Morgan Dollar Collection

Hugely ambitious. unless you had unlimited time and unlimited funds. Start out with a short set. Maybe a five year span of all dates and mints. Or perhaps a decade set. If you are truely ambitious a plain date set is do-able.

Check out prices for a 1893s or a 1889cc or 1885cc.

Those three coins alone in Fine condition will cost over 5K

denco has a point. You're also forgetting some of the others which getting very expensive in XF such as the 1879-CC, 1893-CC 1894-P or 1895-S. Then there's always the infamous "King of Morgan dollars" the 1895 Which will need $15,000 for a measly G-4. Start with a nice low MS-grade set for the common dates then move to AU for uncommon and XF for more expensive issues. Upgrade as needed but this will be a really time consuming set and will take up a lot of money.

Thanks for the advice! The PCGS price guide seems quite inaccurate at the lower grades... it says that the PO-01 is worth more than VG-08 in some years. Building the date set does seem interesting. Does anyone have any links to "suggested grades to buy" for each coin? I saw one of those for Lincoln cents a while ago, so I am wondering if there is one for Morgans.

There's a unique subset of collectors who like to collect FA-2 and PO-1 Morgans....I'm one of them and they tend to carry a premium over AG and G-4 coins.

Interesting... I guess that explains it!

How about an evenly matched common date set in MS60?
At least, it would LOOK impressive!

Or, perhaps a common date date set VF20, which would include more dates within a budget limit. The odd Christmas present to you is do able for family members and friends.

For most of us, to aim at the top is impossible. Most of us have families and mortgages that need feeding.

How long have you been collecting? You definitely need experience and knowledge. Full set=impossible for the average collector. You have your big boys...89cc, 93s,94Philly, 95s and not to mention like others have said...the Proof only 95p. Heck...a VG 93s is 3k. VG 95PROOF is 23k plus! There are other key dates that of course you want to have higher grade specimens like the 84s in 63 is I'm guessing roughly 30k! 79cc is 7k in 63. the main thing is to spend what you can afford. I would start with a date set or short set...mm set or something. Maybe start at the beginning...78 series? You can always do what you can with the common dates...work on higher grades then move to the key dates. You can grab a 80 or 81s in 65 for 150+. Always a very well struck year/mm with many DMPL/PL specimens. During that time when you're buying up the common dates... your eye will get better and you'll know what you're doing a lot better. here in there if you have a few grand you can spend then get your key dates. with that you can buy one higher grade coins or two mid grade coins how everyone to do it. there's a lot to it... there's any advice I can give definitely do your homework before you start. if you don't you can very well lose a lot of money...and learn the hard way many times over that you spent too much for a coin. as far as places to get them you gotta look everywhere... ebay Teletrade great collections even checkpoint shows. be real cautious on ebay though... and I would highly recommend not buying anything Raw on ebay. make sure you become acquainted with what to look for in counterfeits ie 96 micro O. there's a lot of people on this forum that can help you out... but I cannot stress this enough do your homework! Buy a greysheet. Know what TPGs are better plastic for certain years/mm. Learn what companies grade what tougher...like PCGS and ANACS are super tough on DMPL. it's all just stuff you have to learn with experience. I'm sure I was all over the place with this post... but I hope that made some sense and I hope it was some help. I have no idea how long you been collecting but hopefully maybe even learn something here from some of us. GOOD LUCK!

Well, on the bright side, 1895 is considered "optional" for a Morgan set since it's Proof-only.