$100 toning premium on this coin.

Guides are arbitrary. When will you understand that?

 

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Guides are not made up prices, but tend to be written on the averages of the hammer price coins bring.

That being said, I might pay a little more than price guide if the coin is really nice. While toning may be a plus, and one might spend a little more for toning, there is no reason to spend almost 3 times as much. I've seen $50 morgan dollars bring $500+ just because they had "monster toning".

If I had an extra $500, I'm going to use that to expand my collection, not to overspend a huge amount on a coin, just because it's toned.

That said. I bought a seated PCGS XF45 half dollar that has wonderful toning, for $5 UNDER guide price.

 

I would rather have two really nice coins, than eight ugly ones. The path your on is going to build a mediocre collection at best.

 

+1

 

You can be a slave to the price guides if you want. I will gladly pay significant premiums for incredibly toned coins because they have something that never goes out of style with collectors: EYE APPEAL. So if you think that paying 3-5X guide for the coin shown below is overspending, that is fine with me.



FWIW, I don't think the Seated Dime shown in the link has any reason to drive a premium for eye appeal. Personally, I think it is quite ugly.

 

Not at all. I have the start of a really nice collection, everything purchased near the price guide.

If your paying alot more than guide, than the seller is overcharging, don't justify that it's a nice coin. I could ask $500 for a $50 coin, just because it looks nice. But I don't really think I would ever get that much.

 

Personally I like the coin, don't know if I would pay that much though. Two things I want to add, 1. Toning on a coin WILL place a premium price on it.
2. You can basically throw the price section of a price guide out. There are so many variables that will change the value.

 

Tim, you talk price guides now but in another thread you asked where are all the VF and XF coins for cheap. You are looking to build a collection for below the PCGS or whatever price guide. That is fine. Sometimes I will do that and sometimes I won't. It will depend on the coin, condition, rarity, and how much I want it. I have paid more that book for the best coins in my collection and those are the best and my favorite coins.

 

Here is an another example.




1830 PCGS VF-35 Really pretty greyish-blue tone, not that many marks on the field, the scratches on the eagle are on the slab.

I paid $1 under PCGS price, out the door.

 

Well, PCGS price guides are known to be rather unaccurate, so IMHO even if I was devoted to a price guide when making purchases the PCGS PG wouldn't be the one I would use to define the.

IMHO, the toning on your coin is "average"; nothing especially attractive about it, nothing detracting from the look of the coin. Hence the "average" (if not slightly above average) price for the coin you bought.

Now compare that to the seated half dime on GC that sold for a $100+ premium. Like CoinJester's said, it's never been cleaned before (a BIG plus) and has some beautiful rainbow (<-- key word) toning on both the obverse and reverse. Usually when a rainbow spectrum pops up on a coin, price guides go out the window and the hammer price shoots waaaaay up (and for good reason, too!). Lehigh's nickel is a good example of "premium" toning.

 

Let me explain this to you in a way that you will understand. When it comes to coins, like most other areas of life, you are a novice. You have a basic understanding of numismatics but you have very little practical experience. The toned coin market is tantamount to the deep end of the numismatic pool and you don't know how to swim. So do us all a favor and stop lecturing us on a topic that you know absolutely nothing about.

BTW, I have paid a premium to established price guides on over 90% of my collection. I started selling my collection on E-Bay in January 2012. Over the last year, my sales have netted me a small profit, even after all of the fees. What is your opinion about that?

 

You know this business of ranting about how some buyers overpay for toned coins is stale. I'll spend my money however I damn well please, and I don't care what anybody thinks of it.

I recently paid 8 times PCGS list for a piece with nice color for my registry set and I'm happy with that. I also hunt any of those PR69DCAMS from the 70's and 80's for under $10 apiece, and PCGS tells me I'm getting them for half price. It's all relative.

 

I don't find that greyish-blue toning pretty and it is certainly not something that would drive a premium. What you don't understand is that most times, toning will either detract or be neutral with respect to eye appeal. You think people are paying for toning. They are not! They are paying for eye appeal. On rare occasions, a coin can exhibit a toning pattern and color scheme that creates incredible eye appeal. You can't understand toning premiums until you understand which types of toning drive premiums and which are neutral with respect to eye appeal.

 

I would not agree that the PCGS price guide is "known to be rather unaccurate" (sic). What guide is great? None is the final word. Research is what counts.

As for the OP coin, looks like someone got a nice deal. I like it. And the premium isn't unreasonable, IMO. I happily pay more for nicer coins. Wish I'd learned this sooner.
Lance.

 

The toning on the coin in question is not all that. It is a nice example but not a monster. Therefore someone probably over-paid.

 

I have seen many of your coins and every one that I have seen is aesthetically superior to the coin in question

 

I don't you need you "dumb it down" for me.

It's due to the fact the high premiums paid for toned coins is purely artificial.

Is there a reason to pay a little more for a toned coin? Sure. Say a coin is normally worth $75, would it be okay to pay $25 more? Sure.

But is it okay to pay $200 for it? $300? No.

There are 126 nickel lots on TT currently. Almost half are rainbow toned. Although it's not the best estimate, it will make you understand just how many toned coins are out there. They are not by any means rare.

Now let me ask you this, if (and I'm just saying if) exactly half of all Jefferson nickels are toned, is it okay to pay 4-5 times as much for one?

Is it okay to pay that much, for something that there is half as many of? Is it okay to pay $500 for a Morgan worth $90?

No, and once you realize that, you will realize that it's silly to pay a huge amount for toned coins, there are so many of them out there!

Now, if say 1% of all Jefferson nickels were toned, THEN it might warrant a large premium.

The premiums keep rising, the bubble will soon burst. Mark my words.

 

It's OK for anybody else to pay whatever they damn well please Detecto. It's not your money, and whining about makes exactly zero difference.

 

I paid 6x price guide for this. Did I get ripped off? (Sorry about the big pix...all I had.)
Lance.

 

Yes, you overpaid. You should be satisfied with frumpy gray coins. When I was a kid, all our coins were gray, AND WE LIKED IT!!!!!