After reading this guide, you will be able to identify some common traits of genuine toned coins, and you will also be able to identify dishonest sellers and the coins they are pushing on us all. This is not a technical article but rather an informative one regarding the tactics and identifiers of both honest and dis-honest sellers of toned coins. Be sure to see my other guide on the subject. HOW TO IDENTIFY DIGITALLY ENHANCED RAINBOW TONED COINS.

Toned coins have gained immense popularity over the last decade, with some common date certified MS65 examples of Morgan dollars having exquisite coloration commanding prices of several thousand dollars (the top 1%), with pleasing examples bringing several hundred . This market situation has opened up opportunities for the dishonest coin sellers who doctor AU coins at home and offer them up on ebay to unsuspecting collectors as toned BU coins.

 I wrote this guide for two reasons: (not necessarily in this order)

1. As a collector of toned coins, I actively search ebay and local dealer showcases for colorful coins that exhibit original patina. I have ebay search results emailed to me daily, and lately these searches are dominated by sellers of artificially toned coins. Frankly, I am tired of the amount of time I have wasted weeding out the bad listings from the good ones.  

2. I will share some of my knowledge about how to identify the traits of both real natural coins and the fake "Circus Clown" toned coins that have become pervasive on ebay these days, so that the money you spend is not wasted on worthless junk. I am disgusted by this dishonest practice, and this is my small way to inform those like me who appreciate the beauty of natural toned coins.

THE FAKE COINS and the cheats that sell them on ebay:

1. Coins almost always offered as raw, or uncertified. If they are certified, they are not by companies like PCGS, NGC or ANACS who will not certify artificially toned coins (though there are in relativley small numbers some fakes in top tier holders). "Rainbow" toned coins are heavily pushed in holders from NNC, NTC, ANI and others, and are often problem coins that have been cleaned, whizzed, etc., or just over-graded by two or three points.

2. Coins are brightly colored, even gaudy in appearance, and are flat with little or no cartwheel luster. Often the artificially toned coin exhibits only primary colors, not the beautiful blends of both complimentary and analgous colors seen on the real deal.

3. Some have the appearance of having been burned, due to the harsh chemicals used in the process.

4. Sellers of artificially toned coins usually specialize in selling them, because one small bottle of coin toner will alter dozens of coins, and will provide for shady profit margins.

5. Take notice of the inventory of a suspected fraudulent seller, his or her coins will look almost exactly alike, with similar patterns and hues. This is because each coin is being altered in the same way, assembly line style. If you think that it is normal for a seller to offer 35 raw Morgan dollars that have spectacular concentric rainbow toning each and every week for $9.00 each, you would be mistaken. Genuine coins of this caliber are hundreds of dollars. By the way, some of the current sellers of these chemically toned coins are having difficulty selling the coins, which are receiving no bids at all. I think most of us have recognized these people as frauds, though some of these silver dollars are selling in the $25.00 to $45.00 range or more, when they are really just worth silver melt.

6. Take a hard look at the feedback of a suspected fraudulent seller. It will become totally obvious what is going on when the whole world can see that the only thing the seller buys at auction on ebay is bulk lots of cheap common date AU Morgan and Peace dollars, and the only items the seller sells at auction is monster toned coins. It is this type of buying and selling record that provides the evidence one would need to determine this seller is a cheat. Click on the feedback rating of any seller with suspicious looking coins, then click the "feedback as a seller" tab, and then click the "feedback as buyer" tab and do some investigating. Also, read the neutral and negative feedback and look for patterns of fraud. A few minutes looking around could save you a pile of money, especially if you are bidding on a rare date.

7. Do a search for coin toner, see who is selling it, then look at the list of names in the feedback section of all the buyers of this product. Even though the auctions were private, some leave feedback stating "how well the toner works", etc. It would be a safe bet to stay away from anyone associated in this list. Some sellers avoid the ebay connection by buying coin toner at coin stores.

8. BE SUSPICIOUS OF raw coins (especially Morgan Dollars) at auction that have the term MONSTER in the title, when the coin is AU or Almost Uncirculated. Coin doctors can afford to take a chance with chemically altering common date AU Morgan dollars, as they are plentiful and usually only worth the silver that is in them. They protect themselves by having a starting price that is around the melt value of a silver dollar. Heck, if I saw an AT morgan dollar that was pitifully toned with circus colors that started at .99 cents, I might bid on it myself if I thought I could get it for less than the silver content + shipping, but these sellers usually start at around $9.99. Sometimes they put on a reserve as if the item has immense value. There are legitimate MONSTER toned coins, but the term is largely over used and abused, and is why I don't use the term when marketing my own toned specimens.  

Here are some examples of some artificial coins that are being auctioned here on ebay. I will leave the names of who I suspect are fraudulent sellers unpublished, but feel free to forward any coin listing to me via email that you are considering, and I will offer advice as well as the names of known junk sellers.

UPDATE: It has been my recent pleasure to have helped many of you who have read this guide and forwarded links of coins being sold here on ebay that are suspected of being artificially toned before actually bidding. When the sellers of these chemically altered coins are watching their auctions run their course without even a single bid, especially coins that potential bidders have personally asked me about, it is rewarding. I answer all emails.

FAKES

 THE REAL COINS and the fellow enthusiasts that sell them:

1. Coins offered as certified, sometimes raw. If they are certified, they are by companies like PCGS, NGC or ANACS (who will not knowingly certify artificially toned coins). Note: there are plenty of naturally toned coins in the other less desirable holders, they may just be over-graded.
2. If you are just starting out, familiarize yourself with the different types of toning, and how they occur. There is tab toning (on early Commemoratives), bullseye or concentric toning, textile patterns (from canvas mint bags), end roll and album toning to name a few. I have personally witnessed natural album toning occur on coins in my collection over the course of 12-13 years in Dansco albums, and Wayte Raymond boards from the 1940's and 1950's.
3. Natural patinas are acquired over decades in specialized conditions, and the intricate layering and wandering of the various oxides cannot be duplicated by the average hack. There are some coin doctors who have talent, but only a handful of humans possess the outright skill needed to fool the experts, in my opinion. 
4. Sellers of naturally toned coins usually specialize in selling them, and their coins will have sometimes amazing colors, but notice they are all vastly different.( See item 5 of the fake sellers)
5. Try and get ahold of an excellent article published by The Grey Sheet, CDN Monthly Supplement from July 14th, 2006, entitled The Price of Color, by H. Robert Campbell. In it are well written, very technical descriptions of how toning occurs, and how values are affected for different types of color. He states "that solid reds and greens seem to be the hardest colors to find with green being the money color, no pun intended." In viewing hundreds of (AT) artificially toned coins here on ebay and at shows I have noticed that green is absent among the colors in the spectrum. It must be that green is the hardest color to create with chemicals, so this validates his views.  
6. While there are many ways to identify natural color on a coin, most of them come with experience and knowing what to look for. But here is one way that in my opinion identifies the real deal: In some of the pictures below of Morgans, notice under the date, stars and EPU in the "shadow" of the devices, where for whatever reason, the oxides did not form. This is a common phenomena on the genuine toned Morgan which I call the "shadow effect", and to my knowledge has yet to be faked due to it's difficulty. This does not occur in all naturally toned coins, but you can be more than reasonably sure it is genuine patina when it does. (September 2007) 

Just a hunch...  I have seen this phenomena on countless Morgans, and also in limited quantities on Barber coinage and some seated quarters and halves. It seems that this "shadow effect" does not occur on the smaller issues like dimes and half dimes, as it is my hunch that the actual distance from the plane of the coin's field to the top of the devices (on the larger coins) allows oxygen or other gasses to accumulate in the "shadow" area under certain conditions, creating a void where the oxides do not form. This distance is perhaps too small on most of the smaller denomination coinage, though I did see this "shadow effect" occur on the last "9" of a 1939 Lincoln. It is also my hunch that the length of the "shadow" is in direct relationship to the length of time the host coin has been undisturbed.   

Send me an email request and I will send you large detailed photos of this effect under the date and devices, as I am limited to the size of photos I can post here -       m i k e @ a e r o c y c l e r y . com

REAL

The following images are credited to Anaconda Rare Coins (to whom I have no affiliation), and are exquisite examples of natural color with the "shadow effect".

 The coins below are from my personal collection: (all PCGS or NGC) - and natural... Remember, In this arena of acquiring spectacular toned specimens, the old adage of, "you get what you pay for" really holds true, especially when they are cheap.  Good luck and beware.  Mike - mikesartifacts, September 2007

There are some great reviews on this subject right here on ebay...

http://search.reviews.ebay.com/ARTIFICIAL-TONING_W0QQuqtZg

If you have found this guide to have been helpful in any way, click on the YES button below. You will help the cause gain prominence. Thanks!