How do coins get attractive toning?

dollardude · November 24, 2003 6:51AM

I have been wondering this for a long time, and thought I would just ask. How do coins get that attractive toning like "album" or ring toning, rainbows, and other attractive patterns? Is this by accident through storage, or this done on purpose using stuff like sulfur and other chemicals in some technique?

airplanenut · November 24, 2003 7:02AM

Well, it's a LOT of science. For a background, assume that the causes of toning, namely bags, paper rolls, envelopes, albums, and even air are filled with chemicals--sulfur is the most common one that will cause toning.

When the coin comes in contact with the chemicals, the metal in the coin reacts with the chemicals to form the color you see. Silver, a highly reactive metal, shows much more toning than metals like gold and the current clad compositions. Now, we get into the intersting aspect that is especially prevalent with morgan dollars.

With a surpluss of dollars, the US put away millions in mint vaults, sealed in canvas bags. While the coins in the middle of the bags stayed "blast white" the coins on the outside became the marvelous rainbows we now look at in awe. The crescents and textile marks, caused by being covered by another coin or simply the bag, are easy to explain. The rainbow colors is chemistry. Since a coin didn't generally lie flat on the bag, parts were farther/closer to the bag than others. This distance, however small, was the difference between the reds, greens, yellows, oranges, blues, etc. Basically, the rainbow colors are simply a view of how the coin was sitting in the bag over a hundred years ago.

With this in mind, we can look into a hotly debated issue- silver eagles. These eagles, containing 99.999% silver, seem to tone in only a few years, if even that long. While many claim this is artificial, we must look at the chemical properties here. In a "classic" silver coin, 10% of its makeup is other metal, mainly copper, which will not react like silver does. With the silver eagles, the silver is so pure that every part of the coin is reactive, thus they will take on color much more readily.

With the toning craze becoming so prevalent, artificial toning has also come to view. Most artificially toned coins are caused by heat, which will readily tone a coin in minutes, rather than years. Certain chemicals, especially when combined with heat, will, too, provide fantastic colors. The patterns, though, are usually quite easily distinguished, so these artificial pieces are more to fool the unknowing.

So, to conclude, there are many ways that coins tone. The colors you see are basically a guide of how far the coin was from a certain chemical, how much of the chemical was present, what the chemical was, and time. I bid you farewell with a nice endroll toned morgan.

Jeremy

(NGC MS65)

dollardude · November 24, 2003 7:12AM

Thanks for the explanation. Some toned Morgans are so incredibly beautiful that it just seemed to me that someone may have had some technique, but I guess it really was by accident through the way they were stored. It makes sense that the new 99.999% silver American eagles tone faster, but I would think attractive toning on these would be by design and not by accident. How can you tell if a coin has been artificially toned?

<< What could be more natural than 2.718281828459045? >>

Just out of curiosity, I thought that the natural log was a base 2.7182818281828.... with the 1828 repeating.

airplanenut · November 24, 2003 7:25AM

<< <i>How can you tell if a coin has been artificially toned? >>

I'll use the quote everyone else uses (I don't remember it exactly, though). Basically, a judge was discussing inappropriate material, and said, "I can't tell you what it is, but I can tell you when I see it."

Knowing artificial toning simply comes with practice- and even then, the really good coins can still get passed the experts--even the graders. After a while, some coins just don't look "right." Obviously, some series/metals are a little more foreign than others to me... it's all about what I see when I'm out and about. To start, we can look at one of the notorious AT sellers on eBay...

Let's pretend we didn't know that the toning on this peace dollar is also on every other coin this seller cooks. There are still things that just aren't right (well, his are actually more blatant, but heck...)

First, the colors are identical on both sides- this rarely, if ever occurs. Secondly, the colors just aren't right. The amout of color in those spots, and the some of the colors themselves simply are wrong, especially his trademark deep magenta. Also look at how the center and outer ring is toned, but there is a middle section that is white. That, too, just wouldn't happen. Finally, peace dollars weren't stored like morgan dollars, nor were they treated with acid like morgan planchets. This toning simply doesn't occur on peace dollars.

Really, the more you look at toned material, the more you learn about them. So, I'll leave you with a few more of my pictures

Still in the album:

Mint set toned:

Jeremy

rainbowroosie · November 24, 2003 10:19AM

Check out Tonecoin 2003's Lexington -- it's so phony I like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CarlWohlforth · November 24, 2003 10:23AM

Bags to store Morgans had chemicals in them. Cardboard holders have chemicals too. Cheap ones have a lot and can really tarnish a coin. US Mint sets from the 50s and earlier are made of really cheap cardboard. Other cardboard holders impart toning too.

LucyBop · November 24, 2003 10:27AM

CARL! If you show off that set one more time I will personally hunt you down!

and then......

POW! RIGHT IN THE FRANKIES!

MacCoin · November 24, 2003 10:33AM

I found a 99 Connecticut quarter in my bed room draw that had toned a cool teal and gold. It has been there sence 99

airplanenut · November 24, 2003 12:55PM

I didn't type that for only one Lucy remark and a few replies... ttt!

razorface1027 · November 24, 2003 12:59PM

Hey Jeremy;
That buck in the pic looks like a ex-mbcoin...coin(Mike Billy)...Is it?

airplanenut · November 24, 2003 1:07PM

<< <i>Hey Jeremy;
That buck in the pic looks like a ex-mbcoin...coin(Mike Billy)...Is it? >>

I didn't buy it from him... he could have had it previously, I guess...

CarlWohlforth · November 25, 2003 12:01AM

Gee, Lucy. Half the fun is showing off that mint set! But I want to preserve my Frankies so I'll just keep that image hidden (for a while

)

airplanenut · November 25, 2003 2:29AM

ttt

How do coins get attractive toning?

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