I don' think I'd pay anything for it since it's not graded and I'm not an expert on AT/NT coins. Actually, I'm not really into this toned coin craze.
nice looking.. probably AT. I'd go $5 ungraded by a tpg. $15 if it was in a slab..... no more than that,, they are common as grass... even nicely toned in slabs.. coin doctors have populated both slabs and raw with plenty of these.. don't go crazy.
If it is Artificially Toned, it's not a half bad job, but be careful of attempts at target toning, they can have mixed results such as the spots above and below the motto IN GOD A very nicely struck Kennedy with little to no obvious marks. I'd pay no more than $34
If he can get it for cheaper then he'd be happy, nothing wrong with setting the bar high then slipping under it.
While I will stop short of 100% certainty, I have never seen a naturally toned kennedy that looks like this.
That shade of blue followed by the purple then magenta are not the correct sequence of colors typically found on album toned coins...that's the easy tip off for me but there is more. I have owned several examples of Kennedy's and washington quarters that were neartly identical, always target toned...and I bought them from a seller who freely admitted creating them himself though he would not give me all of the specifics. I would say I see a couple dozen raw toners with those same colors at every show I go to...I never see them in holders though I wouldn't be surprised if a few slip through from time to time. Finally...a few years back when I was running the TCCS both, Andy Kimmel who is a long time toned coin dealer who used to head paragon numismatics (still might) once brought buy some AT coins to display in our case as a warning to collectors of what types of AT coins to pass on...and you guessed it there was a Kennedy half and frankie that had the same colors and patterns. I have seen and owned many album toned examples and not one of them had this very suspect blue especially in combination with tighht rings of purple and magenta. I would lay odds that if this coin was submitted there is probably a 95% chance it would bag at PCGS or NGC as they are on to these type of coins. To educate yourself about the colors and patterns to look for just type in rainbow in the US coin section on Ebay and check out the common AT colors....purple, hot pink, robins egg blue.....very easily duplicated.
