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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,322 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1227 Posts |
So my boss's daughter is a manager at another store, and happened to be the lucky one behind the register when somebody spent the coin in the subject line. Morgans are so far out of my league (usually confined to finding the occasional Indianhead or silver certificate in my drawer) that I don't have the slightest idea where to start.
I have it wrapped in plastic until I can get a pair of gloves (so far I've been double-washing my hands when I touch it because I don't have any, but I know the caveats about not touching valuable coins), but unwrapping it and taking a look tells me it should be pretty high-grade; all of the lines in Lady Liberty's hair are intact and the "LIBERTY" on her headband is clear. I can take pictures with some pointers (never tried to do that before, either), but I'd need to know what I (and everybody else) is looking for.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1510 Posts |
can you post some pics? Also the 21 is the most common Morgan of the set. I cant belive someone spent it...
Retired USAF 1983-2003
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CCF Sponsor
United States
702 Posts |
Without pictures, it will be tough to grade. However, unless it's very high grade (try PCGS.com/Photograde) it's probably not worth much more than the silver in it. Which is still 30x face value! The knucklehead's loss is your gain!
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1227 Posts |
@Scropper: based on your link, I'm going to very, very tentatively (read: until someone with more experience can take a look) call it AU53, assuming that minor tarnish doesn't devalue it. Around AU50 the hair starts looking too worn to match the coin I've got. In modern, this-is-what-you-find-in-your-pocket-change terms, I'd say it looks like it was minted about 3-5 years ago.
@Coinstar: is there a recommended way to do this? I have a lighted 3x magnifier from my dad and a 5x philatelist's loupe, along with a really good camera, but I've never tried to put any combination of the three together before.
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CCF Sponsor
United States
702 Posts |
You don't need the loupe or magnifier to photograph the coin.
If you have a light, get it as close as you can to the coin. If you have a tripod, mount the camera such that the coin can be held in focus. Zoom in as much as you can, or get the coin as close to the coin as much as you can such that the coin remains in focus. If you don't have a tripod, probably best to photograph the coin in natural light.
I find it's best to hold the camera directly over the coin and shoot down. Normally, you want the light coming at the top front of the coin. Take the picture, flip it over, repeat.
If you have a tripod, use the timer feature on the camera and make sure the flash is off.
Then, when you go to post the pictures up here, crop down such that there isn't much background in the picture. Your picture should end up being square ideally (fitting the round hole in as much of the the square peg as you can).
If that doesn't make sense, just post them up and we'll see what we can do.
If you think the coin is as nice as AU, it's probably worth us having a look. If you're confident it's not nicer than AU, like I said, about $30 is right. If it's possibly nicer than AU, it's important we look at it.
Good luck and we're here to help! =)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1227 Posts |
Okay, here goes. Took about 4doz tries to get two clear pics, and then I found this obscure little setting on the camera . . . well that would have been helpful an hour earlier!   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5854 Posts |
Based on pictures, I will put this coin at about AU-50. When it comes to AU grades, I often look at luster and how much of it is left to determine how high of an AU grade to give it. From the pictures it appears there is not a lot of luster left and most of it is located in the recesses of the design and around the edges of design. Great find!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1227 Posts |
Awesome! Even more exciting to me than the grade (okay, not more exciting . . .equally so?), it's my first try at grading a coin that's any more valuable than an Indianhead or Buffalo nickel, and I got pretty close :-D |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
Quote:
and then I found this obscure little setting on the camera . . . well that would have been helpful an hour earlier!
 I'm going to agree with AU50 here, but only because this looks to have been a better-than-normal strike for a 1921-S, from a relatively-fresh die. |
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Valued Member
United States
223 Posts |
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,322 |
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Posted 04/17/2012 11:09 pm
