Toned Coins..

Are you seriously saying that, Paul?

Quite frankly, I think you are mistaking internet forum success with numismatic knowledge/experience. Adrian was a fruitcake drug-addicted lawyer, and Brandon, while a very nice guy, is little more than a good photographer with used-car salesman's closing techniques, IMO.

They were certainly the king of overpricing coins, as I suspect you've found out if you've tried to sell any of the purchases made there.

Respectfully...Mike

p.s. even though I nitpicked the above quote, I found your post very well stated and accurate. I just (strongly) disagree with some of your conclusions around this particular dealer (and frankly, some of the others).

 

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Exercise extreme caution. There are a lot of coin doctors out there playing with the colors.

Avoid anything with lots of CAPITAL LETTERS and EXCLAMATION POINTS screaming about a fabulous MONSTER TONED !!!!!!! coin; strong chance that one is cooked up in daddy's kitchen.

Hang around with reputable peeps. There are several on this site. You can learn to distinguish genuine surfaces from MONSTER TONED crapita.

That, BTW, is a subtle art - discerning genuine, original surfaces. It eschews the flamboyant rainbows, preferring more subtle toning.

That said, I love original naturally toned coins. I'm an Early Federal man, so all our natural coins have some tone. Almost no BLAST WHITE !!!! coins back there.

 

Lehigh, thats was only........one cent!

 

Mike,

I don't think you are nitpicking at all. The prices that Anaconda charged were ridiculously high and they had no problem at all fleecing the toned coin collectors. However, I think you are really underestimating the quality of the material they sold. You know as well as I do that monster color can make flaws that exist on untoned coins seem unimportant. With regards to selection of toned coins, Anaconda was far and away the best. Add to that they had the best website, the best marketing, and the best photography and you are left with the king. I should have stated that this applies only to internet coin shops.

Would I buy a CBH or an early copper from them, absolutely not. But for rainbow toned Morgans and toned early Commem's there was nobody better.

I know you appreciate toned coins Mike, but you have a very meticulous nature in your collecting style. You will not sacrifice the other elements of a coins grade simply because the coin has monster toning. You are very much like TomB in that respect. I admire your patience and discriminating taste, but you must recognize that very few collectors ever reach your level. The rest of us are simply struck by a beautiful toned coin and decide we want it.

To condemn Anaconda for an ethics problem of over pricing is IMO, unfair. In my experience, all of the other players in the toned coin arena have very similar prices, including Island, Defalco, and all of the E-bay players. The most important aspect of selling toned coins is to have a high quality photograph that is very close to the appearance of the coin in hand. I have purchased coins from every one of these sellers and will state without a doubt that Brandon's photos were the best in that regard. Mark Goodman's are just as good, but then again, CRO doesn't specialize in toned coins. They specialize in the type of coins you would buy.

It was not my intention to promote these dealers per say, I just wanted to provide BNB with a list of dealers that specialize in rainbow toned coins. I also recognize that my choice of words was not the greatest. Perhaps instead of the word "best" we should substitute the word "successful." Some would argue they are the same thing though.

FWIW, 90% of my purchases come from Heritage in an auction venue.

 

Lehigh I posted the 1928 S SLQ you wanted to see

 

I was going to write basicly the same thing , you only get what you pay for .:thumb:
Rusty

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/1890-S-Morgan-S..._Individual?hash=item1e58d3e84e#ht_1583wt_958

Theres a good example of one that came outta the oven.

 

T$, That doesn't appear like a heated one to me, more a liquid chemical application. The give away or at least suspicious indication, is that it is to appear like toning cause by one coin overlying another,probably in a bag. but the radii or the "second coin " is no wheres close to another morgan, in fact I don't believe there is a coin that large. There are other indications, but that is the one that jumps out to me.

Jim

 

Didn't know exactly how it got AT'ed, but anything that looks like that or this

http://cgi.ebay.com/1879-P-Morgan-S...BS&itu=SI%2BUA%2BLM&otn=5&ps=63#ht_1581wt_958

Stands out as AT to me

 

Penny Lady, you have some truly beautiful tonies there!

 

Thank you Coinman, I'm glad you enjoy looking at my coins as much as I do!

 

Nice catch T$ , Look at all the other coins he has for sale , all basically the same toning .
rzage

 

Yep there are a couple more coin doctors out there too... As long as they look like that though, we all know to stay away, very far away.

 

Not only are the colors suspect like Jim said , mut he tries to fool us by covering part of the coin in ways that are unnatural . like laying something with a straight edge over the coin so it's half toned , but with bullseye toning .
rzage

 

I don't usually go for the toned coins, but Penny Lady's indian heads are fantastic..

 

I agree I just wish I $$$$ to buy a few that I want:thumb:

 

Thank you folks, I am a sucker for pretty toned copper!