Tag Archives: peace-dollar

Fabulously Toned Peace Dollars

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While many new hobbyists are searching fruitlessly for the clickbait 1943 copper cent, the 1982-D Small Date 3.1 gram cent, and the 1992/1992-D Close AM, veteran collectors are scouring coin albums of estate auctions to find toned Peace dollars, which sell multiples times their values when holdered by a reputable company.

This is a somewhat new phenomenon.

In 2009, PCGS co-founder David Hall insisted that any Peace dollar with “rainbow colors (blue, red, green, etc.) is absolutely artificially toned. While not very scientific, my approach to toning on coins is to remember the colors I saw in the 1960s and 1970s and if a new look appears, it’s artificial to me.”

Until about 10 years ago, I, too, believed that statement. Most PCGS and NGC toned Peace dollars were gray, spottily streaked or tarnished. Slowly, however, raw uncirculated 1922 Peace dollar in particular started to tone in beautiful light or spotted colors.

This one, in 2018, sold for $8,812.50. Its retail value then was about $550.

Morgan dollars, of course, tone beautifully across the series (1878-1904/21). I investigated that years ago in an article for Coin World, noting that planchets of Peace dollars likely had fewer impurities than Morgan dollars.

It seems that those scant impurities are finally triggering patina, especially 1922 samples. Here are a few 1922s from my private bank-boxed collection.

Now it is possible to find any year of the series (1921-35) with some or even spectacular toning. The 1926-S also is a frequent toner:

The problem now are coin doctors of various skills heating, chemically treating and otherwise sulfurating Peace dollars. All you have to do is search “rainbow Peace dollars” on eBay, and this is what you might find:

Note that no Peace dollar, or silver coin, for that matter, looks that carnival splotchy color.

If you are looking to purchase an uncertified toned Peace dollar, pay particular attention to the colors and patterns on previously holdered ones by PCGS and NGC. Do a search. Certified examples should have the blue, gold, orange, blue and red colors of the ones featured above.

The coin dealer APMEX has good tips to discern fake toning:

  • The toning has bright colors, as you would find in a box of crayons.
  • Toning appears to “float” on the surface, rather than having greater depth.
  • The toning appears yellow-brown or smoky. This indicates the use of cigar or cigarette smoke, common among artificially toned coins.
  • The toning occurs over hairline marks.

The hunt for naturally toned coins, especially Peace Dollars, is more satisfying than the search for ultra rare errors. And those dollars show much better too to friends, club members and Facebook coin groups.

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You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.

Grading is subjective, but PCGS methods are not

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PCGS and other top holdering companies–NGC, ANACS, CAC–evaluate a coin’s grade through a rigorous process involving expert visual inspection, magnification, adherence to the 70-point Sheldon Scale, and a final verification, focusing on wear, strike, luster, and eye appeal, then encapsulating it in a secure holder with its assigned grade for impartial certification.

Grading is subjective, but only to a small degree at top holdering companies. The problem, however, especially with PCGS and its popular CoinFacts site about retail and auction values, is that consignors and auctioneers use that data and inflate it to get higher bids on inferior lots.

Here’s an obvious example below. The seller states that these coins came from an elderly gentleman. All of them are graded MS70, the ultimate on the Sheldon numeric scale.

These inflated grades just aren’t accurate; these are just common coins in lower grades–almost 5 to 10 points lower on some. What irks expert numismatists, however, are sellers who feature the grades of basement holders and then cite PCGS values.

Below is an outrageous listing of a common Peace dollar with artificial toning, exposing the metal to sulfur or chemical, turning purple, blue and yellow hues and rendering the lot as silver melt–not the ridiculous opening bid of $4,000. This holdering company may be associated with the seller rather than with another reputable company. I’m not sure about that. But it doesn’t matter. This is a ruined coin, in my opinion.

Here’s another exaggerated grade, again quoting sight-unseen PCGS prices on a coin that was cleaned, dipped and re-toned, worth about $200 by my estimation in this condition and certainly not $78,000.

Let’s do one more:

The above coin has grease stains, poor luster, with some interesting toning. I wouldn’t bid higher than $75. And then I would have to spend time carefully using MS70 detergent methods to try to remove those stains–almost always a futile attempt that renders the entire coin as cleaned.

If you want to have your own coins graded, be sure to use PCGS, NGC, ANACS and CAC. You can read about each grading company here, as well as ones to avoid.

If you like posts like this, subscribe so you can be informed whenever there is a new article or column.

Proxiblog also has thousands of followers on Facebook Coin Groups, YouTube and social media. To get the latest discussion and commentary, be sure to friend us by clicking here.

You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.