Is this toning real or not?

jmcu12

I recently sent this in to PCGS and they returned it as 'Questionable'. What is your take on it? Thanks in advance for the advice!

These are pics of this Morgan.

wingedliberty

Yeah, its artificial. They call it the "Baked-Potato" effect. I agree.

Brian.

oldcameoproofsguy

I've seen that type of toning before. A dealer told me it was created by putting the coin onto a hot iron pan.


My Barbers

littlewicher

It sure is fake. It's common heat AT.

jmcu12

Thank you for your comments. While I did not spend much on this coin <15, I do not want to make a similar mistake on a more expensive piece. What advice can you offer a toning amature? Toning is a part of my hobby that looks quite facinating.

Thanks again.

littlewicher

Always look for colors that flow into each other.

wingedliberty

Exactly!!, Look for colors to flow into each other, Be careful of fragmented and abrupt spots of color.
Look for consistency!!!

TheNumish

My opinion is the only real way to learn the difference between real toning and artificial toning is to look at a lot of coins. After a while seeing the difference becomes second nature.

oldcameoproofsguy

Heres a pretty good thread done by DragonThreadthat brings out some good points about AT. Just ignore the bickering and fighting that followed. Actually it's kind of amusing.

Dog97

I think it looks like the toning came from being in a kraft envelope. Whether or not you call that "original" or not is a different story but it's not the kind of tone the grading companies accept as original.