Australia 1943 penny rainbow toned. Natural or else?

sovseeker

Hello everybody. I would like your thoughts on this coin. Any luck that it has toned naturally?

lordmarcovan

Funny, I have some Aussie pennies and halfpennies of the same period (including several 1943), with exactly the same look.

And some without the colorful toning. Mine are almost certainly cleaned, so I will make that assumption about yours as well.

Sorry if that's not the greatest news.

PS- note the left part of the obverse, where you've got light fields and darker toning right next to it, where the letters are. That sticks out like a sore thumb as evidence of cleaning. There must have been a busy coin polisher at work Down Under during the war!

laurentyvan

Under no circumstances do I ever like to disagree with LordM but it does look like NT to me.

Whether or not it was at some point cleaned is another story...

crito

Does it really matter whether it's AT or NT? It's butt ugly!

sovseeker

These coins were found in "accugrade" flips and have probably spent a hell of a lot of time inside them. Here are another two of the same bunch. I am worried if PCGS will grade them...

olmanjon

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and to me these look beautiful.

mnemtsas2

Very hard to tell from the lighting you've used in your photo. The 1943 looks cleaned and re-toned with copper toner to me, the first 59 looks ok but the second looks a bit doubtful.

lordmarcovan

<< <i>Under no circumstances do I ever like to disagree with LordM but it does look like NT to me.

Whether or not it was at some point cleaned is another story... >>

Oh, good. Then I'll be sure you get a bunch of similar looking ones in the lot you have comin' from me. Bwahaha!

I dunno if those are NT or AT, but most if not all of mine have secondary toning. Secondary toning after a cleaning is considered AT by many, even, even when it occurs naturally, and I'm just working from that mindset, though I don't always agree with it. I don't think they were deliberately toned that way- it probably happened naturally... over time, after a cleaning.

But don't take my word for it- I stink at detecting cleaning, secondary toning, and AT, usually.

It's just that I have had so many of these 'roos in various states of retoning, from scrubby and overcleaned to varying degrees of secondary toning until they have that look. Mind you, some of them are quite pretty, too, with pink and blue iridescence.

sovseeker

Here are the last two... Probably will send them to PCGS anyway and see what happens... Some of them look pretty nice however and it's a pity if the come back in a bodybag or cleaned 92 slab!

mnemtsas2

The darkness around the devices and lighter colour on the high points is a dead giveaway of AT on these coins. This is the exact opposite to the way they normally tone, high points first and protected low points are the last to lose their luster.

mnemtsas2

Those last two look a lot more acceptable to my eye. Here's one for you. AT or NT?



And yes it looks like that. No idea if it is AT or NT, it was found in a bag of pennies that had been in a bag for decades.