Rediscovered 2 Morgan Dollars - What's Next?

Hi Jonesh529,

'Third Party Grading' (abbreviated TPG on this site) is a vast and complex issue. There is an entire forum on this site devoted to the discussion of TPGs. The top companies are PCGS and NGC, and ANACS is well-regarded too. Stay away from most of the others. If you just want to have one coin examined and graded, the best service for you to use is probably ANACS. Some reasons for having your coin formally graded, certified, and sealed in a case are: 1) prove authenticity to reassure potential buyers 2) easier to sell for a higher price 3) to protect the coin. Many other reasons but those are big ones.

It's impossible to estimate the grade of your coins with those small pictures but the 1894 (by far the more valuable of the two) looks like it will grade as ~AG3 or G4 if authentic and undamaged. You can compare how your coin looks to each grade here: http://www.pcgs.com/photograde/#/Morgan/Grades

Using PCGS's retail value tables found http://www.pcgs.com/Prices/PriceGui...+Dollar if your coin grades AG03 the 'retail' value is ~$600; if it is G04, $825. The value rises steeply for higher grades but I don't think that's going to be applicable to your coin. You may noticed that the retail value of your coin in the lesser grade of FR02 is higher than the AG03 value. Some collectors purposefully seek out the lowest possible grades and pay a premium for that. Based on your pictures, I think your coin is better than FR02.

The reason I suggested ANACS for you is that you don't have to pay a membership fee to submit the coin directly and their submission fees are less than the other companies. Depending on the speed of turnaround, the submission fee for your coin will range from $19-$100 and shipping is extra. For full information, check this page of their website: http://www.anacs.com/contentPages/Services.aspx

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

(disclaimer: I'm a newbie and this information is from what I've learned by reading those sites and from spending way too much time on this board, lol. My guess of your coin's grade is strictly amateur and is based on small blurry pictures, so the grade by a professional who can look at the coin in person is likely to be different)

An 1894 this worn needs to be checked carefully for a removed mint mark.

Arcticsparky: I found these years ago while in college. I found them on a trail from my neighborhood that lead to another one. it was in a ziplock bag so I guess someone dropped it. I posted new pics I hope these are better

Hold the phone, Buddy. the Morgan is .77 of a troy ounce.

After I weigh them what is next? is there a scale of worth I need to look at?

Jonesh,

The purpose of accurately weighing the coin is to help determine if this is a genuine Morgan dollar. Since this particular year/mint is considerably more valuable than most others in the series, this year/mint has probably been counterfeited more often than others.

Morgan dollars weigh 26.73 gm when freshly minted. I'm not sure what the acceptable variation is or how much weight is lost with varying amounts of wear. But if the weight is off by more than some percent, it is a clue that the coin is not genuine.

Along those same lines, IndianGoldEagle pointed out that the coin needs to be carefully examined by an expert to determine if someone removed the mintmark. Again, the 1894P (minted in Philadelphia but has no mintmark) is much more valuable than the 1894-S or 1894-O. It is easier to disguise damage from mintmark removal when this is done to an already heavily worn coin. There are plenty of examples posted on this forum-- coins which were heavily worn and someone mechanically scraped off whatever marks to make the coin look like a more valuable version.

You seem anxious to know how much this coin is worth and to sell it. Your options at this point are:

1. Sell it to a local coin dealer. If the dealer thinks it is genuine, you may be offered ~50-60% of the retail value (that's just a guess). The dealer assumes some risk with this ungraded ("raw") coin, unless he/she is adept at detecting alterations and fakes. You will pay for that risk.
2. Sell it to a private individual or collector. Same issues as #1 apply. I guess you could sell it to someone who doesn't know much about Morgan dollars or coins and possibly get a higher price but you may not be selling what you *think* you are selling... buyer beware I suppose.
3. Send it to a TPG, who will determine if it genuine, assign it a grade, and you will then be able to more accurately know the value. You will also be able to sell it for a higher price because the buyer is reassured as to the value.

[edited to add: while I was busy typing this novel Sparky was succinctly answering the question ]

Thanks for the information thisisfun. Yea I have a few other coins but when I looked them up they didn't seem to be much of value (a few dimes, quarters, nickels from 1936 and beyond)

If they are not worth much I will keep them and become a collector lol

Well I used a food scale that's all I have to use.