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<p>[QUOTE="Lehigh96, post: 749055, member: 15309"]It is not often that you have the opportunity to track the provenance of a very common coin. In this case, I am speaking of a rainbow toned 1881-S Morgan Dollar PCGS MS65. This coin has a total population of 87124/29303, not rare by any means. As a previous owner of this coin I am able to track it's sales history since it was first offered at auction by Heritage in the <b><i>2007 St. Louis, MO (CSNS) Signature Coin Auction #434.</i></b></p><p><b><i><br /></i></b></p><p><b><i></i></b>Here are the photos, description, and link to the auction lot from that sale.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Description</b> <b>1881-S $1 MS65 PCGS.</b> Aside from a blush of orange at the upper left, the reverse of this highly lustrous Gem is brilliant. On the obverse, violet patina dominates with a few splashes of olive-lime away from the boldly impressed portrait.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/ACPitBoss/Morgan%20Dollar%20Journey%201881-S/Picture1120.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/ACPitBoss/Morgan%20Dollar%20Journey%201881-S/Picture1121.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=434&Lot_No=4592#photo" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=434&Lot_No=4592#photo" rel="nofollow">http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=434&Lot_No=4592#photo</a></p><p><br /></p><p>The coin sold for $253 with what I consider to be very substandard photos. I assume that it was purchased by Anaconda Rare coins who then sold the coin to me for $375 on 6/17/2007. Here are the Anaconda photos courtesy of Brandon Kelley.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/ACPitBoss/Morgan%20Dollar%20Journey%201881-S/MorganDollar1881-SPCGSMS65.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/ACPitBoss/Morgan%20Dollar%20Journey%201881-S/Picture1116.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>As you can see, the Anaconda photos present this coin in an entirely different light. I was aware of the Heritage Sale price when I purchased the coin from Anaconda. In fact, I was a common under bidder on most of the toned Morgan Dollars that ended up on the Anaconda site. Unfortunately, I had only the Heritage photos from which to make my purchasing decisions whereas Anaconda had the opportunity to see the coins in hand. My general opinion of Anaconda was that they overpriced many of their toned coins, but if you were patient and made reasonable offers, it was pretty easy to obtain great toned coins at respectable retail prices. This coin was no different IMO. I paid roughly 3X wholesale price knowing they paid 2X and that it was listed at 4X on their site.</p><p><br /></p><p>In April 2009, I sold the coin to a fellow CT member for $400. I was happy with the sale as I have moved away from collecting toned Morgans in recent years and the other CT member was very pleased after receiving the coin. To my surprise, this exact same coin just sold in an E-Bay auction by none other than Brandon Kelley at Polaris Numismatics. Here are the photos, description, and auction link.</p><p><br /></p><p><font face="Arial"><img src="http://www.polariscoins.com/images/polaris_description.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></font></p><p><font face="Arial"> This purple beast exhibits an INTENSELY lustrous obverse that is completely bathed in a blueberry wine <i>(if you've ever had it, it's not blue *duh* or red but sort of like a reddish purple color)</i> overall coloration intermingled with hints of vibrant emerald green, royal blue, and golden yellow that are peppered throughout the powerful color on the absolutely stunning obverse. The reverse is just as lustrous and extremely clean but come on, the party's in the front. You won't be disappointed with this beauty. PCGS graded this coin Gem MS65 and assigned it the certification number 04181763. </font></p><p><font face="Arial"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Arial"><img src="http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/ACPitBoss/Morgan%20Dollar%20Journey%201881-S/MorganDollar1881-SPCGSMS65Polaris.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></font></p><p><font face="Arial"><img src="http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/ACPitBoss/Morgan%20Dollar%20Journey%201881-S/MorganDollar1881-SPCGSMS65PolarisOH.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></font></p><p><font face="Arial"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Arial"></font><a href="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?type=3&campid=5335874456&toolid=10001&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2FeBayISAPI.dll%3FViewItem%26item%3D260498451350%26ssPageName%3DSTRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?type=3&campid=5335874456&toolid=10001&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2FeBayISAPI.dll%3FViewItem%26item%3D260498451350%26ssPageName%3DSTRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT" rel="nofollow">http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260498451350&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The coin just sold for a whopping $510 on E-Bay. I find this very interesting. In a time when the economy is depressed, coin prices are falling, consumer spending is low, unemployment is high, this coin continues to show improving sales performance. In the last 30 months the coin has sold 4 times. Each time the price increased and the end sale price is double that of the initial sale price.</p><p><br /></p><p>What does this coin tell us about the stability of the rainbow toned coin market? It seems clear that the current market is at the very least healthy and not near the impending collapse so often predicted by the anti-toning community. While it is impossible to summarize the market conditions from the performance of one coin, it is also undeniable that this coin offered two years apart by the same seller with almost identical photos performed better in the worsening economic conditions. Another undeniable truth is the importance of accurate photos. I firmly believe that if Heritage were to have offered this coin with photos of equal quality to Brandon's, that the Heritage price would have been much higher and on par with the successive sales prices.</p><p><br /></p><p>What do you guys think of the performance of this coin and the condition of the rainbow toned coin market?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Lehigh96, post: 749055, member: 15309"]It is not often that you have the opportunity to track the provenance of a very common coin. In this case, I am speaking of a rainbow toned 1881-S Morgan Dollar PCGS MS65. This coin has a total population of 87124/29303, not rare by any means. As a previous owner of this coin I am able to track it's sales history since it was first offered at auction by Heritage in the [B][I]2007 St. Louis, MO (CSNS) Signature Coin Auction #434. [/I][/B]Here are the photos, description, and link to the auction lot from that sale. [B]Description[/B] [B]1881-S $1 MS65 PCGS.[/B] Aside from a blush of orange at the upper left, the reverse of this highly lustrous Gem is brilliant. On the obverse, violet patina dominates with a few splashes of olive-lime away from the boldly impressed portrait. [IMG]http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/ACPitBoss/Morgan%20Dollar%20Journey%201881-S/Picture1120.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/ACPitBoss/Morgan%20Dollar%20Journey%201881-S/Picture1121.jpg[/IMG] [URL]http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=434&Lot_No=4592#photo[/URL] The coin sold for $253 with what I consider to be very substandard photos. I assume that it was purchased by Anaconda Rare coins who then sold the coin to me for $375 on 6/17/2007. Here are the Anaconda photos courtesy of Brandon Kelley. [IMG]http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/ACPitBoss/Morgan%20Dollar%20Journey%201881-S/MorganDollar1881-SPCGSMS65.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/ACPitBoss/Morgan%20Dollar%20Journey%201881-S/Picture1116.jpg[/IMG] As you can see, the Anaconda photos present this coin in an entirely different light. I was aware of the Heritage Sale price when I purchased the coin from Anaconda. In fact, I was a common under bidder on most of the toned Morgan Dollars that ended up on the Anaconda site. Unfortunately, I had only the Heritage photos from which to make my purchasing decisions whereas Anaconda had the opportunity to see the coins in hand. My general opinion of Anaconda was that they overpriced many of their toned coins, but if you were patient and made reasonable offers, it was pretty easy to obtain great toned coins at respectable retail prices. This coin was no different IMO. I paid roughly 3X wholesale price knowing they paid 2X and that it was listed at 4X on their site. In April 2009, I sold the coin to a fellow CT member for $400. I was happy with the sale as I have moved away from collecting toned Morgans in recent years and the other CT member was very pleased after receiving the coin. To my surprise, this exact same coin just sold in an E-Bay auction by none other than Brandon Kelley at Polaris Numismatics. Here are the photos, description, and auction link. [FONT=Arial][IMG]http://www.polariscoins.com/images/polaris_description.jpg[/IMG] This purple beast exhibits an INTENSELY lustrous obverse that is completely bathed in a blueberry wine [I](if you've ever had it, it's not blue *duh* or red but sort of like a reddish purple color)[/I] overall coloration intermingled with hints of vibrant emerald green, royal blue, and golden yellow that are peppered throughout the powerful color on the absolutely stunning obverse. The reverse is just as lustrous and extremely clean but come on, the party's in the front. You won't be disappointed with this beauty. PCGS graded this coin Gem MS65 and assigned it the certification number 04181763. [IMG]http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/ACPitBoss/Morgan%20Dollar%20Journey%201881-S/MorganDollar1881-SPCGSMS65Polaris.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/ACPitBoss/Morgan%20Dollar%20Journey%201881-S/MorganDollar1881-SPCGSMS65PolarisOH.jpg[/IMG] [/FONT][URL="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?type=3&campid=5335874456&toolid=10001&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2FeBayISAPI.dll%3FViewItem%26item%3D260498451350%26ssPageName%3DSTRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT"]http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260498451350&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT[/URL] The coin just sold for a whopping $510 on E-Bay. I find this very interesting. In a time when the economy is depressed, coin prices are falling, consumer spending is low, unemployment is high, this coin continues to show improving sales performance. In the last 30 months the coin has sold 4 times. Each time the price increased and the end sale price is double that of the initial sale price. What does this coin tell us about the stability of the rainbow toned coin market? It seems clear that the current market is at the very least healthy and not near the impending collapse so often predicted by the anti-toning community. While it is impossible to summarize the market conditions from the performance of one coin, it is also undeniable that this coin offered two years apart by the same seller with almost identical photos performed better in the worsening economic conditions. Another undeniable truth is the importance of accurate photos. I firmly believe that if Heritage were to have offered this coin with photos of equal quality to Brandon's, that the Heritage price would have been much higher and on par with the successive sales prices. What do you guys think of the performance of this coin and the condition of the rainbow toned coin market?[/QUOTE]
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