Hi all, I recently bought a toned coin online with extremely lackluster photos. Here's the seller's photos: The starting price was at $5; the coin was described as AU. I thought, "Heck, the coin looks like it has some nice rainbow toning with a strong chance it's AT, but it looks nice enough for a longshot." I offered to BIN for $15, and the seller accepted the offer and shipped it out. The package came today; here's what rolled out of the package: Holy flippin cow!! My jaw dropped when I saw the deep rainbow toning on the reverse. The coin has booming luster; this coin is certainly not an AU and probably more of a low to gem grade Kennedy. I apologize for the lackluster photos; they were quick ones with the coin still in its flip that it came packaged in. These photos were NOT juiced; the colors shown are true to in-hand inspection if not deeper and richer in hue when actually seen in-hand. Had to share this beauty online with you all, hope you enjoyed the eye candy! -CB (Edited for spelling errors)
I'm betting if it grades cleanly, it will sell for triple that triple. But I do believe it will be hard to get a clean grade with all that purple showing. I'd say it is worth a gamble, but it might get into a details holder.
Way Cool...Nice Hit, he has the neck scales of a nice strike and looks MS to me. Plus the Awesome color...Forgetaboutit; I Love it!
I don't know if the color would be acceptable at the major grading services, but the fingerprint on the obverse would be a turn-off for me. Personally, I wouldn't spend the money to have it certified. A close friend of mine who sells many toners on eBay recently told me that sales prices have dropped considerably of late. If you're intent is to flip it, I'd be surprised if you recovered the expense of certification. Chris
It hints at AT to me, but at any rate it is attractive though and I would just keep it and forget about tombing and flipping.
I don't think the mark in front of Kennedy's face is a fingerprint. There seems to be gold/grayish toning in that area with parts where it "flaked" off (giving it the fingerprint look). I rolled the coin under the light and cannot find any luster breaks in that area to indicate a fingerprint either. As for sales of toners as of late, I've found that they are constant and rarely fluctuate; at least in my past experience. It's a moot point though, since I don't plan to sell the coin at the moment anyways. The main reason I'm planning to get it slabbed is to protect the coin from toning "past its prime", or at least slow down the toning progression, and have the slabbed coin match my other similarly toned roosevelt dime (PCGS MS66). And of course, PCGS slabs are much easier to liquidate than raw coins (especially in the toner department) if it does come time to sell. IMHO, the biggest issue with the coin is the obverse pastel colors with a somewhat abnormal pattern around the rim. For me, the reverse is simply too lustrous, the toning progression too smooth, and the "money" color (bold green) too vivid for me to call it AT. I would at least call this MA, and I believe PCGS would agree as well. Thanks for all the responses! It was interesting and insightful to hear what everyone else thought. This coin will hopefully be shipped out soon to robec for him to photograph; maybe evaluation will be easier when (much) better photos are shown
I don't think it will grade. To me the reverse colors are too neon, and look AT to me. I doubt that either PCGS or NGC will put it in a non-details slab. It is a MS coin, but I just feel that it isn't genuine toning.
That's one awesome Kennedy. I love the toning on it, gradable or not. Quite honestly a 50/50 chance with PCGS looking at the colors. I just picked up some toners that had much less of a vivid color pattern, looking much less AT, in details quest. color holders from them. I may crack them out and send them to NGC to get their opinion as I've seen similar coins with grades by them, but very low on the priority scale. Irregardless I love the coins whether details or not so that part doesn't matter to me. Sweet grab, great gamble. Enjoy!