Morgan Dollar- PICTURE, Help grade/value?

[BuffaloBoy]

Hi all, sorry if this is in the wrong section, i recantly bought this silver dollar from someone, and I am curious about the grade/value. any help will be nice, thanks and HH!

Also, the toning in my opinion is beautiful. Opinions on that?

[skelly9131]

I'm not sure about that date, but if it's a common one than I would say it's worth what most common Morgans are worth which is a few bucks over it's silver value. That would be about $28-30 right now.

[TheRockDoc]

Im by no means an expert, but I would say it is definately a MS60 or better. Unfortunately though it is about as common as any for the date.... you could maybe get 40 bucks for it, 50 max.... around here anyways...

chris.

beautiful coin. I love the toning. Toning is like personality, everyones is different.

[SilverFace]

1885 Morgan mintage: 17,787,930.

It's a common date but at least it's a pre-'21 and it's in very nice condition. And Morgans are and will always be popular with collectors and investors

Now's a good time to be buying (IMO) but of course nothing beats finding silver @ face - unless you can find it for free of course.

But then again finding Morgan dollars is a lot harder than finding silver half dollars.

HH

[Numismaniac]

Nice coin Happy. I'd say it looks Uncirculated, but the key for grading unc Morgans is Ms Liberty's cheek, and yours has some contact marks from other coins (not surprising as these things were stored/moved around in huge $1000 face canvas bags for most of their life). My guess is probably about MS62 or so. Probably a $40 coin. Still pretty cool to have a nice big silver dollar in decent shape.

Sorry about all your bad boxes BTW.... The only solution I have is to move back east as some have said. I lived in Northern Virginia for three years. It was crazy how good the boxes were there. Too much traffic though

[That Canadian Guy]

To me it looks like a MS63

[FreedomUIC]

You have an XF/AU Morgan dollar that is a very common date but has a very nice "Die Crack" through the "UM" of "UNUM". Bad News, it has been cleaned...

Where did you get it and might we inquire what you paid for it?

Grading XF/AU:
1) Wear on Lady Liberty's head and hair.
2) Slight wear on the reverse of the Eagles feather tips and breast
3) To many bag marks on the obverse and the fields are full of scratchs (Signs of Cleaning).

This coin has been in circulation although the period was rather short. There should be some type of very light graying/toning occuring and accumulated "Crud" in the devices, there is none. The brown on the edges typically happens after a silver coin has been "Dipped" in Sterling Silver cleaner but it appears they used the paste form and brush with this type of cleaner.

The rim dings on the obverse at about 11:50 - 12:00 also makes a statement about circulation and PMD. I am excusing the rim damage at 3:00 on the obverse as I am thinking it was cut off in the scan, the reverse seems fine.

I would have to grade this XF45 - AU55, I am not experienced enough yet to get it nailed down to the exact grade so I always go one under and one over what I think it might be, in this case AU-50.

[kimikiri]

Very nice coin, but how did you take such a remarkable picture of it? I can never get such good pics of my coins.

[FreedomUIC]

Very nice coin, but how did you take such a remarkable picture of it? I can never get such good pics of my coins.

Scanner

[BuffaloBoy]

I use my scanner in 600 dpi. works great!

UIC- I paid $26 for this coin on wedsnesday when silver was $30/oz.

Silver is currently closed @ $31/oz, though this is not a money investment, I bought this as an upgrade from my collection, if you want to see scans of the coin I have upgraded, i will post them, the year before is 1884-o

[Rakattack]

MS63 and probably ~$35 coin.

No, it is NOT cleaned.

The scratches and bag marks are not signs of cleaning, rather, being banged around with other coins becuase Morgans were shipped in large $1000 canvas bags.

Just because it has rim dings does not mean it has been circulated, just mishandled.

"Uncirculated" is a misnomer really, it is in reality just "Mint State" or "MS". That means it could (and has) been touched by human hands before. There is no wear, just some frost breaks in the hair.

[BuffaloBoy]

Let me say, my scanner picks up so much detail(scratches, dings, etc)... though the coin looks 10x better when in hand(it is in a holder(not graded), but protected. I took it out of the removable plastic holder and held it by it's edge, beautiful.)

Thanks all for the input! I was so happy I won this coin at the auction. We have meetings once in a while and people sell coins in auction, and there are 3 people who buy up all the silver, especially morgans. They also bid people up like crazy because they can.

2 of the 3 people were out, one sick, and one in Germany. The other one was too busy counting his money when this coin went off for auction.

I would have spent $35+ for this coin if I had to, I really liked it, and it is my best coin by far of that age, 126 years old.
When John, the guy who buys the morgans, was counting his money, typical him, this coin went off. When he found out he missed the coin(which he wanted as well), and found out I won it with a bid of $26, he was pi$$ed off.

Thought I would share this with all of you.

[FreedomUIC]

MS63 and probably ~$35 coin.

No, it is NOT cleaned.

The scratches and bag marks are not signs of cleaning, rather, being banged around with other coins becuase Morgans were shipped in large $1000 canvas bags.

Just because it has rim dings does not mean it has been circulated, just mishandled.

"Uncirculated" is a misnomer really, it is in reality just "Mint State" or "MS". That means it could (and has) been touched by human hands before. There is no wear, just some frost breaks in the hair.

Circular scratches in the fields (Not Devices) are a positive sign that the coin has been cleaned. Thought I made my determination clear but apparently not. For $26.00 it really doesn't matter.

[bossapplesauce]

Circular scratches in the fields (Not Devices) are a positive sign that the coin has been cleaned. Thought I made my determination clear but apparently not. For $26.00 it really doesn't matter.

Hi FreedomUIC - I don't see any circular scratches on the fields, just a bunch of contact marks same as the devices. Where are you seeing them?

In my experience, scanner pics make everything on a silver coin look washed out and unattractive, but great for seeing imperfections. What I see are lots of contact marks, two die cracks on the obverse (the one you mentioned and another small one at 9 o'clock rim), but I don't see swirls. The wear on the obverse at the high points in the hair *could* be stack/bag wear, but really have to have the coin in front of you to tell the difference.

Without having it in hand, I'd go with a high AU range (55-58). If the wear is stack wear, low MS (60-62). Very nice coin for $26.

Not trying to argue, just trying to learn. Hope you don't mind.

[Rakattack]

MS63 and probably ~$35 coin.

No, it is NOT cleaned.

The scratches and bag marks are not signs of cleaning, rather, being banged around with other coins becuase Morgans were shipped in large $1000 canvas bags.

Just because it has rim dings does not mean it has been circulated, just mishandled.

"Uncirculated" is a misnomer really, it is in reality just "Mint State" or "MS". That means it could (and has) been touched by human hands before. There is no wear, just some frost breaks in the hair.

Circular scratches in the fields (Not Devices) are a positive sign that the coin has been cleaned. Thought I made my determination clear but apparently not. For $26.00 it really doesn't matter.

Uh, those like the post below you said, are just contact marks.

[fistfulladirt]

Nice dollar! Has anyone mentioned that those just may only be henpecks?

[BuffaloBoy]

From what I understand, in 1885, coins were transported by horseback and canvas bags. When the horse was galloping along the dirt road, the coins clanked together in the bag several times, making dings and scratch marks. The mint did not make collector finish coins back in 1885 as they do today, because with inflation, only the wealthy could collect coins, especially $1 coins.. thought this may be an interesting fact I looked up, can't seem to find detailed info on prices back in 1885. In 1880 The wholesale price of Lobster was 10 cents per pound, a cheap opulent lifestyle 8)

[CoinHELP!]

Although the clanking on horse back issue sounds correct, it's not exactly how it always occurred, nor is it how all coins were transported. You have to think of stage coaches and railroads. All would produce enough clanking.

Furthermore, these coins, as they were finished being struck, were dropped into bags or bins and banged against each other violently. Couple that with the fact that they were stored in $1,000 bags, and often moved around, which further "jostled" the coins against each other.

Another inaccuracy, the U.S. Mint did produce collector quality coins before 1885 and after. The mint produced proofs for collectors and they're very valuable. I just wanted to clear up some inconsistencies that are often found on the web.

[1235CE]

You have an XF/AU Morgan dollar that is a very common date but has a very nice "Die Crack" through the "UM" of "UNUM". Bad News, it has been cleaned...

Where did you get it and might we inquire what you paid for it?

Grading XF/AU:
1) Wear on Lady Liberty's head and hair.
2) Slight wear on the reverse of the Eagles feather tips and breast
3) To many bag marks on the obverse and the fields are full of scratches (Signs of Cleaning).

This coin has been in circulation although the period was rather short. There should be some type of very light graying/toning occurring and accumulated "Crud" in the devices, there is none. The brown on the edges typically happens after a silver coin has been "Dipped" in Sterling Silver cleaner but it appears they used the paste form and brush with this type of cleaner.

The rim dings on the obverse at about 11:50 - 12:00 also makes a statement about circulation and PMD. I am excusing the rim damage at 3:00 on the obverse as I am thinking it was cut off in the scan, the reverse seems fine.

I would have to grade this XF45 - AU55, I am not experienced enough yet to get it nailed down to the exact grade so I always go one under and one over what I think it might be, in this case AU-50.

Sorry Freedom, but the only thing you stated correctly here is the die crack.

It is not XF .... it is not AU.....it has not been cleaned, ever.......there are no swirl marks....it hasn't been dipped....there is no "wear on Lady Liberty's head and hair".......there is no "slight wear on the reverse of the Eagles feather tips and breast".....

The OP asked a question about grade and value.....please (and this should apply to everyone).....if you don't know (and this may sound harsh, sorry) what you're talking about please try to refrain from commenting because it just confuses people who really want to learn about grading.

Now imagine if this was an 1893-s Morgan and the OP asked the same question because he wanted to sell it......and you were the only one who responded.....you would have just cost the OP thousands of dollars based on your erroneous grading.

This is an MS-62, never cleaned, never circulated Morgan. Just a handful less of cheek and obverse field bag marks would make this an MS-63. Very nice coin.

HH all!

Greg

[jerseyben]

You have an XF/AU Morgan dollar that is a very common date but has a very nice "Die Crack" through the "UM" of "UNUM". Bad News, it has been cleaned...

Where did you get it and might we inquire what you paid for it?

Grading XF/AU:
1) Wear on Lady Liberty's head and hair.
2) Slight wear on the reverse of the Eagles feather tips and breast
3) To many bag marks on the obverse and the fields are full of scratches (Signs of Cleaning).

This coin has been in circulation although the period was rather short. There should be some type of very light graying/toning occurring and accumulated "Crud" in the devices, there is none. The brown on the edges typically happens after a silver coin has been "Dipped" in Sterling Silver cleaner but it appears they used the paste form and brush with this type of cleaner.

The rim dings on the obverse at about 11:50 - 12:00 also makes a statement about circulation and PMD. I am excusing the rim damage at 3:00 on the obverse as I am thinking it was cut off in the scan, the reverse seems fine.

I would have to grade this XF45 - AU55, I am not experienced enough yet to get it nailed down to the exact grade so I always go one under and one over what I think it might be, in this case AU-50.

Sorry Freedom, but the only thing you stated correctly here is the die crack.

It is not XF .... it is not AU.....it has not been cleaned, ever.......there are no swirl marks....it hasn't been dipped....there is no "wear on Lady Liberty's head and hair".......there is no "slight wear on the reverse of the Eagles feather tips and breast".....

The OP asked a question about grade and value.....please (and this should apply to everyone).....if you don't know (and this may sound harsh, sorry) what you're talking about please try to refrain from commenting because it just confuses people who really want to learn about grading.

Now imagine if this was an 1893-s Morgan and the OP asked the same question because he wanted to sell it......and you were the only one who responded.....you would have just cost the OP thousands of dollars based on your erroneous grading.

This is an MS-62, never cleaned, never circulated Morgan. Just a handful less of cheek and obverse field bag marks would make this an MS-63. Very nice coin.

HH all!

Greg

You just made me feel much more confident in my own grading skills. When I first viewed this thread, I immediately thought to myself "that coin is NOT cleaned" but I didn't say anything for lack of confidence. Good eye on those who correctly graded this coin!