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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 119, member: 57463&quot;]Some people use chemicals and physical treatments to tone coins in order to hide problems.&nbsp; An MS 62 coin with a ding on the cheek can be toned to hide the hit and bring a higher grade in the eyes of an inexperienced buyer.&nbsp; As a result, two views are current in numismatics and perhaps both are correct, since they are not mutually exclusive.</p><p><br /></p><p>(1)&nbsp; Every time you carry a coin in your pocket, you polish it.&nbsp; Every time you set a coin down, you let it tone.&nbsp; This fact comes from Q. David Bowers.</p><p><br /></p><p>(2) A purist&#039;s view might be that whatever happens to a coin in its NATURAL life is &quot;natural.&quot; Whatever is done intentionally by a numismatist is artificial.&nbsp; If you take a coin that has been worn flat and shiny and DO ANYTHING to it with the INTENTION of changing its appearance -- including doing NOTHING to it -- you have &quot;artificially retoned&quot; it.</p><p><br /></p><p>That said, the primary chemical in toning is sulphur, which is everywhere in the air in some percentage.&nbsp; If you put sulphur powder (from a hobby shop that sells chemistry set stuff) in Vaseline jelly and make a paste, you can apply that to a silver coin to darken it.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I have seen coins that people left in leather bags.&nbsp; The tanning chemicals toned the coin with interesting colors.&nbsp; Some people claim that cigarettes and cigars tone coins nicely -- they do &quot;tone&quot; coins, but how nicely is questionable.&nbsp; To me, it is obvious and unnatural looking yellow brown.&nbsp; Just leaving a coin in a pocket of something you won&#039;t wear for a couple of seasons will do that.&nbsp; Some people just put coins on a windowsill in the sun for a couple of months and let nature take its course.&nbsp; If you toss the coin in a desk for 150 years, it will tone, also.&nbsp; In fact, there is a term called &quot;cabinet toning&quot; that refers to the coloring of coins from the wooden collector&#039;s cabinets that 19th century gentlemen stored their collections in.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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