Learning About Rainbow Toning

I'm interested in learning more about Rainbow Toning. I've gone back and read several of the posts that have been written before, which was helpful, but would like to learn more.

I saw many coins at two different dealers' tables at a show a few weeks back that had very similar toning to these coins and it piqued my interest a bit.

So, I'd like to post some pictures of a few coins and get the opinions of those more knowledgeable than me regarding whether the coins are naturally or artificially toned and please say why you think so either way. By the way, these are all coins that are slabbed by PCGS and NGC.

 

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Here's a couple more for good measure.

 

GD and some other people here can help you more than I can with this. I'm just a begginer when it comes to toning. But, I have to add this. Very gorgeous coins you have there. Very pretty. :thumb:

Phoenix

 

i couldnt agree more, but i always thought that toned coins with a distinctive boundary between the toned and untoned part of the coin was a good indication of it being 'un-naturally' tonned. I always thought coins that had a more natural progression, if any, between the toned and untaned parts was more of the natural tonning for coins....

my 2-cents worth =)

 

The 2nd one (1886) looks questionable to me. I would say it's AT along with the 6th (1887) but those are just my opinions and certainly not expert.

Take Care
Ben

 

I think some of those coins look very artificially toned.......but I might be wrong...the 1886 looks particularly suspect because the toning goes from colour to coulor so straightly and the whole coin does not have a light tone.

However, if they have been slabbed, then they are PROBABLY not artificially tone, but I think the toning might have been caused by contact with sulphur....

 

I believe that type of toning is natural and is caused by the coins being in partial contact with the surface of the bag in a bag of uncirculated Morgan dollars. Very pretty sometimes!

 

They all are pretty! I'm no expert, but #s 2, 5, and 6 look somewhat suspicious.

 

Very good comments so far. I definitely thought that #2 and #6 looked suspicious the way there's that double band of colored toning, but thought that I'd like to hear from the experts on it. The folks at NGC apparently didn't think anything was wrong when they slabbed them.

Oh, just another interesting note... most of these are NGC * (star) coins.

 

3rd coin (1886) appears to have some doubling in the date, esp. on 18. Is there some VAM variety that year ?

 

While I agree that a couple of those don't look very natural, I would think PCGS and NGC (as you say they are all slabbed by) would have picked them out as fakes. Here are some signs of fake toning:

From the video "How to Tell Artificial Toning on Coins"

- Circular toning spots resulting from the beading of the toning liquid that was used.
- Colors that blend together out of sequence. With naturally toned coins, the progression is yellow then magenta (pinkish red) then cyan (blue-green).
- Toning that appears only on the tops of the lettering and devices and not in the coin's recesses.
- Wild "circus" colors -- on 90 percent silver coins, for instance, army green, bright pumpkin orange, and robin-egg blue.

From the book "Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection"

- The toning floats on the surface of the coin rather than having depth and being bonded to the metal.
- The toning occurs over hairlines or other marks.
- The toning exhibits bright "crayon" colors.
- The toning has a yellow-brown, smoky appearance, indicating it was caused by cigarette or cigar smoke.

Check out this page explaining toned coins:
http://rg.ancients.info/guide/toning.html

 

Tell ya the truth, while I too find myself using the terms "unnatural" and "natural" in relationship to toning, I still don't quite understand the criteria involved. F'rinstance, I have some of these cloth mint sacks. If I put a coin in there, with the intent to tone it, would that be considered "natural" toning? I guess it would. But putting it in a baked potato would be" unnatural," because coins aren't naturally stored in baked potatoes. But you can store them in the burlap sack the potatoes came in, because a sack is a sack is a sack, and we all can't be expected to have access to mint sacks. Shoe boxes and cigar boxes, I suppose they're natural, too. A plastic zip-lock bag, same thing, natural. Any natural storage medium, basically--is that how it's defined? Hey, I'll ask the questions, you guys find the answers...

 

Natural and artificial are not the most accurate terms to describe toning. All toning is natural - yet some is accelerated. I think that one key factor for determining natural vs. artificial is the time period it takes to tone a coin. From my observations, when someone shows a vividly toned Morgan that has been sitting in a bag for 60 years - that is considered natural toning. When someone shows a vividly toned Morgan with the exact same toning pattern as the above example - except the coin baked in an oven for 3 minutes - that is considered artificial or unnatural toning.

 

I'm not a big fan of rainbow toning. Even if it is "natural" is still looks unnatural. I guess it's an acquired taste.

 

But yet there are some instances where the coins tone is artificially accelerated by using different heating sources, as you said, like in an oven or a light open flame, which I've seen before, but that is a little different than these pictures show. It appears that a few of these coins posted here are AT in my opinion. Ive never seen a coin tone naturally the way these are.

 

It seems odd to have so many coins with the circular arc of untoned area, ( like from being covered by another coin), unless they were selected because the owner likes this look.

Do they come from one dealer, if so, I find it suspicious how he gets a lot of coins like this, as in maybe he helps ?

 

Bingo. Buy what appeals to you.

 

I know about the storage and why some tone like this, however that only effects some coins in a bag.

If a dealer has a display case and all his coins look like this, I say what's up with that ?

Maybe this collector just seeks out these coins, and that's why he has several like it.

I won't pay crazy money for toning.

Did you ever see that Oregon trail half with rainbow toning that sold for $47,000 or something like that ?

I think a service can be fooled by AT, they certainly grade cleaned coins.

 

After hearing all these crazy toning methods, I checked on eBay. Seems there are a couple different guys selling some solutions that you can just drop onto the coins, and it tons in a matter of seconds. Seems like it works according to all the positive feedback they get. That would be fun to play with on some pocket change

Just search "coin toner" on eBay.