Help With A Morgan 1881-S Obverse

It looks like die scratches. Notice how the raised area goes through the fields and across the lettering, unlike a die crack that wouldn't affect the lettering. This isn't damaged. Can't comment on the VAM. Hope that helps! 😊

Thanks Wheatchaser and Matteproof,
I have attached photos of the full coin; it was graded MS64+ by PCGS. Perhaps I should submit photos to VAMWORLD, although I have not looked into the specifics of that process yet.
--Rick R

Yes, CherreePicker, I did purchase this coin at Heritage on August 26, so the hi-res photos are still posted there. After you mentioning it, I can somewhat tell from those photos (and more so when I look at the coin at an angle) that the scratches (or could they be some sort of clashings?) do extend through the lettering. Thanks. --Rick R

Wow. I really don't know what to think of this. I've never seen a scratch in the die of a Morgan like that before, and by this point one would have thought that such a prominent feature would have been seen before. After all, if that scratch is in the die, then there should be thousands of these in the wild.

And yeah, it's in a PCGS slab, but darn. I've seen a large number of coins that looked just like this. Every single one has had a knife dragged across the face of the coin. I'm left wondering if PCGS let a real problem leave the building with this one.

And think what it would take to scratch a die in the middle of a serif, like the P and U. It'd take a pinpoint which was also hard enough and moved with enough force to gouge a hardened steel die. I'm sorry, I'm not believing that.

Yes, the more that I look at the coin with my magnifiers and cheapo microscope, the more confused I am, partly since much of the longer scratch appears to be sort of doubled. As an absolute neophyte on this, I suppose that if these were die scratches (particularly the longer one), there would be too much damage to polish out, and the die would have been retired immediately(?) Is it possible to review die progression to interpret whether an obverse die change seemed to occur?

Yes, SsuperDdave, the more I look at the long scratch (and with 75x magnification from my viewer in combination with bifocals), it seems consistent with what you are saying. I notice that at both sides of the P and L, and left side of the U, the scratch does not quite touch the lettering, as if a sharp object scraped across (most likely left to right) and lifted a bit when it crossed the raised letterings. I suppose a die scratch would not do this, and would instead extend directly through the incuse of the lettering without any breaks in the scratch. Sorry to bother everyone, but on first viewing, the 'ridges' sure made it look like a die scratch. --Rick R

I've never seen a "die scratch" which actually extended into letters and devices. Those are below the surface, protected, on a die (which is a negative, of course). Nearly impossible to scratch.

The scratches on your coin, if they're postmint from some sharp object, are an absolute and instant disqualification from receiving a numerical grade. PCGS really blew this one if those are scratches. This coin should be in a Details slab.

Thanks SsuperDdave, I was wondering if your comment about instant disqualification implicitly refers to intentional scratches. In this case, I don't know if the two scratches seem to be intentional or not. (Perhaps it could have gotten scratched in a counting machine or some other handling process many years ago.) They are barely visible to the naked eye, and this coin still looks way better than any other MS64 Morgan that I own, and maybe even better than any MS65 that I own. If one of those scratches were on or near Liberty's face, I would have a whole different reaction to the appeal of this coin. Does this make sense?