Buy The Holder, Not The Coin...

Are you thinking what I am thinking? It seems like we have had a similar discussion before.

jbuck...that is exactly the same conversation isn't it. This coin is essentially nothing more than a 2012 silver Kennedy half dollar - albeit a MS70 graded half. The fact that it was packaged inadvertently in a set that was intended to contain clad coins doesn't change that fact in the least. Had it remained packaged in the set it might have been interesting - repacked into a holder with a label saying - error in packaging... really? I see nothing unique about this stand alone coin. Out of the original packaging it means nothing.

10 years from now out of the holder in a folder it will still be a silver 2012 Kennedy half - worth what the 2012 Silver Kennedy halves are worth then.

Sorry basebal... the GSA Morgans are a lot more of a story. This is a coin that inadvertently ended up packed in the wrong set. The GSA Morgans sat in the mint vaults for decades and were released in special holders - and then taken out of the holders and graded. If you want to do that fine, but even the graders figured out that they were not doing the coin owners a service by doing that and started grading them in the original holders.

The only value this coin ever held was that it was packed into a set it shouldn't have been in... and now it isn't in that set. I find nothing redeeming in a label telling me that. The error is gone - they killed the value.

Sitting in a vault adds no value, plenty of coins sit in values forever only to be discovered later or sit in mint bags unopened for decades. If a GSA morgan is special for that so is a Kennedy that was released before it ever should have been in a set it was never supposed to be in.

Theres no way the birth set could have been slabbed without making a hinged book or sealing it with a label that meant you could never open it to look at to assure the coin in it is what they say it is. If there was a way they probably would have slabbed it in the set.

That was a pretty big packaging error on a couple of different levels. If you dont like the back story fair enough thats fine, but the lineage is still there as long as it doesn't get cracked out. Its like a chain of evidence it applies until you lose it at some point. Its not the label youre paying for it the traced lineage.

But even the GSA Morgans are worth more still in the original packaging. Take them out and they are just another Morgan, even if the holder is labeled GSA.

I still think that these coins deserve closer scrutiny to determine if it was just a mistake that silver coins were put in the set or if wrong planchets were put into a clad run of coins. Would make a huge difference in my eyes.

Yea but at the end of the day its just a CC morgan in a different package. I feel like some of it is just a bias against moderns, where the Morgan story happened a while ago so that makes it valuable but because the Kennedy happened today its not. I do think a GSA Morgan should have a premium just like these should, but if the arguement against it is that its the same coin in a different package thats what a GSA morgan is.




PCGS does slab them in the case now. They actually slab the whole box which they started some time last year I believe.




It seems that theyll label things if the label can assure that the coins arent removed. The GSA morgans for example you would have to break the label to open. Being that this was a book the only way to do that would have been to seal the book shut or put the label directly over the coin. Maybe someone has a more creative method no ones thought of but they wont just use a label if the coin could be replaced with the label unharmed.

I was just a kid but I remember the GSA Morgan sale. I have one of the original brochures. I find it interesting that is labeled as a sale and yet inside they tell you to make a $30 minimum bid. A couple places of the brochure suggest you send more than that $30 b/c they cannot guarantee you one at that price, but at least they offer you a refund.

Reading up on the GSA Morgan sale before making this post shows public perception of the "sale" was one of it being too gimmicky. In fact one place I read coin dealers were criticizing the government because it was not the government's job to be a coin dealer. Also the government was criticized for using sales terminology it discouraged private businesses from from using in that the government was making it sound that these coins were a great investment for the future.

I think when it gets down to the nitty-gritty of things that we are dealing with a case where an object's value had to be specifically pointed out in order for that object to be seen (by some people) worthy of a higher value. Unfortunately there are ridiculous fads that are made up of nothing more than hype (such as beanie babies), and it might be that people parallel these two situations. Unfortunately hype can be found in both instances regardless of the actual history/worth of a collectable.

In the case of the GSA Morgan's, the government was trying to make money so they overhyped the situation and charged too much. It backfired in that they got stuck with over 1 million coins not sold! in later years Carter held another sale.

It seems that time has done nothing to help the issue when the actual value of these coins is considered. Online sites are saying that a 1974 dollar is worth (averaged) about $6 now. So in today's terms the original sale said the government could not guarantee you a coin if you bid (then 30.00) $180. They were recommending that you send (then $50) $300.00. Currently Newmismedia lists the 1882, 1883, 1884 GSAs (if they are in MS 64) as being worth (drum roll)... about $300.

So GSA Morgan's had no great investment value since the price is the same today. Time has erased most of the knowledge of the overhyped original terms of this sale/auction. It seems the larger looking price tag the GSA Morgans is what makes the modern perception that these were a good investment. If a person did get one back then for 180.00 (today's money), they have less than doubled the value of what they spent in 40 years.

Again I want to reiterate that I am not condemning anyone for collecting what they like. Remember this is coming from a guy who collects glass insulators and railroad date nails! Both of these have interesting places in our history, but both of them have no intrinsic value whatsoever as their constituent elements are as common as dirt (come to think of it... they are dirt).