My answere to Sunnywood

TONEDDOLLARS

Sunnywood, as mentioned by Stman, I am trying to complete a date and mint set of nicley toned Morgans. I do say nicley , because as some of you know not all Morgans come with banded rainbows or vivid colors. Some, you may find with envolope toning or album toning or EOR. They may not be as dramatic as bag toned, but they are still nicley toned. A lot of the dates in the late ninetys and earliy 1900's come with monochromatic type toning. I have been working on my set for quite a few years, with a lot of help from my friends on these boards. GSAGUY, ArtR, Greattoning, Annaconda, Coingame 2000 and Morganlover just to name a few. I do not know if this set will ever be finished, for I am always upgrading and adding additional coins to the ones I already own. It is the thrill of the hunt that keeps me interested. I do own a few duplicates of certain dates that I would find very hard to sell, but I would if one of the more elusive dates I need became available.

I have, with some of the coins in my collection paid dearly for the right to own them. As much as 10x to 15x for common date coins such as the early S mints. I also own these same dates for not much more than bid, and they are just as colorful. It depends on who owns them and how much they are asking. I also have some rarer dates in my collection, such as the 94-s in 65 1904 in 65 and a 94-o in 63 that I paid around bid for. Some a few dollars over and some a few dollars less. It appears to me that you have a better chance of paying closer to bid for a coin the rarer it is. There does not appear to be that much of a premium for this type of coin. Now I'm sure if some one had a tough date with color and knew that I wanted it for my collection, they could try to hold me up for a very large profit. Probaly the reason some on the registry people keep their collections private. At the recent FUN show I ran into someone who had a 94-o in 64, it is about a $450-$500 coin. He knew I needed it for my collection and told me he valued it at $4500. I did not. It was the best 94-o I had ever seen, but I was not willing to make him rich on this one coin. I'm sure he could have paid a lot of money for this coin, but I did not think so. It was purchased in a collection of toned Morgans that he bought at the show. I just felt that he wanted to hold my feet to the fire. Another time, another dealer maybe I would have tried harder to buy this coin. Now looking at this story I'm saying that I would and have paid 10x to 15x for a common date but would not pay 10x for a much harder date. I really should have tried harder to buy this coin.

I have met and talked with quite a few toned Morgan collectors from these boards. Most of these collectors are accumulating every gem toned dollar they can find. I on the other hand would much rather have a complete collection of toned Morgans as hard as that might seem to be to complete. There is at least an end in sight, a goal so to say. My other toned Morgan collectors that I talk with are pursuing an endless chase. No matter how nice that last 81-s is that they bought they find another one at the next show. You could never own all the pretty toned dollars in the world, well maybe all but GSAGUY, he does seem to have a few nice ones. As ArtR says all the time there are other collections that people just do not know about, so you can not say so and so has the best.

I have talked with quite a few people here who have made it very hard to find some dates because I think they have them all or most of the great ones.

My goal is to build a great toned Morgan collection that is complete. When this will happen only God knows. At this time I am 22 coins short of completing this task. I will say that I am not happy with all the coins in my collection, but most of them are keepers. Would everyone or anyone feel the same as I do about my collection? I doubt it. Some collectore want only banded rainbows, some want vivid colors, I want really nicely toned coins that are lustorous and well struck.

I hope this long rambling response answeres a few of the questions posed by Sunnywood and others. I am not really a english major and do not write very well, that is why I mostly try to lurk and learn. That is what these boards have done for me, allowed me the ability to pick others brains by what they write.

Thanks TD

jbsteven

long live the toned Morgan collectors! I am one myself.

mdwoods

For sheer beauty a superbly toned Morgan is hard to beat. Congrats on your ongoing work.

K6AZ

Well, good luck in your pursuit. Some dates I have never seen nicely toned, at least in my eyes.

I sold most of my high dollar, vivid Morgans to be able to purchase some of the more expensive dates. I am 14 dates shy of completing my set, and at some point I may need to sell the rest of my duplicate toned Morgans to do it. It's hard enough to complete a Morgan set, but to do it with all nice toned coins is a real challange.

TONEDDOLLARS

K6AZ is your set all Toned????

You can view my collection by clicking on NGC of my sig. line

Clankeye

A good post, TD. Enjoyable to read.

Thanks for sharing--and I mean that sincerely.


Clankeye

K6AZ

<< <i>K6AZ is your set all Toned????

You can view my collection by clicking on NGC of my sig. line >>



A good part of my set is toned to one degree or another. I try to avoid blast white coins, but I do have some in my collection. As I find nice toned examples, I will buy the toned coin and put it in my set. I also really like peripherally toned dollars, and will buy those over blast white coins. Here is my set, and if I had to pick my favorite, it would be the 85-CC:

K6AZ PCGS Set

I have my set listed on NGC as well, with some of my NGC duplicates listed. It has been a while since I have updated the set at NGC.

By the way, when I click on your NGC link, it only brings up the listing of all the sets, which one is yours?

TONEDDOLLARS

K6AZ My collection is the TONEDDOLLARS collection. I think it is about #20-22

I like that 85-cc very lustorous indeed

MrD

Did I hear my name mentioned?

braddick

Hey guys: What are the toughest three Morgans to find with colorful and/or attractive color/toning? -I'd guess the 89-CC and the 93-S, but maybe that's too easy. Thinking about it, I can't recall seeing a truly mindblowing 21-D. Are there others that would surprise us?

K6AZ

TD, very nice. I notice you have pictures on the NGC side, but not on PCGS. I actually find images easier to deal with on PCGS. I would hope at some point NGC overhauls their system. It is very hard to navigate, at least for me.

TONEDDOLLARS

I agree, it is very difficult to find a 21-d that is nicely toned. Mike Defalco had one posted here not to long ago. Here is one of two that I own.

K6AZ

Pat, the 21-D is one of them. A big reason is that by 1921, planchets were prepared differently, and also, coin bags were made of different material by then.

Not including the dates that are hard to find in any mint state condition, some of the harder dates to find with nice toning include:

1889-O
1890-P,O
1891-P,O
1892-P,O
1893-P
1894-S
1900-S
1901-S
1902-S
1904-P

TONEDDOLLARS

K6AZ For some reason I have had more luck posting pictures on theNGC site. I have had nothing put trouble in my attempts with PCGS. Thanks for looking. I agree with some of those dates you have listed. I do have most of them in my collection, some very nicely toned and a couple just OK

TD

K6AZ

I'm sure they can be found, but not with bag toning. Any coin can nicely tone in an album or a roll, but finding them at least on these dates is a chore. I really had trouble finding the 1901-S and 1902-S dates that were nice. A lot of them have very drab toning.

TONEDDOLLARS

K6AZ I have a 02-s that is very nice, I think. I agree they are hard to find, i have not seen or found one better than this.

K6AZ

I wonder what type of album or envelope caused that type of toning. I have two just like it. One is the 1882 MS65, which is toned that way on both sides, and also my 1888 MS64, which has that toning on the reverse.

K6AZ

TONEDDOLLARS

The coin is a lot more golden over the front obverse where it gets a little darker it is turning to burgandy and on the rims it is turning to green. The coin is toned over a proof like surface and the reverse is white

K6AZ

The picture I posted is quite old before I got the hang of the camera. Mine looks very similar to yours, the lime green got washed out by the harsh light. One of these days I will pull it out of the bank and do a new image.

braddick

Very nice! As much as I enjoy looking at the crazy, colorful 1881-S's of the world, and I do (!), it's a special treat to land on a date you just plain NEVER see, like that 21-D. Amazing, authentic colors. That's one rare coin, no doubt.

I can see now why there is a passion in hunting these down. They're not around every corner, at every coin shop, just waiting to be cherried. I'd imagine many shows and Dealers stock has to be checked before even one shows up.

Thanks for sharing this information (and, photos!).

TONEDDOLLARS

Braddick, I too love the crazy colors of the earily dates. But the longer you look for some of these dates you begun to realize just how hard they are to find. A nice album toned or EOR or Envolope toned piece will fit very nicely into your collection, and you'll be happy to have found it. You are correct about searching hundreds if not thousands of coins to come up with one that works. That is the fun however., and I still enjoy the thrill of the hunt.

TD

K6AZ

TD, do you have any like this?

roadrunner

TD, I have to agree that attractive and orig toned lustrous Morgans are the place to be. A much safer and secure bet than monster toners imo. Keep the faith.

roadrunner

TONEDDOLLARS

I have this one, a 1885-cc in 65



Thanks Roadrunner, hope to see you soon at Wors.

jbsteven

eric

I have handled a few of those with the stripe on the reverse. It came from a certain album that was a clear rubbery plastic. I cannot remember the name of the albums though. It would be cool to find a wild bright toner from one of those.

K6AZ

JB, the album that these were in was a New England Rare Coin Galleries album. The toning this album caused ranged from dark and drab to very colorful, such as the coin I posted above. I bought an entire old collection in these albums, and there were no super bright or "neon" coins in them. I have four of the coins left, once of which is the one above. Here is a page from the album:

Sunnywood

TD,

Thanks for your great post !!! Now I know why it is so difficult to find the A+ toned examples - you guys already own them all !!!! I think the pursuit of a complete set is a fantastic goal that would keep anyone busy for many years. True, it's easier and more immediately gratifying to buy lots of colorful common date coins. For those who just buy color, and who hoard these coins, that can be a lot of fun. After all, no two are alike, so you can't really call them "duplicates." But I share your preference of finding attractively and colorfully toned examples of as many different dates as possible. I would never imagine completing the set though, my goodness.

Thanks & berst,
Sunnywood

TONEDDOLLARS

Thanks Sunnywood, I was hopping you saw this thread. I do not have the ability to write what I am thinking that well. I think you got the gest of what I'm thinking with my collecting.

gemtone65

Toned Dollars feat of getting within 16 dates and mints of completion of a gem and near gem toned Morgan dollar set can only be called monumental. To put this achievement in perspective, I've been doing this intensively for 7 years, and probably only have 25 or so different dates and mints. Considering that each of Toned Dollars' coins has such wonderful eye appeal, one has to simply marvel at his accomplishment. Let's ask that he keep us informed as the countdown continues.

ArtR

<< <i>Toned Dollars feat of getting within 16 dates and mints of completion of a gem and near gem toned Morgan dollar set can only be called monumental. >>



Isn't that the truth.

Let's face it when it comes to a collection of Morgan Dollars, if your pockets are deep enough, it's not a very hard task to put the complete set together in Brilliant Uncirculated, in other words white. To put this set together with nice toning, to me is one of the toughest accomplishments in Numismatics.

Jack, keep up the good work. It will take time as you well know, but I am confident that you will get there.

TONEDDOLLARS

<< <i>Jack, keep up the good work. It will take time as you well know, but I am confident that you will get there >>



ArtR: With your help and greatr eye for quality, I'm sure I'll get there a little quicker

Marshall: thanks for the kind words. After all the emails that have gone back and forth between us showing photos of our collection, I have seen some really nice coins you have that I SHOULD add to my collection

Hadleydog

Excellent thread, TD.
I just spent the last half hour admiring your collection. Beautiful!

TONEDDOLLARS

Hadleydog, Thanks for the coments. I'm sure my collection would be even nicer if I had some of those beautys you own.