Artificially Toned Morgans On The Bay - Shady Practice?

I commend the fact that he puts "AT" on his postings. Buyers should educate themselves to the meaning of this before bidding on his coins.

It is a ruinous and destructive process done for selfish reasons without respect to the hobby. If the seller really wanted to be honest, the ad would read "artificially toned," not a shortened version designed to fool the uninformed.

Thankfully my Morgans will only appreciate in value as more of the higher grade common dates are ruined by these guys.

Still deceptive - Looking at his feedback he used to maintain that the toning was real, and my guess is he was forced to change his listings after a disgruntled buyer complained (rightfully). Since he never explains what AT means, he may be within the letter of the law, but certainly not the spirit, and is absolutely trying to take advantage of ignorant buyers.

My feeling is that it should read "artificially toned" (as you wrote), or "chemically altered". After all, if it was naturally toned, I doubt the seller would just discretely write "NT".

But I'm a bit of a newb, hence the post for comments.

My stance on this has been well stated. I hate the term Artificial toning. Purposeful toning is more accurate. That aside...

I have purchased coins from this seller. They are quite beautiful in my opinion. I have absolutely no issue with his coins. Nor do I have any problem with his listings. And using AT in the title instead of spelling out artificial toning. Give it a break. Using AT is not being deceptive. It is no different than saying BU or AU or any other acronym used in the hobby. Saying it is meant to mislead newbies is ridiculous. If someone buys ANYTHING and does not understand the entire listing, they are simply foolish and stupid.

If you want to argue that its damaging coins, thats fine. I see the point, but dont necessarily agree. And if you dont like the look of them, again, thats fine for you. But that doesn't mean you need to go after those that do like these coins.

I have seen many of this seller's auctions end at a high price. Personally I don't understand why anyone would buy AT coins unless they don't know what AT is. You can get NT coins that are toned to a lesser degree at cheaper prices, and they're not considered damaged or altered.

I don't have a problem with what he's selling, just how he's selling it. Whether you fully understand what is meant by "AT" is beside the point, and it is in no way analogous to BU or AU. They are industry-wide abbreviations to save space, and in fact they are often written out fully in the item description. There is no reason not to. This seller is never going to expound on what AT means in the listing, because he makes money by obscuring the truth.

I think silverhawk bought a couple, knowing they were AT. I PMed him to see if he'll chime in.