I have a totally naturally-toned dime from the early seated years. The coin has been out of sight (in a simple white envelope, along with a series of newspaper articles) for over 30 years. It was stored in a shoe box, and no effort was made to do anything spectacular to preserve it. The owner inherited it from a collector uncle, and just didn’t know what she had.

When I opened the envelope, the coin had uneven toning of green to blue, sort of mottled.

I sent it into PCGS and they would only give it a “genuine” slab. They think the toning was artifically produced, which it was not. It was simply poorly stored for many, many years.

The coin is AU++ or BU, but is of little value to me in the present holder. I have covered up the grade with masking tape and have shown it to dealers, a former ANA president, PCGS staff members and others, all who say the same thing, “They didn’t like the toning, did they?”.

I’m thinking of finding a coin doctor to “fix” the uneven toning. Even been given some instructions on how I might “fix the problem” myself. The sad fact is that there isn’t a problem at all. But, since everyone already thinks I’m guilty, I guess I had just as well play the part.