IT'S BACK: Opinions on the toning on this Stone Mountain Half

seanq

I picked up this toned Stone Mountain Half between the holidays, I'm curious if the forum thinks this toning is original or somehow "assisted". Feel free to guess the grade, too, though that may be tough to ascertain since bits are out of focus - I took the picture at a slight angle to capture all of the colors. I cracked this from a TPG slab to photograph it, so I'll eventually reveal which company certified it and their grade.




Sean Reynolds

Edited 3/11/09: Late last year I sold this coin on the BST as artificially toned, the buyer (I forget now who it was) then passed it around at a couple of shows and had a majority opinion that the coin was NT. Apparently that member parted with the coin as well, because I just found it again on eBay in the inventory of a familiar seller. It sounds like he thinks the toning is natural, though his BIN price is still well below what I paid for the coin initially two years ago.

derryb

NT. MS62, PCI

nederveit

AT, MS64, ICG

p8nt

I'm guessing NT and an ex NGC MS63.

LeeG

Looks like toning you see on PCI SAE's? Don't know if I can say it's original or not. The blue doesn't look right to me. PCI 64, looks AU?

DenverDave

Looks AT to me...

Longacre

64. I am not an expert with toning, but it does not look completely natural to me. But I really cannot tell from a pic.

ricko

NT.. MS62. Cheers, RickO

Julian

I believe that it is naturally toned, but would want to see it physically so that I may rotate it and get the lustre flow.

Fairlaneman

From the picture part of the tone looks NT and part of it looks AT.

I like the coin.

Ken

seanq

Interesting,the replies are nearly split 50/50 (and in one case, the reply itself is split 50/50 - nice bit of fence-sitting, fairlaneman ). I have the advantage of holding the coin raw in my hands, but I think the toning is natural. Here's a quote from a post I saved describing the color progression of natural toning on silver coins:



<< <i>The primary color progression for silver (this means silver colored surfaces, so cupper/nickel US alloy applies here) is as follows:

No toning - Light Gold - Banana Yellow - Burgandy - Dark Blue - Light Blue - Silver - Lemon Yellow - Red - Blue - Green - Yellow - Red - Green .... Black

Please note that the colors <Yellow - Red - Green> keep repeating- becoming grayer after each repeat until it turns black. >>



If you check the reverse in front of the eagle, you can see thin bands of color in this exact progression. Also, the larger areas of color away from the eagle have a definite grey tint.

As many of you also guessed, the "TPG" which graded the coin initially is barely a "TPG" at all, for all intents I purchased the coin raw. Here's a quick scan of the coin in the original holder.



Thos of you who feel the coin is AT, can you back up that opinion with any specific observations that led you to that conclusion?


Sean Reynolds

pharmer

I've always made it a point not to state "this IS AT" or "this IS NT", and not just because of the best reason, that it's an image on the internet.

But to me the shades of the colors are unnatural, especially the turquoise blue and sea-green on the reverse. The obverse colors especially do not flow from one to the next like the progression you mention, presumably from rob790's classic thread on myths and misunderstanding of toning. They're just mixed up together, no gradation of one color to the next.

Then I wonder what color that is on OF AMERI on the reverse, and how did that sliver of color get there? It's not part and parcel of the crescent, the colors of which also are mixed rather than flowing gradually from one to another per the classic silver sulfide toning progression.

No idea if it's AT or NT though.

mozin

Looks AT to me. Grade is somewhere between AU58 and MS63.

cape

looks cooked to me.

DenverDave

First thing that sends up a red flag is the Teal Color...

The overall look of the coin is not right, very un-natural to my eye...

The two crescents ( one each side ) are also out of the norm...

The color bands are to tight, showing almost no progression of color or flow...

Here's an example, Starting on the inside of the crescent...

Yellow, Red, Blue, Yellow, Red and then Blue just going off the coin...

Very natural looking, very nice flow of color...

seanq

TTT, see additional info in the first post.


Sean Reynolds

dizzyfoxx

I'd say dipped beyond dipped and AT.

RyGuy

Sean,

Since you've owned this coin in the past, do you believe the coin is BU at all or was that TPG service waaaaaayyyyy off?

seanq

<< <i>Sean,

Since you've owned this coin in the past, do you believe the coin is BU at all or was that TPG service waaaaaayyyyy off? >>




That TPG was a joke. I thought the coin was uncirculated but I really don't know enough about toning to say either way. Unfortunately I deleted the BST listing, I was curious how I'd described it when it came time to sell.


Sean Reynolds

lcoopie

since I don't think these were stored in canvas bags,
and the toning is similar to a coin that was stored,
I go AT

is that logical?

njcoincrank

My vote would be NT. But I would reserve the right to change my mind if I saw the coin in person.

BTW, Stone Mountain halves WERE distributed in canvas bags, much like cc dollars. I know because I have sold two or three of them over the years.

njcc

nicetoning42107

This appears as an NT coin. Color progression is proper. The color layout looks a bit odd but it could've gotten the crescents from being in the mint bag, and then when taken out, put into an album which then toned just a bit along all of the rim on both sides.