Toned coins

[goldinmypan]

Here is a scan of a 1973-D half that I found yesterday. I hope the colors come out in the pictures.

I've seen coins for sale on e-bay with toning as their sales pitch but most of them were a lot older then this 1973. Could this toning be fake? If so, how would one be able to tell? How would one fake the toning in the first place? Would it be just chemical dips?

Anyhow, its another interesting coin for my collection.

 

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[goldinmypan]

Well the colors didn't show up near as bright as I had hoped.
The dark band is actually a iridescent blue green and the outside circle is orange gold. the inside in front of the face is a brownish red. The reverse is that orange shade turning into the blue green.

 

[Immy]

Toning is usually a selling point on silver coins. I haven't seen many clad coins advertised as having attractive toning.

 

[secondcup]

There are a number of ways to tone coins, but they are usually done to make cleaned coins look natural. In the coin collecting community, cleaning a coin is generally a no-no. A nice old coin with original patina is what collectors want.

As for the coloful toning, it's really subjective. Old silver coins like Morgan dollars that become toned for whatever reason are prized if the toning is attractive to the eye. Of course that leaves a lot of room for disagreement.

In general, as a collector I stay away from buying toned coins because toning is actually damage to the silver.

Just my 2 1/2 cents!