1880-S Morgan With Great Toning, Or Fake Toning?

The pullaway is one reason I'd consider this one "toned under natural processes" although a given TPG would likely wimp out. By the same standard which allows anything not toned in a Mint bag to get into a righteous slab, so should this one be.

This thing would be a ball to shoot with an axial rig and a good camera setup.

I think it would slab fine, I just do not think it is worth the cost of slabbing. If you want to sell it, stick it on ebay and call it "UNCIRCULATED GEM BU++++ RAINBOW TONING" or something ridiculous like that and you'll do fine.

Note, that was a joke. Please do not title it that if you sell it on ebay. Something simple like "1880-S Morgan dollar, uncirculated and toned" will do fine.

I, personally, slab anything of questionable authenticity that I plan to resell that is worth $100 or more, or most regular coins worth $250 or more... Certain things I will not bother with, for example, a common-date, baggy Carson City GSA dollar is worth $175-$200 ungraded, and graded in MS62 or MS63, it's worth about the same. So why bother paying for grading in that case?

There is no hard and fast rule, every coin is unique and the decision to slab or not to slab has to be made based on that coins merits.

Either because the coin has been authenticated, or because it's condition is better than average, and I got away with paying an average price for the coin.

In example, I bought a raw 1881-S Morgan off of ebay a while ago. I paid $130 or so. It was nice. I submitted it for grading, and it came back MS67. The only reason I basically paid MS65 money for it was that the seller took mediocre photos. Learning how to grade coins, both in-hand and via pictures, is an art of it's own. That is being rewarded for having a good eye and knowing that coin was going too cheap.

As another example, I purchased a 3-legged Buffalo nickel. I knew the coin was real because I know the die markers for the variety, but the dealer had his questions about the coin. It was raw, and priced at about half of greysheet for the grade since the dealer wasn't sure if it was real, and wasn't offering returns on it. I bought it, submitted it, and sent it to auction and did well, as my bidders were confident in the authenticity of the coin.

I stopped collecting after high school, though at the time I was quite into it. Was there less thievery back then? I don't mean in terms of people asking ridiculous prices. I mean, in terms of actual faked coins? Like my 1909-s VDB -- was there just as high a risk of getting a fake one back then as now? I certainly trusted the guy I got mine from, and it wasn't authenticated otherwise (and fortunately folks here seem to think it looks real).

It's too bad, because I remember how much harder it was to find coins in the 70s. And it's rather amazing being able to go online and find anything. I've collected other things, from orchids to antiquities, and it's neat being able to go online and find rarer varieties of the things you love. But that's just insane that things have gotten so bad that China is counterfeiting American coins!