1878-CC Morgan Dollar BU Bought From Apmex Came Back AU-58? Why?

The lustre on the obverse is not amazing, but regardless... this coin is MS60 to me.

With Zurie, I wouldn't buy anything besides bullion from them. Everything's Ive seen, coin wise, is overpriced, and usually lower grade than listed. Grading is subjective, APMEX may have seen this as low MS. They sort and go through so much inventory, mistakes also happen. Whether intentional or not, we'll never know.

If I'm buying anything over a few hundred bucks raw, I have to either:
1-feel pretty confident in judging a coin based on the photos listed, grade for myself, and hope I don't overpay.
2- buy an already slabbed, graded example, and STILL grade for myself, bc it's an opinion.
3- buy it raw regardless of price bc I like the coin and if I overpay, I overpay.

You are more than welcome to post pictures here for grade opinion BEFORE purchases.. we're just another opinion, but may help in the process.

photos are a little small to see everything. the 79(CC) should be sharp and bold and the eagle breast is mostly flat. looks like the luster is broken across the cheek. could be AU58 or MS63

I'd also think about cracking it out and sending to NGC,
maybe you will get a low MS grade. No need to send it
back into PCGS with the true view, the grade will not change.

It does appear to have enough friction rub on the cheek in particular to keep it from MS consideration. Recent auction prices for AU-58 according to Coin Facts are at or below $300 for certified examples so it seems you overpaid for what you got. I'd return it if possible.

The only coin I ever bought from APMEX was a "VF" raw 1923-S Walking Liberty half dollar offered on ebay as a BIN. The photo was very nice but the coin I received was a different, less attractive coin which I returned. The seller used a stock photo but did not state that in the listing. Kinda soured me on APMEX as a source of raw collector coins.

It appears to be a commercial uncirculated piece. AU58 pieces often are, and on a higher dollar piece like this one, APMEX won't be selling you a Choice Mint State coin when buying a BU. A 61 or 62 is the best you'll get and 58 is often what you end up with. They are a bullion house. Don't buy collectible coins from them.

Unfortunately, this appears to be VAM-22. This die pairing is known to have produced specimens with some extremely rotated dies which would also have a premium. This would be extremely noticeable when slabbed though so I'm sure OP would have caught that.

http://ec2-13-58-222-16.us-east-2.c...78-CC_VAM-22