Could stuff like this crash the toned coin market?

Yes, there has long been a segment of the market that preferred original, non dipped coins. But for the most part "those" collectors are what I have always referred to as discriminating collectors. And to be honest, on a historical basis, they made up a very small portion of the market. And I think to a large degree they still do.

That said, are we really talking about the same thing ? What I mean is this, are original, non dipped coins the same thing as colorfully toned coins ? To me they are not, not at all. And the general idea of this thread was in reference to colorfully toned coins. And colorfully toned coins only comprise a small portion of all the original, non dipped coins.

Yes the two groups are each a part of the larger combined group. But there are far greater numbers of original, non dipped coins than there are colorfully toned coins. Coins that have various shades of the typical grey or brownish toning which are far and away more common. These are the coins that are usually referred to when one uses the phrase - original skin. Quite simply they greatly outnumber the colorfully toned coins, coins with what we now refer to as rainbow toning. Coins with rainbow toning is what this thread is about. Is it not ?

Now if we look back, it was only around 2002, 2003 that coins with rainbow toning really started to gain wide popularity. And even then it was only just beginning. It was not until a couple of years later that they, rainbow toned coins, really became widely popular. And no, I'm not saying there were not collectors who liked them before that time. Yes, there were absolutely collectors who highly desired rainbow toned coins and actively sought them out. But those collectors were few in number back then. They existed, there just wasn't a whole lot of them.

Prior to the start of the current popularity of rainbow toning, 2002 and before, blast white coins were all the rage. This is evidenced by the fact NGC even had a "W" designation for their slabs, which was discontinued in the latter half of 2002 - https://www.ngccoin.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?NewsletterNewsArticleID=327

Further evidence are the coin forums themselves, there are countless posts from that time period which refer to the highly coveted, at the time, blast white coins. As do articles in all the numismatic magazines, and auction records. Auction records of the time show far greater numbers of blast white coins, and original, undipped coins, than they do rainbow toned coins. While more recent auction records, records starting after 2002 show increasing numbers of rainbow toned coins.

The primary point is this, it's a fact that the wide spread popularity of colorfully toned, rainbow toned coins is fairly recent in the history of numismatics. It is a fact that there was a sea change in the coin market, in regard to rainbow toned coins that occurred pretty close to 2004 - or only about 12 years ago. It is also a fact that the numbers of rainbow toned coins in the market hugely increased, steadily, and starting at about the same time, while the numbers of blast white coins decreased.

Could some of those blast white coins have suddenly become rainbow toned coins ? Individuals can draw their own conclusions about that. And they can also draw their own conclusions as to whether or not rainbow toned coins are as popular as they were say 5 years ago. And, whether or not some of those rainbow toned coins have once again become blast white coins.

Bottom line people's likes and dislikes change over time. They always have and they always will. It is human nature.