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Message:: [QUOTE="physics-fan3.14, post: 3994096, member: 19165"]I think Doug's summary of "intent" is over-simplifying it a bit. For example, I personally have intentionally put untoned coins into envelopes with the hopes that they would tone nicely. I intend for them to tone. That is absolutely not AT! Leaving them in your album page is absolutely not AT! These are both commonly used and accepted methods of storing coins, and the coins will naturally tone in these holders. The difference with Artificial Toning is that the coins are either stored in non-traditional places, the toning is accelerated through heat, or a chemical is applied to change the appearance. Some of these are recognizable as artificial, some may have the same appearance as a naturally toned coin. Here's the thing - most accelerated toning isn't going to look good. If you are heating a coin to enhance the toning, it probably isn't going to look right. Placing it in the windshield of your car is subjecting it to chemicals and airflow patterns that aren't consistent with natural toning from normally accepted coin storage methods. It's going to look different. It's going to look artificial. Your example of the mint bag in a vault is a good one. Collectors know that coins sat in the vault, know that the bags had sulfur. We've seen the bags being opened and the coins coming out. We know what that pattern looks like and how those coins have toned. That is natural toning because it was a natural consequence of how the coins were stored - no chemicals, no heat, no acceleration, just 100 years in a vault. Now, if you were to take a bag and put it in your vault for 100 years and your grandson were to open it, it might have a similar toning pattern. That would be natural! If you were to take your coin and heat it up to accelerate things, that's probably going to look unnatural. I hope that helps.[/QUOTE]

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