I do love rainbow toned coins, but I can never tell how much the toning increases the value. I do know that the really sharp neon colors add a lot of value, but how much does different types of rainbow toning increase value? Please post with pics, thanks!
This one for example: http://cgi.ebay.com/AWESOME-COLORFUL-RAINBOW-MORGAN-1885-P-NGC-MS64-STAR-/190395068672?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item2c546e3100#ht_2552wt_842
there's no real price guide, some people will pay crazy money for colorful toning. FOr example a buddy of mine will pay 100-150% over grey sheet if the toning is really outstanding. It's what people are willing to pay
This is really one of the more subjective areas in modern numismatics. I recently paid many hundreds of times "normal" value for a toned nickel. Something toned just a little bit differently, I would have either downgraded to tens of times, or upgraded to thousands of times. You just have to learn, through experience, what the market will bear. Sorry to be so vague, but that's how it is.
This thread should do well to help you answer that question. Rainbow Toning's Effect on Price In the end, there is no price guide to help you. You must decide for yourself how much the coin is worth to you and have enough knowledge of the market to know how much it will probably be worth to others. With enough experience, it is possible to predict the value of toned coins. Want proof, read this thread, especially post 13. After you are done look at the final price realized in the Heritage auction. Sweet Toned Nickel Heritage Auction 1945-S Jeffersn Nickel NGC MS67* And yes, I am tooting my own horn.
I recently won this 83CC NGC MS64 in an auction and it cost me $511 which was a bargain at less than 2X retail. I was probably lucky because the losing bidder didn't even know that I was following it, and I placed my bid with just a few seconds left. It's not unusual for nicely toned common date Morgans to sell for 3X-5X retail, and monster toned common dates can go as high as 10X or more. Chris
The first thing you need to be able to do when purchasing rainbow toned coins is interpret the seller's photographs for accuracy of color. This skill comes over time with experience but it is crucial for you to know the typical colors and toning patterns that occur on the series of coin you are looking at. In this case, the seller's photos are over saturated and the colors are a little to bright and vibrant. Look at the area on Liberty's neck and in the left obverse field under her chin. That orange-red is an extremely unusual color for a Morgan Dollar. You typically see either magenta or varying shades of purple-red, but not orange-red. My guess is that the color is off because the photo has been enhanced. I would expect the colors on that coin to be much darker in hand and similar to the colors found on this coin. In addition, the toning pattern on that coin, like the one shown above, is very odd and something I would consider questionable. If submitted today to either service, I believe the coin stands a good chance of getting no grade for questionable color. There are so many rainbow toned Morgan Dollars in the market that you don't ever need to settle. Unless you saw this coin an fell in love with it, I would pass on it all together regardless of price. Even if you fell in love with the coin, it would be unwise to pay more than 5X wholesale for this coin. The seller's price is extremely optimistic and if it does sell at that price, he will have to make his way successfully through the return process since his photo is enhanced.
IMO toning changes a coin into a form of art that is one of a kind. Therefore you must treat it as art because usually it will go crazy high or no one will touch it. So about the best you can do is not look for any prices just be sure your comfortable with the price your willing to pay to aquire the art.
The true answer is that the impact on value is on a coin-by-coin basis and that it is likely more coins have their value hurt or unaffected by their toning than have it helped or increased by their toning.
Just my opinion but rainbow toning certainly is not worth what that seller is asking. MS-64 1885 Morgan has a value of $45-$50, regardless of it being slabbed.
On the other hand, here is a site of one of my friends who sells lots of toned Morgans. He starts all of his auctions at 99c, and lets the bidders take the price to wherever it may go. http://shop.ebay.com/kryptonitecomics/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25 Right now, the bidding is fairly low on nearly all of them, but it might be interesting for you to watch all of these to see where they finally end. Chris
In my opinion, this seller doesn't want to take a chance that it will sell for less than he wants to get for it, and that is just being overly greedy. Even though I think his price is a little steep, I'd almost bet that if he had started this as a 99c 7-day auction, it would have come very close to his ultimate price anyway. Chris
What you pay will depend on how much you like a certain toned coin. First off, some toned coins aren't worth more at all as they are artificially toned. Only the chosen few naturally toned coins are actually super good looking and truly worth a premium IMO. To me it's a passion thing. You can see artificially toned coins all over ebay and some ppl pay thru the nose for that krap, but my feeling on those purchases are they are done by kids and not true coin collectors. just my two cnets.
I would say with that toning, and the slab not withstanding, an extra $10 above FMV would be appropriate, bring the total I would for that common Morgan to $55.
Unfortunately, that would be like living in a dream world. Ever since NGC and PCGS got tougher on toner submissions, the prices for those already slabbed have risen substantially. Chris
What you would pay is very different from what price the coin would demand in the open market. Furthermore, the OP is trying to understand how these premiums in the market work. I doubt he is interested that you personally think the toning is worth a $10 premium. If you want to help him, please tell him based on your experience how much you think this coin would sell for.
Let me put things in perspective a bit here, of course I'll probably get flack for it. When I bought this I bought it in a group of 7, all 7 had beautiful toning of varying degrees. I bought the lot for a friend. I paid $8 each for them. Of course this was done when toning was first gaining mass popularity in the early 2000's. I guess my point is that unless the coin itself is in high demand, it doesn't matter if the coin has fantastic toning, it still won't bring high prices.
Does your friend still have those coins? It would be interesting to see what they would bring on the market today. Chris