so disappointed i didn't win this coin ...

My first thought was that PCGS may have bought the thing. To me, looks like someone took a blowtorch to it. I would bet a nickel that PCGS would love to have that one out of its holder, I would bet it would never make it into one now.

Sorry, but after being around toned coins 35 years, have had friends who AT coins after dipping, have bought numerous "old time" collections from various sources, I have never seen that color and pattern of toning either AT or NT.

 

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Indeed, I doubt very seriously nowadays they would slab it.

 

well after hearing all your opinions ... i am now happy i didnt win it

(i have to admit I still liked it though) .... clearly i have BAD TASTE in coins!!

I only buy PCGS graded stuff in the hope that the professionals know what they are doing. (I guess that's not such a good gamble)

I think i am going to try to tone a few ASEs on my own ... certainly it's a cheap way to go ... and will be interesting as an experiment.

 

Judging from the Cert Number (19138623) PCGS had that coin out of the slab probably around Feb/March of this year.
As for the toning, folks have quickly figured out that 99.999 fine silver tone rather quickly if left in the right environment and PCGS has certain criteria on what they'll consider natural and what they don't. Basically speaking an all gold coloring will get a no grade but the rainbow tones have no problem.

 

Maybe its an oily sheen from greasy fingers on the coin, rather than toning; Perhaps the same lady who butterfingers coins into the PCGS Coin Sniffer graded it!

 

I hear what you say Winged, and you are prudent to want certified examples if you are unsure of the coin. I would just say toning is such an esoteric area that I would be nervous of paying such high multiples slabbed or not unless you are convinced you yourself am an expert. TPGers have made many errors over the years, and with toning their opinion has changed dramatically. I am not sure how much long term value their opinion will hold.

I will put it this way. Yes, the coin was "pretty". Yes, its a very unusual, esoteric, bright toning. I am not a toning expert per se, but if in the tens of thousands of coins I have handled I have never seen such toning, personally I would be wary of paying such a high premium for it. I have seen the colorful toned Morgans that now people label "monsters" come out of old collections. I have seen the toning Lehigh values so much come out of collections. The only time I have seen toning like that was in a fire job, where the salvagable coins looked similar, hence my blowtorch comment. This is the reason I was advising caution. If you like toned coins, (and I do, I have always loved pretty original coins), maybe try some more conventional toning. One great area for this is old commemoratives, they were mostly silver, and put away in storage devices that led to toning. There are many extremely pretty coins in that series, and right now for some reason that series is being overlooked. Good value to me.

 

No doubt its a wipe of sometype which affected the toning. Perhaps a piece of debris fell on it while it was on the "top shelf" and the owner brushed it away with a dirty finger?

 

I think you hit the nail on the head ... fingers on the coin was definitely a problem here. On the upper left there are obvious fingerprints. I bet you are 100% right that the funny smear central right was an oily finger smudging the coins face ... the oil then protected that area from toning.

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This coin that I lost the bid on ... turned up as a Buy It Now for $495 (that's crazy!)

But even better, they posted a photo of what it really looks like

If I knew it looked this pastel, I would never had bid on it in the first place.
Sometimes it's good you lose an auction!

Misleading photos are a shame, they waste everyones time.
And it really goes to show how important it is to only buy coins where there is a return policy.

This is a newly posted photo ...



this was the photo in the original auction ...

 

wow you got really lucky,

 

I would buy 12 eagles than get that for 500 bucks

 

Foremost, of course, is beauty.

One less obvious reason : variety. Toned coins tend to look different; blast white coins are all the same.

 

The toning is amazing