Toning tricks?

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The problem with that is ya gotta eat at Taco Bell, which is known to produce natural side effects. Objectionable. :vanish: :whistle:

 

Artificial toning is considered bad, the definition of it tho is a bit slippery, since natural processes are in play.

But there is a Rebbe Miller who put out a good treatise on artificiality, his was concerned with man instead of coins but some general principals might apply.

First off coins are artificial, they represent artifice, men taking metal ore, refining it, shaping it, adding representations that many consider art, would "natural" purists turn down any coin because they are products of mans ingenuity? If they would, they would be Mr. Nature Boys turning their backs on a world of artificiality, which would make them somewhat more retro than the amish or Ted Kazinsky (sp?).

 

Anything with sulfer in it will tone coins or,

Anything with sulfer in it will tone coins, the other methods I have heard are, baking the coin in a potato, putting matches in the box or container, baking soda, on an oak board, old paper envelopes in the sun or attic, old coin boards or folders. Then also you can just put them in a frying pan and turn on the heat but be very fast about it, they turn quickly anywhere from blue to rose to silver, you can boil them and bake them.

Now before you'all jump on me I say this with tongue in cheek and yes most of it is true but for all but one kind of toning (the brown envelope in the window seal), all of these can easily be noticed as being AT or ruined. Never attemped this with a coin worth more than face value and don't try to sell it or pass it off as genuine if you hasted the process by any of these methods. But for the widow seal, every dealer I know does this from time to time. Generaly it is reseverd for for that Morgan or Barber that is truly XF/AU but had a light cleaning long ago and just looks a little to shiny and does in fact benifit from being toned down a bit. Sometimes it works well, many times it does not but in this context the dealer doing this to a coin is really trying to "undo" someone elses bad judgement when they cleaned it or overdipped it.

Like all things numismatic there is right, wrong and many shades of grey and until you have looked at, sold, handled hundreds of thosands of coins you really don't know what you are doing so do the foot work, the home work and pay your dues first then worry about AT and cleaning after you should pretty much know better than to ever do it except on very rare occasions.

 

lol agreed Can't say I'm a fan of even one of their menu items (and you can add their sister companies KFC and Pizza Hut to that list too) :smile

 

Sorry, I was called to breakfast. My answer was only partial.

It seems to me that where at offends is when its art overrides the art of the coin itself, but it is not the same as hobo nickels, which also use coins as a canvas, I think because a hobo nickel does not purport to be the coin itself.

The coin itself is artificial but nobody would say differently, but at pretends to a natural process, where I would have no qualms with at is if the coin was produced and attributed as such, in the same way that hobo nickels are.

Probably as clear as mud but the idea is not mature.

 

Take the coin and place it inside a newspaper, and place it in the a car window, that is in direct sun light. Time to make it change, do not know. The newspaper, which has surfer in it, and the heat will speed up the reactions. This will take less time. Our club talked about things that others have heard or tried. Any ideas from others? -O)

 

I didn't realize become a coin doctor was so popular. It used to be frowned upon in most numismatic circles. Maybe there is some hope for AT coins yet.

 

Thanks