I love the look of toned coins and am always keeping my eyes peeled for them but I'm curious how much it affects the value of the coin. I bought all three of these coins from my local pawn shop for 20 dollars a piece, besides the 1898 Morgan would the other two bring me more money if I posted them on eBay?
It all depends on many things, like who is bidding and how the toning looks. The 1898 looks like it's been harshly cleaned. The 1921 seems to have a little nice toning but seems circulated and possibly cleaned. I'm not certain either of those two would bring you any extra money. I do think that Peace Dollar is a nice looking piece (at least from the off center, angled photos). Can you post a couple more of just that one front and back but straight on?
The Peace Dollar was dipped in something to make it look like that. When you see the rim affected, too, that's the give-away.
Rainbow toning attracts a LOT of attention; I think it's still hot in the market. Gray toning is normal. Blast white (original) surfaces tend to attract the senior collectors like me. As for copper, you'd think Red would be highly sought after. BUT under most storage conditions (including slabs) it tones to Red-Brown. And that happens in the 10-20 year time period under the best condition; sooner under normal storage. So many people avoid copper coins with the Red attribution.
In your opinion do you think I should post it on eBay and if so what do you think I could be able to get for it?
In all due respect I don't think you got any kind of "bargain" with these. I believe all three have been (improperly) cleaned; the two Morgans certainly have. Hard to say what caused the toning on the Peace—it may have been altered through heat, or maybe, as was suggested, chemically—but it doesn't look natural to me: too much color, even if it is subtle. If you were to list the Peace Dollar on ebay it's unlikely you'd get any interest beyond a beginner who doesn't know much about toning and who isn't going to want to spend much. Btw, there are some great, informative threads here about toning and especially toned Morgans. Check out the Toning Premium thread: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-toning-premium-thread.135678/
Thank you, I thought I may have gotten lucky but I'm still new and have a lot to learn lol. I'll definitely be looking for the threads you mentioned
Did you check the weight on them? Maybe hit them with a magnet just to make sure the pieces are even silver. Some times the people at the pawn shop don't even know what they're buying. If you just started collecting coins, the pawn shop is not the best place to learn about buying coins. Stick with reputable local coin shops(LCS) or go to coin shows. These places lower your odds of getting ripped off. Buy a RedBook or some reference material.
No, just that when you see the whole coin covered like that, that's the explanation. It's a handsome coin, don't get me wrong. There are those out there I am certain who will pitch a big fit and use terms they can't define like "artificial toning" to describe why it should get a sentence of five days in the electric chair for it, but I would not pay them any attention.
They are what they are and there exists lots of things that 60 bucks would leave you with nothing but memories, maybe even some you remember and maybe even want to remember. If nobody on ebay will give more than 20 each for them, and they probably will, you hopefully have 3 ounces of 90% silver and the day will come where the artificial conditions keeping silver spot super-naturally low, will cease continuing.
They are all the proper weight and don't seem to be magnetic but my magnet isn't that strong. The guy who owns the shop is my neighbor and he's a stand up guy but I'll do more research and if one or more are fake I'm sure he'll give me a refund or exchange the coins. You've been a lot of help, thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge with me
that peace dollar looks like artificial toning to me. all 3 look heavy cleaned. $17-20 each seems like a fair price for these being cleaned and 90% silver. wait for other opinions...
