1879 Morgans

Hi maryhm, my grading of uncirculated Morgans is poor at best, but I will guess somewhere in the 30/45/30 range on the three. The B coin looks like it was harshly cleaned, I believe the A coin to be lightly cleaned as well.

I'm going with hadley on these.I was thinking VF-35 on the first,EF-45 on the second and VF-25 on the third.I believe all three to be harshly cleaned which will bring there value down around melt price.,as the 1879-P in the lower grades is not high dollar to begin with.
Mary,are all the Morgans cleaned?

Mary, hopefully by looking at these coins in hand (or even just the pictures) you'll be able to tell which coin(s) are harshly cleaned. That middle one looks like someone went at it with a Brillo pad. It's worth melt. It's not even worth assigning a grade to it as no one will care what grade it is.

As far as the other ones, I suspect that they've been lightly cleaned. Take a look at other XF Morgans, especially in conservatively graded holders and you'll see there's a big difference when the coin has a natural, original look and never messed with. I pay a premium for coins that are original. And, original coins are the only ones I buy any more. This is what's referred to as a 2-tiered market that's developing. Many more collectors are becoming more careful about what they're buying and going after quality...no matter what the grade is. You've seen the coins I've posted right? They weren't high grade but they were premium quality for what they were.

Sorry, if it sounds like I'm on my soap box again. But, you're a budding new collector and I (all of us here) hope you gain that "acid eye" for quality material. Use your own collection as a basis for the variety of looks that coins can have. Separate the ones that you feel are original versus not. Show us a picture of the two piles.