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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Lehigh96, post: 907802, member: 15309&quot;]Carl,</p><p><br /></p><p>I understand that you have a right to your opinions no matter how outdated they are, but the topic of rainbow toning is one of the more complex in the numismatic arena.&nbsp; People ask questions and seek real answers. Your responses on this topic are tantamount to a spiteful rant and they are not based at all on reality.</p><p><br /></p><p>You refer to the rainbow toned coin market as a recent craze as if it popped up last year.&nbsp; These coins have been driving significant premiums because of their superlative eye appeal for years.&nbsp; I will not indulge you in an argument as to when the market prices took off.&nbsp; Some will point to the late 90&#039;s others will say a few years after the turn of the century.&nbsp; Instead, I will provide an example.&nbsp; This is a rainbow toned MS65 1886 Morgan Dollar that I purchased in 2002.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/ACPitBoss/Morgan%20Dollars/Picture1289.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>At the time, the Numismedia Wholesale value was $100.&nbsp; I paid $719 for this coin which was over 7X wholesale.&nbsp; This proves two things.&nbsp; First, rainbow toned coins have been driving significant premiums for at least 8 years and they are not a fad.&nbsp; To compare rainbow toned coins to beanie babies and hot wheels is ludicrous.&nbsp; Why you ask?&nbsp; Because the second thing this coin proves is that eye appeal never goes out of style.</p><p><br /></p><p>You may ask &quot;why didn&#039;t these coins always drive the huge premiums that they command today?&quot;&nbsp; Bag toned Morgans certainly existed 20-30 years ago and could be had for a scant premium by the collector that was so inclined to covet such coins.&nbsp; What changed in the market that caused the rapid increase in these coins?&nbsp; The answer to these questions is two fold, the internet and digital photography.&nbsp; Without these two things, most coins were sold via brick &amp; mortar coin shops and in person at auctions &amp; shows.&nbsp; The ability to photograph and market these incredibly attractive coins simply didn&#039;t exist.&nbsp; In fact, many collectors had never seen an attractive rainbow toned coin before.</p><p><br /></p><p>With the advances in both online marketing and improvements in digital photography, it became possible for an average collector like myself to showcase these coins with ease.&nbsp; Look at the Heritage image from 2002.&nbsp; The quality is extremely poor by today&#039;s standards but fantastic at the time.&nbsp; Here is what the coin looks like using modern technology.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o59/ACPitBoss/Morgan%20Dollars/MorganDollar1886NGCMS65H2.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>You then point to the impending doom of the rainbow toned coin market as a result of artificially toned coins.&nbsp; While you are correct that artificial toning is the biggest threat to the rainbow toned coin market, your analysis is fatally flawed.&nbsp; It makes no difference how many people collect state quarters and call themselves coin collectors.&nbsp; It also makes no difference how many idiots are out there cooking coins on their stove to yield an obviously AT coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>The rainbow toned market is a niche market within the rare coin market.&nbsp; Any collector of rare coins worth his salt has heard of and uses the TPG&#039;s.&nbsp; The real rare coin collectors only use PCGS &amp; NGC.&nbsp; You stated that there are a massive number of AT coins and that many admit to not being able to tell the difference between NT &amp; AT.&nbsp; This statement is ridiculous.&nbsp; I venture that any experience toned coin collector as well as the TPG&#039;s can weed out 99% of the AT coins that are produced.&nbsp; It is only a small group of highly skilled coin doctors that are able to get their AT coins graded.</p><p><br /></p><p>The real threat of AT coins is that the TPG&#039;s will lose consumer confidence in their ability to weed out 99% of the AT coins.&nbsp; If the methods for artificially toning coins becomes common knowledge and the TPG&#039;s can&#039;t discern the difference at a high enough level.&nbsp; Collectors might abandon the market all together.&nbsp; The other possibility is that the TPG&#039;s would simply stop grading toned coins entirely making those coins already encapsulated more valuable, not less.</p><p><br /></p><p>Just know, if you intend on giving out misinformation and bad advice about rainbow toned coins, I will be right here to correct you!<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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