Beginner Mistake = Starting Over

You can rescue those cleaned dollars by making them pocket pieces. They should wear down pretty good in a few years, then you can give them to you grandchild.

Dealers from time to time DIP their coins to get rid of bad toning or whatever they are trying to get rid off. I asked one dealer is that not cleaning, he said you have to know HOW to do it right...almost like NCS.

But harsh cleaning will eventually bring down the value but is nice to look at.

Well don't beat yourself up too much, for great advice you have come to the right place. Good luck with your new endeavours!

Thanks for all the replies and words of encouragement. Some great advice here from those much more experienced than I - for that I am most grateful.

My albums should arrive in 2-3 days, and then my first unadulterated 1878-S Morgan should arrive shortly thereafter. Whaddaya think of this one ?





I probably overpaid a bit at $65.00 (with shipping), but I couldn't resist the urge to get that first Morgan into the new album.

There's a rare coin store a few miles up the road I'll go visit this afternoon just to enhance my knowledge base. Thanks again for all the replies - this is a great place !

That big ol' fingerprint on the '78S bothers me a bit, but overall it looks alright. $65 was probably a bit high though.

I don't care for the fingerprint either, but if it doesn't bother you then nice!

And it's a good thing you learned your lesson about cleaning coins before you started collecting the carson city morgans! If you have a whole collection of CC morgans that were cleaned i'd cry.

Best of luck filling your album!

Now I have both Dansco albums to fill, and am (slowly) getting to know a local dealer just a few miles from home. This fellow has an amazing array of coins, helpful employees, and I feel more comfortable doing business there.

The store owner pulled out a large box of ungraded (circulated) Morgans of just about every conceivable variety, lent me his loupe, and left me alone to browse for about half and hour at the counter. I looked at probably 200 different coins housed in flips, and bought one to take home. He marked the $46.00 price down a buck, and I paid cash.

The 1878 specimen is not spectacular - I got what I paid for - but I now have a local dealer that knows I'm getting serious about collecting. A large display case nearby housed all the certified Morgans, and I informed the gentleman I'd be back with cash in hand to buy higher grade specimens at regular intervals. This seemed to please him, but the store was bustling with customers and I didn't want to take too much of their time away from other customers.

The coin I purchased was just to use as a "filler" till I get a better specimen, but my modest purchase has put me on good footing with a reputable dealer close to home - it was $45 well spent.

Photos will follow as soon as I get something juicy to post !