Fake "Toned" Coins From Ebay

Going through some quarters last night, I finally looked over two that had been noted to be "nicely toned" by their respective sellers. I'd never cared about the toning -- I'm after quarters for the bullion and had gotten these for under melt -- but I was still amused by what I saw in common with each of them.

Both looked like they had been worked over lightly by a few brushes from like an oily rag or something -- just enough to give them a brown surface to them. In one case, one of them was "toned" on the obverse and just about BU on the reverse. Oops. Looks like they forgot about that coin's reverse.

I don't care, but I post this as a warning for some of you old vets who tend to like toning, in the off event you didn't already know about it. I'm also curious as to if you guys think a seller that receives these could have any case to complain to ebay.

The saddest thing is that some sellers out there are basically marking up coins for no reason.