Featured What You Need to Know About: The Science of Toning

Nice rainbow halo

 

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Just a Fantastic post

 

Excellent write up , thanks .

 

Thank you for the post. Always nice to have the chemistry behind the artistry.

 

I liked the article a great deal! There was just one line that I have to differ with: where you said:
"but no amount of meddling can replace the simple element of time."
Actually... it can! I own Shire Post Mint. We make fantasy coins and we do a lot of tumbling and coloring with combinations of heat and chemistry to emulate the look and feel of coins that might be hundreds of years old or more. I have played with various processes on my fantasy coins... and have gotten to the point where I can basically emulate ANY pattern of toning you care to show me... in just a matter of hours. I can even make patterns of toning you have never seen... like starbursts and patterns that follow the precise outlines of the coin design... or form haloes around the head. I have not done any of this on real coins, only on my customs (and those gorgeous toned examples sell quite well)... but the fact that I can do it means that others can do it too. I know this is an uncomfortable topic for those who have invested in toned coins... but the fact that they can be so easily faked means they probably should never be worth more than just a few dollars extra. I promise that I will never do it... and I also do not plan to share the details of my processes. But it only cost me a few weeks of trial and error... and that kind of research can be done by just about anybody with a little workshop and chemistry background.

 

Oh boy, an ethical coin doctor. Bold claims about your skills, how about you show us some examples of what you can do. Can you start by showing us some bag toning reminiscent of a Morgan Dollar?

 

Better yet, make me coins that look exactly like these. I prefer MS66 or higher for the metallic canvas please. And lets use real coins so that the dynamics/physical design considerations are the same. Could you also emulate some textile toning or pull away toning for us. This isn't meant as sarcasm; I am serious. And I would be super impressed if you were actually able to pull it off (and shocked too).

Edited: And Lehigh, I quoted you but I'm clearly referring to the poster that you responded to (just for clarification).









And for extra credit, I would like to see you tone some gold, perhaps even more dramatic than this:

 

First time post

 

Here's a pic of some of my customs that were batch processed on fresh coins right off the press. This is a selection of the more intense colors out of a total batch of 160. You can see that there are quite a few random variations. I was able to identify the conditions responsible for the more startling color pattern as compared to the more plain bluish single color (lower right). This is the Eddard Stark silver pfennig (1 dwt .999 fine silver) from the A Game of Thrones series. Some are rather startling and others quite plain. I do not do this on "real" coins. I only posted to let people know that rainbow toning is not so hard to do. I daresay that with about ten grand in dedicated lab equipment and reagents, it would literally be possible to emulate any conceivable toning pattern. So while it's interesting, I don't believe that toning should command premium prices beyond the few dollars it would take to purposefully create. If I can do it, others can too. I have not shared my recipe... but with a few experiments anybody could figure it out.

 

Well, the difference between those and righteously-toned coins is stark and plain to anyone who understands the process. And many of us *do* know how to accelerate "natural" toning without having to bake coins. And it doesn't require much money, just an understanding of the underlying chemistry.

Obviously you're aware that the examples presented above aren't intended to pass as real; they don't come close to appropriate thin-film interference progression according to any natural process and are plainly homebrewed. I contend you'll find it difficult indeed to duplicate an album-toned coin without duplicating album toning conditions.

And settle for it taking two weeks instead of two hours. Lots easier that way.

 

Very informative.

 

No offense, but these are very much AT. This is a great example of a look to strongly avoid. Anyone familiar with natural toning would be able to instantly spot these pieces as AT - as superdave has described.

To the readers of this forum: if you ever see a piece that looks like this, stay away.

 

Those coins are not rainbow toned, they are crap. If creating AT coins that can pass for NT (market acceptable) coins was easy, everyone would do it and the market would already be flooded. The crap you have shown wouldn't fool anyone.

 

Resurrection for @davidh

 

Though it wasn't intended for me, thanks for the bump, Paul. In the middle of typing this out I went back to see the published date...2009! Time flies! I appreciate this thread much more now after having completed related university coursework before earning my degree.

@physics-fan3.14 Jason, I've made note of one of your references, "Coin Chemistry," and have several threads by Sunnywood bookmarked over at CU that deal more with colors and optics IIRC. If there are any other related threads--written by you or otherwise--books, or research articles on this topic that you have stored away that deal with chemistry and the reactions of toning proper, I'd be much obliged. @desertgem I feel like this request is up your alley as well.

Thanks for the OP, Jason. Very well done.

 

Good to see you Travis. I can't believe I don't know this, but where did you attend college and what is your degree?

 

Congrats Travis . Good to hear ya !

 

Since they are my own private mint coins they weren't meant to fool anyone, they were meant to be an artistic expression. They were all eagerly snapped up by collectors. Apparently one man's "crap" is another's treasure. The "naturally" toned coins pictures were not very attractive to me... too splotchy. I could have done better. In my view, it's not about trying to emulate crappy random natural toning... it's about creating a pleasing and intentional artistic effect.

Happy hunting.

Tom

 

I understand those are your own artistic coins but you said above you were able to emulate any kind of pattern of toning. Then a few posters requested you show some examples of specific patterns of toning which in your own words you can easily emulate in a matter of hours.

So in one post you say you can emulate anything in a matter of hours, then when asked to demonstrate it you say it's not about trying to emulate crappy random natural toning. That's actually exactly what it's about.