For collectors of toned copper, specifically Indian head cents I’d be careful on eBay. I picked one up once and it was clearly AT to me in hand which is what led me to look into the eBay seller... ever since week after week they are getting cranked out and auctioned, and the rest of their inventory is full of raw toned junk that didn’t turn out well enough to submit evidently. I won’t name the seller publicly but it won’t take long to find with a simple search of active auctions and a look at sold inventory. If you search auction records you’ll also find a large percentage of active listings of toned IHC’s with from other sellers with large premiums slapped on them originated from this guy. I realize this is done all the time, but the brazen assembly line style of this individual is a bit much. Surprised NGC is passing all these.
There is also a big box seller in Numismatic News that takes out full page display ads who sells a lot of dipped IHC's. I won't name them either but they advertise them as "Premium Quality" B.U. I purchased two many years ago and then, after looking at them 5 years later could see the pitting they had covered up. One revealed a great clash, but buyers beware.
I hesitated on saying anything about it but I would hate to have a CT member pay up for one of these from another seller thinking they had something special and then see they could have got the same thing for retail in the next week’s crop.
