Toning Coins.. on PURPOSE!

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by JDcompy, Jan 10, 2024.

  1. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

    I AT'd an Ike once. Put it directly on the propane grill while cooking some meat. It toned the coin. Does this help?

    The before:
    AT01.jpg

    AT02.jpg

    The apparatus:
    AT03.jpg

    Almost done:
    AT04.jpg

    The after:
    AT05.jpg

    AT06.jpg
     
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  3. cwart

    cwart Senior Member

  4. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

    I over did the obverse and didn't spread the BBQ sauce thoroughly. Live and learn. Still edible though.
     
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  5. Randy Abercrombie

    Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

    Heck... My dog eats gold rare.
     
  6. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

  7. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan 48-year collector Moderator

    It really does! He’s not making that up. I’ve seen pics of a gold dollar his dog chewed up! :nailbiting:
     
  8. cwart

    cwart Senior Member

    He was just doing the old bite test to see if it was real.... thats all
     
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  9. Randy Abercrombie

    Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

    Well ….. The dog won the contest. Though she never did tell me if it was genuine or not!

    [​IMG]
     
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  10. green18

    green18 Unknown member Sweet on Commemorative Coins

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  11. cwart

    cwart Senior Member

    That is both funny and sad at the same time.... more funny than sad, but still both
     
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  12. Insider

    Insider Talent on loan from...

    :rolleyes:What's sad :( is I gave my NJ girlfriend a gold bracelet AND SHE BIT IT to test it! :facepalm:
     
    Last edited: Jan 11, 2024
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  13. cwart

    cwart Senior Member

    Better it than you though.... lol
     
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  14. desertgem

    desertgem Senior Errer Collecktor Supporter

    Well, you are still alive so I gather it was gold. Tell her about XRF guns....you have one , right????
     
  15. JDcompy

    JDcompy Chief Inspiration Officer

  16. samclemens3991

    samclemens3991 Well-Known Member

    Rather bizarre thread. Only advice I can give is don't clean copper coins with baking soda. When I was a new collector (7 years old), my grandmother gave me 7 dark worn Indian cents. I thought they looked dirty and would clean up nice with some baking soda paste. They all turned the most repulsive color of orange known to mankind. My gut tells me there is one chance in a hundred of improving a copper coin. James
     
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  17. samclemens3991

    samclemens3991 Well-Known Member

    Oh and didn't mean to restart anything. 39 below here today. not much to do.
     
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  18. nerosmyfavorite68

    nerosmyfavorite68 Well-Known Member

    I guess 7 degrees isn't too bad then! Yikes, that's scary.

    The search function isn't that great at numisforums, but there's been various topics about toning silver. Nothing nefarious, they were trying to put a little bit of tone on it after the coins were cleaned blast white by the dealer. Mostly stuff like throwing the coin in a baggie with a boiled egg, etc.

    upload_2024-1-14_11-13-48.jpeg
    Nature toned this. The dealer had enough sense to leave it as a semi-uncleaned.

    I've rarely had problems with the old PVC flips (except them fusing to the ink on the ID part) except for a junker Valerian billon Antoninianus. It's now cherry red in parts of the fields!
     
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  19. samclemens3991

    samclemens3991 Well-Known Member

    Nero. Are there any rules for cleaning ancient coins?
    I have zero experience.
     
  20. nerosmyfavorite68

    nerosmyfavorite68 Well-Known Member

    Are you asking me if it's a taboo or methods? I'm a notorious klutz at hands-on stuff.

    Assuming the former, tooling is a big no-no (although I've heard that Europeans don't mind it as much), smoothing fields can be a no-no, depending on the collector. Per cleaning, other than stripping an AE coin of a patina, I guess there aren't any really hard rules about it.

    upload_2024-1-14_11-48-40.jpeg
    upload_2024-1-14_11-49-39.jpeg

    Out of the ground silver looks like the above, so cleaning is necessary in most cases (although the above were bought to keep as is). These common coins in an uncleaned state were much more interesting.

    Like Aaron Berk said in his podcast, all ancients come out of the ground so they have to be cleaned to some extent. Most collectors don't want a black silver coin.

    Toning is generally strongly preferred for silver, although most toning came from cabinet toning.

    Brightly cleaned silver can also be attractive, in certain cases:
    upload_2024-1-14_11-55-31.jpeg
    The miniscule chip knocked a couple hundred off of the purchase price.

    upload_2024-1-14_11-57-5.jpeg

    The dealer managed to break the above Nero through shoddy shipping (and hasn't responded to me), but that's either very old cabinet toning or a hoard patina. It's a bit darker in person. The coin is bent at a 30 degree angle now.
     
  21. samclemens3991

    samclemens3991 Well-Known Member

    Yeah i was asking the taboo part. Excellent information. just in case you haven't been keeping score at home i am the dude who had an MRI and went into shock and died Dec. 21 st. Since then I have not been allowed to work. Am sitting around waiting for test results for a side effect called Typase mast cellular regeneration syndrome. high point of each day is the twice a day reports to two different nurses for blood pressure and blood sugars.
    Looking for just about ANYTHING to spend time doing. Maybe ancient coins deserve a look. Lol.
     
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