The Toning Premium Thread Part 2

One of the most undisputed features of the Internet is that is facilitates the "getting together" of all manner of otherwise WIDELY spread out folks who may not find each other in "meatspace" due to their scarcity. I suggest toner fans are one such group.

 

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Id like to think that those of us (dealers and advanced collectors) who are willing to pay a premium for toned coins know the difference between genuine and artificial toning. Like most people who appreciate genuine toning I pass on artificial toning. If you don't like it, avoid it. Pretty simple to me.

 

Yes, I'd like to think so of more people than I do, but I don't. Too much evidence to the contrary, especially on eBay.

 

The USA can be very different than other countries. No one else spends as much on a lot of things (from pets to education to vacations). We just have a different set of preferences and values. Plus we have more people (including more people able to spend money) than many other countries. Outspending the world for toners doesn’t say that toners are good or bad.

On the bourse many dealers will criticize whatever you try to sell them. If I bring blast white Morgans, I hear that the market is down on them. If I bring classic gold, I hear that metals aren’t doing well. If I bring Buffalo Nickels/Indian Head Cents/Fill in the blank, I hear there aren’t any customers for that. All dealers want to make money and if they can convince you your item is worth dumping for scraps, they can make an easy profit.

While you may not like the online world, much of the action has shifted there. Most bourses (unfortunately) are a relic of the past and are hanging on by a thread. Don’t be surprised to see shows all but gone in the near future (with the exception of a few big ones per year).

 

I'm a newbie and just taking a wild guess 1221

 

That coin was the first one in this thread (you can see the price on one of the first few pages).

Currently we are on the 1984-S Kennedy posted on the previous page (253).

 

Wow, you SURE aren't in MY neck o' the woods. The biggest problem we have here is minimizing the conflict with another one nearby.

 

Your neck of the woods is a small portion of the country and is certainly not reflective of the whole.

 

Most people outside of the US also dont conserve their coins properly and often clean them and handle them raw. So pick your flavor of idiocy.

 

Being an idiot is OK as long as you are not the only one when it comes time to sell.

 

@Duke Kavanaugh gets the point as the ebay price was $3.95.
@jtlee321 also gets a point since after ebay bucks it cost me $1.52....plus you can post next

The toning wasn't from an envelope. I bought from a guy who had multiples like this. I believe he uses some sort of heat & chemical mix. I have an old dansco album for Kennedy Halfs that stops in the early 80s. I decided to fill the other blank spots with proofs-including some that are AT. This 1984-S is one of the better (more attractive) AT examples that I've seen.


Points table:
Beefer518 - 29.26 Points
baseball21 - 26.61 Points
ddddd - 26.26 Points
heavycam.monstervam - 20.51 Points
ddoomm1 - 17.51 Points
jwitten - 16.51 Points
Lehigh96 - 16.51 Points
jtlee321 - 16.02 Points
Duke Kavanaugh - 14.51 Points
Mainebill - 13.01 Points
IBetASilverDollar - 12.01 Points
ron_c - 10.01 Points
Santinidollar - 7.51 Points
Johndoe2000$ - 7.51 Points
brg5658 - 7.01 Points
Pickin and Grinin - 7.01 Points
KSorbo - 5.51 Points
Bman33 - 4.51 Points
C-B-D - 4.01 Points
mumu - 4.01 Points
bsowa1029 - 3.51 Points
Night*Hawk - 3.01 Points
jpcienkus - 3.01 Points
Paddy54 - 3.01 Points
kSigSteve - 2.01 Points
Volante - 1.01 Points
moneycostingmemoney - 1.01 Points
Cascade - 1.01 Points
Physics-fan3.14 - 1.01 Points
Jebocement - 1.01 Points
charlietig- 1.01 Points
LuxUnit - 0.01 Points

 

Yay, let me see what I can come up with.

 

Here's one that I was watching. It's an 1883-O Morgan Dollar in PCGS MS-66. These average around $200.00 on eBay. How much did this one sell for including the buyers premium? No cheating...

 

$350

 

325

 

ddddd could not be more correct. I set up at my first coin show in the 1970s. Back then, the Bay State coin show in Boston had 300-400 dealers and was difficult to get a table - now it is less than 100 dealers. Long Beach had had 600 or more tables and the waiting list was a mile long - it is half of that today. Collectors would take vacations to coincide with the annual Summer ANA coin shows and visitor attendance would draw 50 to 60,000 people.

The 2017 ANA's World's Fair of Money in Denver drew only 8,638 people and the 2018 ANA Money Show in Irving, TX drew a paltry 2,600 visitors. This is not to blame the ANA, or the Long Beach show or any show promoters. It is attributable to changing demographics.

But because of cost and convenience, online markets are here to stay! Many collectors are perfectly content to stay at home and compare thousands of high-resolution images than to get on a plane, travel across the country and look at a fraction of the coins in person that they could see online. With liberal return policies and 3rd party grading by NGC and PCGS, many collectors feel secure in doing their hobby shopping online.

Setting up at the ANA convention in Milwaukee in 1986, an older dealer looked at me putting up two cases of sparkling new "slabbed coins" in my showcases and he said, "Next year when this foolishness is over, you will be cracking those coins out of those plastic holders. Collectors won't want them!"

32 years later I am still waiting for his prophecy to come true. Just as some form of 3rd party grading is here to stay, online shopping, I believe, is here to stay as well ......... and it is growing.

 

I'm going to the philly show. I'll be curious to see if Julian still has the coin I sold him for $85 that he marked up to $500 which has been listed on ebay for 7 years now unsold. That's the kind of thing that is killing the dinosaurs of the hobby.

 

380

 

425

 

Yep exorbitant prices, rude behavior, and a general carelessness from many of the dealers at these shows are just quickening the downfall.

I sold a toner to a guy at a local show for $175. Next year he still had it in the case and still priced it at $575. So should I really give much credence to him saying toners aren't selling well?

I'd prefer that shows stuck around, but it will take some effort from all parties involved to improve the experience.