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Message:: [QUOTE="brg5658, post: 2067618, member: 29751"]Paul, you are self-proclaimed "very tough on coins with terminal state toning" -- it seems that's the case unless the said coin is one you are trying to sell.  Whether the blotchy spots on the obverse of that Washington Quarter are "brown" or "black" -- it doesn't really matter -- the coin is ugly as sin.  That coin is neither a "gem" nor "stunning" nor "rainbow toned".  Yet you have found a way to describe it as such. So my point here is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Some people like and are fine collecting non-corroded darker toned original coins.  You also matter-of-factly stated of the OP's coin that the "obverse is 75% covered in terminal state toning (black)"...those are your words.  And, I simply disagree.  Given the poor photography, those tones could just as well be dark blues or browns -- and even if they are black toning, they are certainly laid out on the coin's surface in an overall non-obtrusive manner.  The reverse of the OP's coin looks truly stunning and lustrous, nothing like the gunky, nasty, circulated, black example you posted as an example of environmental damage.  So my point here is that the OP's coin looks dark, yes.  But I don't see anything that suggests environmental damage.  Dark toning does not equate with environmental damage.[/QUOTE]