade, and you really like it - is that coin not worth a premium ? Sure would be to me.

Same thing for toned coins. If I find the toning attractive and think the coin is special because of that toning, I'd pay a premium for it. I wouldn't go ga-ga crazy like some folks do and pay 10 times book, or more. But yeah, I'd pay a premium.

You see I have known for years, decades even, that anything that mother nature can do to a coin, that man can duplicate. But so what ? If you can't tell the difference between what mother nature did, and what man did, then how could it possibly matter which was which ?

That's the thing about toning. The natural process that gives a coin its spectacular color is the same process that a guy doing AT toning uses - just faster in most cases. The chemicals react with the metal on the coin, in exactly the same way, in both cases, to create the colors we see. It's chemicals that are causing the toning in natural toning. It's chemicals that are causing the toning in artificial toning. There is no difference between them.

So how can it possibly matter ?

 

Why ? Because you like it. Best reason in the world.

As for the toning changing, yeah it'll change. Nothing you can do to stop it. But with proper storage, you can slow it down so much that you'll be hard pressed to see any changes in your lifetime.

Now there will be changes, don't get me wrong. But the changes will be so subtle that unless take very good pictures when you obtain the coin, and very good pictures many years later, both under the same conditions, and then compare the 2 pics side by side, you'll never notice those changes.