1883-CC Morgan

I agree that it is a MS-63-MS-64 coin judging by the MS-64's I have left that you haven't tore from my hands

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Originally posted by Susanlynn9

I consider it an MS63, but it may well grade out at 64 with a top TPG. Personally, I feel there's a little too much cheek chatter to go that high, but I have seen many with that same amount of chatter at 64.

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Thanks Susan,
I have been looking at a lot of these graded by NGC as MS64 and most have more chatter than this one.I was hoping it might go at least MS64 or higher. I guess you don't know until you send it in.

I'm at MS63 on this one also for the same reasons as the 1889-O on your other post, with the exceptions that there is more wear on the high points of her face and on Mr. Eagle. I would not go MS64 as I'm not seeing "fully original mint luster" and consider it "Rather attractive" and not necessarily "pleasing" for eye appeal.

Cheek/face? Lower breast? Tail feathers? Lower right tips of the wing feathers? Maybe it's the camera angle or what I think is wear is toning. What do you think Bryan?

TLS, I don't think it would grade above MS-63 since it has a few too many contact marks on the most visible and important of the Morgan's features: her cheek and neck. Unfortunately, images often exacerbate these marks, so it might not be as bad as it appears in the image. It also appears to be a relatively weak strike for an 83-CC

Since the 83-CC Morgan is the most common CC Morgan and Mint States are also relatively common, I'd recommend holding out for a slabbed 83-CC at least MS-64 or MS-65; if you can swing it, go for an MS-66. The price differential between the higher grades isn't that much. Also, if this is in its original GSA holder as it appears to be (which will with time enhance its value as GSA Morgans are being cracked out for grading by TPGs other than NGC which grades them in the GSA holders), a little better financial investment would be an 83-CC in MS-64 or above GSA holder. I'm seeing too many NGC MS-63 83-CCs in GSA holders which are going for unjustifiably low prices on ebay since there's so many of them.

Fred

Looks like everybody is in general agreement with MS-63. I should have mentioned I have an 1883-CC graded MS-64 by PCGS (downgraded from MS-65 in an NGC crossover in its original GSA holder; big mistake on my part trying to cross it over to PCGS - I lost the grade AND the holder) that has considerably fewer and less visible contact marks.

TLS, if you need MS-64 or above, this isn't the Morgan to do it with. Unless it's already graded by NGC in its GSA holder, it would be too risky to submit it to a top TPG since the probabilities are low that it would come back MS-64. It also gets too spendy to keep resubmitting it to the TPGs for possible upgrade given the relatively low value of the 83CC. Trying to upgrade an MS-65 or -66 might be worth one or two resubmissions.

MS-63?

B

Jim, the degree to which light surface marks on a coin show up in an image is highly variable and depends on the imaging techniques employed, e.g., scan or photo, lighting, instrument settings, anomalies on the image-maker's screen/cover, and software utilized. It's hard to make generalities on this, but suffice it to state that surface marks tend to be exaggerated by the imaging process.

These imaging marks can be Photoshopped away, i.e., made to disappear through image manipulation to the degree a badly scarred coin can be made to look MS-70. However, any such image manipulation will give more of a false impression of a coin than it will to make the imperfections go away. An example of a coin which has perhaps been a little too Photoshopped:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1879-O-PL-MORGA...99_W0QQitemZ170013052660QQihZ007QQcategoryZ39465QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem