Was wondering if someone could post some info or a link on how to do this. I see some coins with a "Monster Tone" on Ebay but they a new coins (2005-2006). Is this done with chemicals, heat, stain? How do they get them with a purple/sea green tone? Anyway, if you could give some info...?
I myself have been curious about this process of toning coins. The ad claims that the chemical they sell will do 4 coins per bottle, so it must be exposing the coin to the fumes of the chemical rather then wiping the agent directly onto the surface of the coin. It is possible that heat may be involved or not. The only down side I see is that what happens after 5, 10, 20, years of the coin reacting to this agent. It is very possible that it may ruin a coin over a long period of time. I personally love the looks of a toned coin. It reminds me of the colors in the sky at dawn, simply awsome! Maybe you should get a bottle and try it out, in fact I might just do that myself. Only I hate the fact that it is not 100% garranteed that you won't ruin coins in the process, and as a avid collector I don't think I want to take the chance that that won't happen.
Jase: I am a notorious fiddler, my wife would say a pyro lol I learned, een with modern coins, that exposure to high heat can cause artificial toning. I experimented on various coins: washington quarter, state quarter rossie dime and a lincoln cent. these were all beat up coins worth face value. The dime turned a gorgeous purple color when roasted in my fireplace, cent lost it's copper coating ( 1 disappeared into nothing) the statehood qurater turned gold toned, and not much happened to the regular washington. Somewhere her ein cointalk are pictures of the dime I posted also. I am a fan of heat for effeciantly toning ones supply of spending coin.
Thanks walterallen, sappernurse. Looks like I am going to try heat. Stain or chemicals will leave residue which is not desired. Just to make my intentions clear, I would never try to deceive someone with this techinque. I know what it is like to buy a coin that is mis-represented (Ebay?). I really appreciate coins that have natural tone, but lack the resources (money) to have the ones with exceptional color. Anyway, will post some pictures if I have any success. jase.
I bought a bottle of the artificial toner from ebay. it takes a lot of experimentation to get a fairly realistic tone on a coin, I used some face value silver coins I have, and if you want to clean it off and start again just dip the coin. It did not permanently stain any of them although a couple were very dark. The chemical is diammonium sulfide and it smells bad so do not try this at the kitchen table. The bottle is very small but it does not take but a small drop to tone a coin. Try using a plastic bowl, a very small one is best, and stand the coin up leaning on the side of the bowl, drop 1 drop of toner in the bottom of the bowl, NOT ON THE COIN, cover bowl and check every 20 to 30 seconds untill the desired affect is reached. It is something interesting in playing with, but I would not use on a very expensive coin,maybe a common date morgan or peace , the better condition the coin the better it works though. I got good results on a 1921 AU Morgan it looks natural. Hope this helps some. Marion
I tried to get a good picture of the coin and this is the best I can get. This is the best one I ended up with most of them turned dark brown and black and I had to clean them in e-z-est. Marion
That's not bad. My first impression was that the toning looks alot like that I've seen on some old proof Bust Halfs and such. I like it.
There has been lots of postings here in the past about toning. I don't know how to link to them. However, I have tried numerous methods and some work and some don't. As for heating a coin note that different types of heat applied will result in different toning. Over a gas stove direct, in a pan on a gas stove, over a bar-b-que grill, matches, propane lighters, matches, etc. One thing that resulted in deep blue toning was heating over a gas stove and dumping in dish soap. Again, different dish soaps created a different toning. Ajax dish soap worked the best. Putting coins in a pan with Vinegar, lemon or lime juice, miscelaneous other products and boiling only cleaned the coins, not toned them. A great method is to soak a cotton ball with gun bluing solution, place the coin in there for a few minutes and great toning. It's fun to experiment.
