TONING......The next frontier for scam??
topstuf
Posts: 14,803 ✭✭✭✭✭
In my short time on this forum, I have noticed a great deal of discussion of toning. As a geezer, I advise caution here. Toning (either natural or artificial) is a chemical reaction. I would imagine that many many MANY scamsters both here and abroad are working feverishly on toning.
Since toning even fools the experts at times, it is an area where slabs don't offer as much security as they do in the field of wear and authenticity.
AND....since toning is the one area where a doctored coin can get into a slab, I would be hesitant to assign a GREAT differential in price simply for color.
It is pretty. Don't get me wrong. I like toning. But I don't like the sudden PUSH for it. It's great for circ stuff as that is pretty standard and desirable and much harder to fake. Not impossible as there are ways to do that too, but less risky financially.
Chemicals are amazing. The guy who got me started in coins back in the early 70's was the chairman of the school of pharmacy for a major midwestern college. One afternoon, he and I were playing with some stuff just for kicks and came up with a GRADING solution. Neither of us could remember EXACTLY what we had combined, but when we added thiourea to the mess, it turned an AU coin bright blue and orange. Strange part was that the protected areas were blue and the worn areas were orange.
At any rate, I would urge real CAUTION on a search for toning.
FWIW
Since toning even fools the experts at times, it is an area where slabs don't offer as much security as they do in the field of wear and authenticity.
AND....since toning is the one area where a doctored coin can get into a slab, I would be hesitant to assign a GREAT differential in price simply for color.
It is pretty. Don't get me wrong. I like toning. But I don't like the sudden PUSH for it. It's great for circ stuff as that is pretty standard and desirable and much harder to fake. Not impossible as there are ways to do that too, but less risky financially.
Chemicals are amazing. The guy who got me started in coins back in the early 70's was the chairman of the school of pharmacy for a major midwestern college. One afternoon, he and I were playing with some stuff just for kicks and came up with a GRADING solution. Neither of us could remember EXACTLY what we had combined, but when we added thiourea to the mess, it turned an AU coin bright blue and orange. Strange part was that the protected areas were blue and the worn areas were orange.
At any rate, I would urge real CAUTION on a search for toning.
FWIW
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Comments
Russ, NCNE
People have been trying to make coins 'better' for a very long time.
The coin doctors were working their magic with heat and chemicals to achieve toning on classic commems over ten years ago.
Got quoins?
And a CRAZE for anything will bring in even more.
On the bright side, maybe it will take the "taggers" off the streets and into the coin room. Spray paint anyone?