Is this "greattoning" coin suspect?

laurentyvan

Love the look but I'm not sure about the seller. Opinions please.e-bay coin

I remember reading something about this seller in another post-can't remember if it was positive or negative. Coin looks fine in its holder...

Clankeye

The coin is backed by NGC. He actually fulfills his end of the auction by sending the coin.... If you bid an amount you are comfortable with and win it, I don't see any reason to worry about this seller.

Now, many people have said the coins they have purchased from him are not quite as colorful as his images portray them. Color is there--just a little more subdued. Many, many people are happy with their coins from him.

It's pretty much your choice. If you don't bid more than you're comfortable with, you'll probably be fine.

Clankeye

theboz11

are you buying the dealer or the coin

laurentyvan

I suppose I'm buying the coin but depending on the picture to be accurate. If it's a modified image then to some extent the dealer comes with the package, no?

theboz11

NGC Slab and a 7 day return seems like things are favorable for a look, no matter who the dealer is, assuming the price is right.

laurentyvan

Now that the Colonel has reminded me about what I've read in the past about greattoning, I'm going to pass this coin. I really enjoy iridescent, multi-hued natural toning laid over a coin by mother nature over a long period of time. The older the better, and if French, better yet. When I seek out such a coin and it arrives with toning different in nature than what was pictured, to me its like stealing-you took my money under false pretenses! If not a coin doctor, then an image manipulator.

cacheman

You're correct there...while NEN may underestimate the view of their coins (pale and washed out) this guy jacks the saturation on his images to the point where they almost strobe. Everytime I see one of them from "Greattoning" I feel like I have bitten down on a piece of tin-foil. The coin looks original but I wouldn't count on it being electric blue.

CIVITAS

The toning looks perfectly natural to me, but I'm sure that the coin was angled "just right" and the photo "tweaked" just a bit to really show off the color. Don't expect such vibrance in person unless you spend all your time looking at the coin from a 45 degree angle under a 100 watt lamp.

SYRACUSIAN

New marketing tools for online sales: if his skills in photography alone manage to bring these premiums, it's fine with me. I'm not sure about the wild following of this seller and the extroardinary amount of views and bids he gets (although it's no wonder with all the publicity he gets here)

cosmicdebris

FYI NEN sometimes uses Greattoning to sell their stuff that does not sell on their website.

docday2003

Finally I can speak from experience! The coin I bought from this seller was nice, but the coloration was much less subdued than the photos suggested. In order to really see the color in my coin, I have to look at it outside when the sun is blazing...then it is awesome. I know it is a sample size of one coin, but it is my only experience with this seller....

cosmicdebris

Let me fix that previous statement. greattoning sometimes gets coins on memo from NEN and puts them up on eBay.

SYRACUSIAN

what does on memo mean?

MacCrimmon

<< <i>what does on memo mean? >>


Generally speaking, between two dealers, one may give a coin to another dealer, 'on memo'. If I have a coin in inventory for say, $1150 retail, and you think you can sell it to one of your customers, then I would memo the coin to you for somewhere between my cost ($1000 in this instance) and retail. If I memo the coin to you at $1075 then you might have between a week and 30 days to either pay me the $1075 or return the coin unsold. If you sell the coin to a client for $1300, then you keep $225 without being 'out-of-pocket' any money.......if you're nice, you might give me slightly more than the $75 profit (or buy me a plate of haggis :), but you do not really have to and are not expected to.......

Edited to correct my lax typing skills.

Clankeye

Mac got there first.

Clankeye

SYRACUSIAN

Thank you edit boys