(Typical Color Progression of the Majority of Natural Bag Toned Morgan Dollars)


(Pastel Spectrum Toning Progression)

(Doug Kurz Rendition of Color Progression of Thin-Film Interference on Bag Toned Morgans)

Read more about Doug Kurz (Sunnywood's) Color Classification system in this outstanding article
 

For more information about the toning spectrum of toned Morgans, refer to this article authored by Doug Kurz regarding an analysis of the spectrum cycles of toned Morgan dollars

As you can see the array of colors is all from the earliest progressions of color as the Morgan begins to tone. These are also known as sunset colors or shades that are reminiscent of Easter or a tropical beach at sunset. Many of these examples display profound luster as the level of patina has not built up very thick. The deeper the layer of patina is on the surface, the deeper the spectrum of color displayed on the coin.

This grouping of colors is neon in nature and the turquoise is an amalgam of both the blue and green spectrums. It was created by being close to the canvas bag where bands of blue floated across the neon green band giving it a blue/green or turqoise look. This is a VERY desirable portion of the spectrum and is typically very short on the majority of Rainbow Morgans. Finding examples of this spectrum with exceptional luster drives my passion for Toned Morgans. These coins stand out like headlights!

This spectrum color runs from upper right to lower left starting with a blue-green from the neon spectrum to the terminal "charcoal" color in the lower left. This is the antithesis of the neon spectrum. As the colors repeat while continuously deepen, they terminate in a deep charcoal color. This coin exhibits the black spectrum vividly. However, many black spectrum coins have pumpkin orange and a much longer spread of the entire spectrum present on the coin. PL examples are exceptionally desirable and beautiful.

Just as the name implies, it is simply toned in just one single color. Try putting together a spectrum set of these babies.

When a coin is nearly monochromatic, it is nearly completely toned in one color but may have other colors present.

This type of toning is created from being either in an album or in a holder with impurities that reacted with the silver in the Morgan.

The crescent shape is from a coin stacked partially on the toned Morgan as it toned in the canvas bag. A Morgan dollar sat partially over the surface of this coin as it toned in the canvas bag. This is the most common type of Toned Morgan dollar.

The coin toned in a canvas bag with a coin stacked over it. The coin over it then shifted and the coin continued to tone with a different crescent. Some multiple crescents result from different coins covering different areas with no shifting occurring.

The right humidity levels and amount of time in a canvas bag created a certain green spectrum of Morgans that share this similar look. There are enough of these around for me to consider them as a particular grouping. All are desirable.

The second most common type of Rainbow Morgans have a band of rainbow colors that resulted from the coin being tilted while it toned allowing more particulates from the bag to fall heavier on certain points of the coin corresponding to the angle of tilt while the coin toned.

This group of coins have a fiery look to them and are similar in nature to the way they toned to the greenies except they toned in a different level of humidity. These are some of the most striking examples of Toned Morgans but there are not many out there.

Morgans stored in paper coin-rolls with the ends of the rolls folded in over the coin at the end of the roll developed this striking toning pattern. Haze is common on these and real monsters with end-roll toning are exceptionally scarce as vibrant colors are not common on them. 

This toning falls into the pastel spectrum. Many of these develop a look similar to what many describe as a tropical beach sunset. Most are very lustrous because the patina is not as thick as deeper spectrum toned Morgans.

Morgans stored in canvas bags that were super-close or touching the actual bag toned with a matching pattern of the textile on the bag. This pattern is extremely desirable and exceptionally heavy textile is exceedingly rare.

Some Morgans are prooflike and some collectors stored their examples of these alongside their other proof coins in tissue paper to protect the surfaces. This tissue paper had impurities that toned the coins a certain way. Super Rare!

Coins stored in albums and envelopes are 99% dual sided toning. Similar colors on both the obverse and reverse blend into and towards the center. This group is rare with good luster and are usually dominated by earthy tones.

These are Morgans with a steely blue and and muted magenta colors are common enough for me to include them here as a particular group. These coins are generally pretty but usually low-end as the color is not very vibrant.

This type of toning is exactly as it is named. The colors are varied and flow across the surface in strange patterns. Many are caused by textile patterns from the corner of the bag with threads apparent on the surface.

Cartwheel = Rolling luster that flows in bands across the surface from one end to the other and it twirls as you spin the coin in the light like the spokes of a cartwheel.

Velvety = The vast majority of toned morgans are of this surface type. While attractive and colorful, the velvety nature of the surface stifles the "Pop" factor.

Prooflike and Deep Mirror Prooflike = flat mirrors in the field from a fresh or freshly polished die that have no curve in them out towards the rim.

Bowl = curved mirrors (like a bowl) up to the edge of the coin. This type appears like a hybrid of Cartwheel and Prooflike surface types and is quite striking in appearance.

Cartwheel Luster	Velvety Luster
Prooflike Luster	Bowl Luster

"The Southern Cross" is a great example of this quality. The coin is named so because when you tilt it into a diffused light source, the image of an upside down cross is VERY evident. It is difficult to see in a regular photograph but jumps out at you via a diffusion photograph. This also is a good example of how coins can look different using different photography methods.

You know, color is an obvious way to tell if a Morgan dollar is NT. That goes without saying. The typical color progression for bag toned Morgan dollars is: Peach/Orange --> Powder Blue --> Bright Yellow --> Magenta --> Royal Blue --> Emerald Green --> Burgundy (darker magenta) --> Deep Teal --> Plum --> Charcoal. Doug Kurz has also developed a color chart denoting the color progression of a silver-sulfide thin film interference. This chart is more advanced than my above color progression gradient and will help you determine if those really WILD Morgans that may be suspect to you might in-fact be AT.

You can read the entire article explaining this chart in great detail authored by Doug Kurz (Sunnywood) and compiled by Brandon Kelley.

After you have seen enough naturally toned Morgan dollars, you will develop a sense of what is natural and what is artificial. You will develop a "spidey-sense" that triggers a "something just isn't right" feeling whenever you see an artificially toned Morgan dollar.

There are unlimited variations of the thickness of these bands in the color spectrum. Some color bands completely cover the obverse in a monochromatic "look". This is when the thickness of a particular band of color covers the entire side:

This color progression should exist in some way shape or form in a naturally toned Morgan dollar. It's like the coral snake vs. the king snake. They look similar but the pattern of colors from the old saying "Red on Black Venom Lack" and "Red on Yellow Kill a Fellow". Both snakes have the same colors but the pattern of color determines which one can scare you and which one can kill you.

Popular colors on Artificially and Intentionally toned coins are:

• Excessive Blue/Magenta/Purple/Burnt Orange hues in billowing shades that do not gradient evenly. This is created by heating nickel or by adding a sulfurous compound to the surface. You can recreate this by crushing up the yolk of a boiled egg and keeping it in a container with the coin for less than 30 minutes. It is obvious, even to the Toned Morgan Rookie.
• Bands of color with excessive Pink/Purple hues or colors that simply do not look natural to someone armed with the experience of seeing lots of naturally toned Morgans.
• Sick and pale shades of green blending with pink are a sad attempt to recreate the rare green color band but these are easily distinguishable from NT coins by focusing on the other characteristics of NT coins and just from the inconsistencies in the shade and layout of the color on the coin.
• I personally have not seen any artificially toned Morgans that had all of the proper characteristics but there is no guarantee there is not at least one out there. This article is a guide that is designed to help you identify artificially toned coins. There are those out there who believe all toned Morgans are artificial. That is absurd. If someone could tone Morgan dollars into Monster Toners, there would be more of them out there and their pedigreed history would not exist.
• Artificially toned Morgans will also tend to continue toning since the accelerated methods used to create them is not stable. Needless to say, if a coin has been slabbed 10 or even 20 years ago in the first generation PCGS and NGC holders and it looks the same as it did the day it was encapsulated, odds are good that the coin is naturally toned. Inversely, if a coin has been slabbed 5 years ago and the color is fading, deepening, or otherwise different from when the coin was encapsulated, odds are good that the coin was artificially toned.

Some AT examples: I will be adding more examples here as I find them. From the images I will be adding over the next few months, we should be able to collectively identify patterns of certain doctoring techniques and avoid them and show others what to avoid.
You can see the billowing blue, purple, and burnt orange flowing across the surface indiscriminate of the elevation of the detail. Just the color alone is a dead-giveaway. Horrible AT	This one is a little better showing a touch of elevation chromatics but take note of the cleaned surface and the massive amounts of burnt-orange, blue, and purple. These shades should not appear in this progression.
Here is another one similar to the one at the top-right. This image shows a coin with several problems. It is raw and cleaned which you can see by the hairlines in the field. The spectrum on this coin is Orange-Pink-Purple-Royal Blue-Light Blue. This is NOT the proper color spectrum of Peach-Light Blue-Yellow-Magenta-Royal Blue-Emerald Green. Additionally, the little piece of foreign material on the top cotton ball has a bright halo around it. That may be an indication of accelerated toning. On a suspected AT coin, if it has this "feature", that is another mark against the coin being natural.
Ugh. If the fact that the coin is probably a VF and is raw doesn't raise a red flag, take a look at the pastel band of color flowing around the rims. You can see how the color does not care what elevation of detail it is at. It just flows right over PLURIBUS UNUM like it wasn't there.

The vast majority of NT coins have pullaway
Not all NT coins have pullaway
Pullaway on AT coins is nearly non-existant
Coins with pullaway are NEARLY ALWAYS NT

Now, I have seen examples of AT coins that have pullaway. However, docs have gotten wind of this characteristic and will buy coins that have some natural toning on them with the pullaway and apply AT or IT processes to put more color on the coin. Always be wary of your AT spidey sense. If you see enough naturally toned morgans, when you see an AT coin, a red flag will go up in your mind and you will know it is AT. Develop this sense and you will be fine. Ignore it, and you will eventually buy an AT coin.

You can see in "LIBERTY" how the lower elevation of the surface is toned in a magenta color while the higher elevation of the coronet around it is toned in a turquoise green. This is elevation chromatics. The vast majority of AT coins will not display this quality and it is a good benchmark to note when determining NT vs AT.

Again, you can see how the stars are pink/peach while the field around them flows from blue-green on the left to chartreuse on the right. This is a perfect example of elevation chromatics.