I know this topic is immoral, but what are the different methods people have used to tone coins?

STONE

...and with what success did you have? I'm only asking because I have to write a PAPER on this subject.


This is what I have gathered so far:

1) Heating a coin in the oven
2) Heating a coin in a baked potatoe in the oven (myth or reality?)
3) Taco Bell napkin
4) Coin in envelope w/ lit matchsticks
5) Liver or Sulfer
6) Direct sunlight for an extended period of time w/out disturbance
7) Album toning (25 years, something like that) (old album)
8) Sophisticated Chemical labs (Plausible)
9) Coins in nylon stocking placed in septic tank sludge (can anyone else corroborate to this?) (am I gullible on this one?)
10) Under a networked printer in a drawer on red felt trays for 6 months or so (are you serious or am I just oblivious to the corporate world?)
11) Hurricanes...
12) Plastic bag with coin inside along with struck matches & rag with vasoline
13) "Toner" off of eBay.
14) Thermal Oxidation, a process involving heat, atmospheric oxygen, atmospheric sulfur, copper and nickel
15) Dandruff Shampoo


***Definitely not the microwave!!!


Any other methods that have worked would be appreciated. And don't worry, toning coins isn't something I do. I like my coins as they come (at least to my knowledge) natural. Whether toning is an accepted method of beautifying a coin or considered ruining a coin, toning isn't my thing.

Thanks guys

kranky

Liver of sulfur.

RYK

Swallowing a coin and then "retrieving" it a couple days later. I recommend removing the coin from any slab or holder first.

Barry

<< <i>Swallowing a coin and then "retrieving" it a couple days later. I recommend removing the coin from any slab or holder first. >>


That's a self-serving answer. You're just trying to generate more GI series

RYK

<< <i>

<< <i>Swallowing a coin and then "retrieving" it a couple days later. I recommend removing the coin from any slab or holder first. >>



That's a self-serving answer. You're just trying to generate more GI series >>



Hell, no. No one likes doing that stuff.

jmj3esq

Placing the coin on a window sill in direct sunlight for some time.

EvilMCT

Placing the coin in an album and letting it sit for 25 years has produced some nice toning.

MadMarty

For nice golden brown toning, LongTimeCollector carries a coin around in his buttcheaks for a couple of weeks. All I can say is that it's a crappy way to tone coins!!!

13PacesEast

it's all about profit.

it's not immoral or unethical if it's all about the profit.

besides, even if it was.... if you got caught all you have to do is say " i am sorry.. i was trying to make a profit"

and you will be welcomed back into the Circle of Profit with open arms.

mojoman

I do not recommend the microwave
there was a post a while back using boiled eggs,onions,vinegar, mix the 3 in a small container put that in a larger one, add coins around it, cover and wait ,there was pictures with nice results for personal use only.

or ..........just say no to AT COINS LOL

coinguy1

Sophisticated chemical labs.

bushmaster8

Place coins in an old coin album and place between Lucybop's mattress and boxspring.

This also works for lasering gold w/o the laser.

XpipedreamR

<< <i>Swallowing a coin and then "retrieving" it a couple days later. I recommend removing the coin from any slab or holder first. >>





Funny you should mention that. I know a very strange lady who loves to regale us with stories of how when her son was little, he swallowed a quarter(?) and that she searched for the coin for several days. She said that upon finally retrieving it, the coin had turned purple, and that she still has the coin. I will not be evaluating the evidence for AT/NT. This is by far the mildest of her Tales of Overmothering™

TwoSides2aCoin

Hi Stone

I don't think the topic is immoral. I believe the more people toy with coins, the more we get BAD coins out of the market. Once numismatists and purists realize what a GOOD coin is and what a NON dipped beauty really looks like, the sooner the value will go up for Good Coins
..... It's all good. Use every method I say . Kill as many coins as possible . It only makes the GOOD coins go up in value. Send them to NGC and NCS or ANACS. Toy with them, get them housed and have fun with your coins, but
If you want them to taste good, add sugar


Joe

lathmach

I hate to tell my secrets, but I know you guys will keep mum.
Ok, here goes.......
I live out in the Boondocks, and have a septic system.
I take an old nylon stocking and fasten a string to it and put the coins I want toned inside.
Then I lower it to the bottom where the sludge is gooiest, and leave it for a couple weeks to a month.
All I do is rinse them well when I take em out.
They are just beautiful. Perfect natural toning.
It always gives me a warm feeling when I show them to dealers and they ooh and ahh over them; fondling them with their bare hands while eating their junk food meals.

Ray

RichieURich

I'm just not sure which answers are serious and which ones are "tongue-in-cheek".

HoshiShoju

I have them sit underneath a networked printer in a drawer on red felt trays. They tone nicely over about 6 months.

RYK

<< <i>

<< <i>Swallowing a coin and then "retrieving" it a couple days later. I recommend removing the coin from any slab or holder first. >>





Funny you should mention that. I know a very strange lady who loves to regale us with stories of how when her son was little, he swallowed a quarter(?) and that she searched for the coin for several days. She said that upon finally retrieving it, the coin had turned purple, and that she still has the coin. I will not be evaluating the evidence for AT/NT. This is by far the mildest of her Tales of Overmothering™ >>



I knew I was on to something. Have you ever seen a toned Pan-Pac Octagonal $50? I didn't think so.

laserart

<< <i>I'm just not sure which answers are serious and which ones are "tongue-in-cheek". >>


I believe lathmach is telling a halftruth. He rubs them between his thumb and index finger first, then rinses them.

dthigpen

And carolj deleted all my brilliant threads regarding the passing of coins to tone them.

Mercury

Leave in house, schedule a catagory 5 hurricane to flood your house, come back two moths later.

actual coin.........

beartracks42

I hate to tell my secrets, but I know you guys will keep mum.
Ok, here goes.......
I live out in the Boondocks, and have a septic system.
I take an old nylon stocking and fasten a string to it and put the coins I want toned inside.
Then I lower it to the bottom where the sludge is gooiest, and leave it for a couple weeks to a month.
All I do is rinse them well when I take em out.
They are just beautiful. Perfect natural toning.
It always gives me a warm feeling when I show them to dealers and they ooh and ahh over them; fondling them with their bare hands while eating their junk food meals.



Ray,

You qualify for the "Old Fart" POTD

BigE

I just tried to move the concrete lid on my septic tank, looks like I will need an accomplice---------BigE

Colorfulcoins

I've heard but never tried: Plastic bag with coin inside along with struck matches & rag with vasoline.

ModernDollarNut

STONE, I am hardly an expert in toned coins but check out the basics: toning is tarnish, an oxidative process that chemically alters the outer most surface of the coin. Oxidation can be accellerated by placing the coin in an environment rich in oxidants, including active sulfers and/or heating.

The AT pros are getting better and better at creating an NT look which otherwice takes years or decades.

If I were to make a serious effort at creating the NT look, I would explore laminar flow environments rich in oxygen and sulfur......

Presumably, in the case of "NT" occuring in a cardboard album or in a canvass bag, for example, the target toning is created by the subtle increasing gradients of sulfers toward the cardboard edge or the canvas. In both cases the exposure is so slight that the process evolves slowly with a gradient of oxidation thin enough to create refractive colors without appearing to be "painted on". For reasons I do not understand, green occurs more often than with accellerated toning.

I'm in the camp that there is no clear-cut absolute distinction between purposeful but patient accellerated toning and accidental "natural" toning. For example, let's say a distinguished collector places Frankies in a particular brand of cardboard coin album which she places on a sunny window sill: let's say these Frankies tone magnificently in a year or two and have all the characteristics of NT. Is this AT or NT? Is this significantly different than storing coins in the same brand of album accidently and discovering 10 or 20 years later that they have toned beautifully? Does a Morgan have to reside in a canvas bag for a hundred years to be NT?

At present, PCGS and NGC will holder any dipped coin that does not have obvious indications of over-dipping or mechanical cleaning. The rational is that such dipping is "market acceptable".

I think the trend with the best AT coins is much the same - if there is no clear-cut indication of AT, a given colored coin has a good shot at getting holdered and I think it is happening every day. There are many super-colorful holdered Ikes I avoid from a suspicion they could be AT, just as I avoid holdered "BLAST WHITE!!!" older silver coins that have a uniform "new" appearance (even though there is the occasional venerable US copper or silver coin that was preserved immediately with laquer or something similar which can be removed to reveal original surfaces).

Having revealed my ignorance in an effort to get you started, you should have fun writing your paper if you can capture the heated arguments on this subject that flow almost daily on this board. Rob

commoncents05

doesn't using match heads make the coin turn black? or if you pull them out in time they'll be ok? or do you have to neutralize the surfaces with alcohol otherwise they will still tone? thanks for the info.

-Paul

cape

ive heard of cigar toning being done.

TwoSides2aCoin

<< <i>And carolj deleted all my brilliant threads regarding the passing of coins to tone them. >>


for some reason, I believe you.

PerryHall

<< <i>ive heard of cigar toning being done. >>



Easy to detect. Just smell the coin.

Kimchee

The following methods work great for creating beautifully toned coins, but this information should only be used by people who plan to crack coins out their holders, artificially tone their coins, and put them into PCGS and NGC holders-

1- Put coins in your car gas tank for 6 months.
2- Put coins in your car's oil tank for 6 months, then for MONSTER toning, lick the coin clean.
3- Flush coin down the toilet, then in the night go to the sewer plant and wade hip deep in poop to find it again.
4- Go to a city where the president is visiting and, while he's giving a speech, run up on the stage to him really fast and press the coin to his forehead. The forehead of any president contains oils perfect for rainbow toning, so do it for both sides.

kimchee

dorkkarl

<< <i>I know this topic is immoral, but what are the different methods people have used to tone coins? >>

the topic IS NOT IMMORAL.

nor is toning coins.

K S

Bochiman

I've left a few SAEs out in the open air (in the closet and on the windowsill).
Just left them sitting out. Nothing put on them, nothing put around them (ie...no sulphur/matches/etc)

They are toning. One is going golden first then darker and the other is actually toning more weird/darker.

Kimchee

I have two whitman Jefferson nickel albums circulated nickels have been sitting in for over 30 years. Methinks I'll have a look at them soon.

earlwbollinger

I think the best one is putting a tube of coins in the reactor vessel of a nuclear reactor.
leave them in there for a week or so. Then remove.
They should have a nice healthy glow to them.

Gemineye

<< <i>Placing the coin on a window sill in direct sunlight for some time. >>


That would be considerded NT......florescent lighting would be AT...

mothra454

<< <i>STONE, I am hardly an expert in toned coins but check out the basics: toning is tarnish, an oxidative process that chemically alters the outer most surface of the coin. Oxidation can be accellerated by placing the coin in an environment rich in oxidants, including active sulfers and/or heating. >>



Rob, I am even less of an expert than you. But one thing I know about toning is that it isn't oxidation, at least on silver coins. It's a reaction with sulphur making silver sulfide. Oxygen may play a part as a catalyst or may effect the coloration of the toning, but it's not what's reacting with the silver. That's why those of us who leave near sewage treatment plants have to polish our silver tea service so often in the humid summer months.

As for the morality of monkeying with coins, people are doing it to turn a profit by selling to collectors who covet nicely toned coins. If the collectors stop buying em, the doctors stop doctoring em. If it's just a technique to accelerate or even out natural toning, I find it a lot easier to swallow (no pun intended) than someone calling them "Hallmark CGS" and taking a BU coin and slabbing it as MS70.

Dan (newbie)

dorkkarl

<< <i>As for the morality of monkeying with coins, people are doing it to turn a profit by selling to collectors who covet nicely toned coins. If the collectors stop buying em, the doctors stop doctoring em. >>

bingo. it really is that simple.

K S

ModernDollarNut

Dan, thanks for your comment - correctly or not (probably not) I was using the term "oxidation" as the process of reduction, that is combining with an oxidizing agent, I think usually sulfur for both silver and nickel alloy coins. Been a LOOOONNNGGGGGG time since any chemistry course....... Rob

STONE

I've culminated all of the "appropriate" methods to toning coins onto the first list. I quote appropriate because I dont think having coins come out of your a$$ works.

There's a chance that I missed a method from all the posts, so if there are any other methods you know of not listed, please chime in.
The methods listed are awesome, and I may decide to test some unsuspecting common Lincoln Memorials or Jeffersons soon.

I think I'll be quoting a couple members in my paper because their insight was so extensive.


Final thoughts-
This list is turning into something the MYTHBUSTERS might contrive to test.

Thanks all-

STONE

Oh, and my reasoning for my title for toning as "immoral" is solely to prevent the fact that I'm not a coin doctor of sorts, and to keep the integrity of NT coins as being natural.

Aegis3

Well, I've just got a sulfur-laden (by evaporation of a saturated solution of sulfur in toluene) Kim-wipe and a couple of nickels, so I'll see what happens soon. Next up might be a sulfur-laden canvas bag and some silver coins.

WoodenJefferson

A coin soaked in dandruff shampoo, for a couple of days, can produce green, yellow, and brown colors.
Only Miss Liberty's hair dresser knows for sure.

MrSpud

"The Progression of Colors on artificially Toned Coins

The colors visible on these coins were produced by Thermal Oxidation, a process involving heat, atmospheric oxygen, atmospheric sulfur, copper and nickel. There are no pigments or dyes used. The colors are generated by a transparent oxide film grown on the surface of the coins. The thickness of the film dictates the color perceived as light passes through the film and is reflected of the surface of the coins. Similar coloration phenomena can be seen in naturewhen viewing a rainbow colored oil slick on a wet road or in the iridescent colors of some insects.

The coloration on these coins is called "artificial toning". When coins are artificially toned through Thermal Oxidation, the progression of colors goes from the untoned nickel to yellow, gold, orange, reddish-purple, bluish-purple on to blue and ultimately grey as the film grows thicker. Not all of the colors of the visible spectrum are produced by this method. True red and green are not produced.

Coins can also tone naturally over time from similar film formations involving sulfur, atmospheric gasses and moisture. Genuine toned coins have a more natural appearance and, when attractive, enhance the eye appeal and the value of collectable coins. artificial toning, while sometimes attractive, often appears manufactured and does not add to the value of collectable coins except as a novelty. Often, artificial toning is done to deceive novice collectors by hiding signs of damage on the surface of the coin, and to add value. Therefore, coin collectors should learn to be able to recognize the appearance of artificial toning. One of the most effective means of learning to recognize artificial toning is to compare known naturally toned coins with known artificially toned coins as in this presentation. By handling a number of both over time you will be develop an "eye" for genuine color and the way it appears on the surfaces of coins. "

MrSpud

And here are some toned by vapor deposition of sulphides


These were done for educational purposes only.

STONE

MrSpud, these are awesome examples (coins) and the explanation is perfect, thanks.

MrSpud

Here's one more example that I think is very educational. This next picture shows the progression of colors of an AT coin as it was being toned by the thermal oxidation process. The pictures are of the same coin taken every 10 seconds or so as it was being thermally oxidized.

coindeuce

Ya fergot the ol' fresh cabbage leaf method

I also heard a tale of a local farmer who used to feed his cleaned large cents to his turkeys, and retrieve them after they were passed nicely recolored.