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 Replies: 15 / Views: 1,240 |
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New Member
United States
18 Posts |
This is my first coin - the oldest of the collection.   What do you folks think this is worth? What is the grading? Is it circulated or uncirculated? Thank you! Sue |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3167 Posts |
Most certainly circulated, just bullion value, around $30-35.
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New Member
 United States
18 Posts |
I am very new at this. How can you tell it is circulated?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1511 Posts |
I'd have to agree with definitely circulated. You can tell with the wear on the high points such as the cheek, neck, eagles chest etc.. (the off color grey) and the loss of detail is far more than a weak strike and even across the entire coin.
If it were MS the detail from the forehead to the ear in the hair as well as the eagle and the wreath around the eagle would be much sharper, there are weak strikes with less detail but this surpasses just that, and the weakest strikes generally come from the New Orleans mint, not exclusively but O minted Morgan's are commonly found with weak details, but no wear on the high points.
It's hard to tell from the photos but MS Morgan's also have a very noticeable cartwheel luster, and as coins were circulated the original luster was the first to go and isn't able to be reproduced. AU (occasionally EF) coins can have luster remaining but far less than a MS coin. It's very hard to be able to tell circulated from uncirculated when starting out, practice and seeing many of both will sharpen your skills over time. And toned coins become even more difficult, lol.
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Rest in Peace
United States
10625 Posts |
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New Member
United States
18 Posts |
Nathan wrote: If it were MS the detail from the forehead to the ear in the hair as well as the eagle and the wreath around the eagle would be much sharper, there are weak strikes with less detail but this surpasses just that, and the weakest strikes generally come from the New Orleans mint, not exclusively but O minted Morgan's are commonly found with weak details, but no wear on the high points. . . It's hard to tell from the photos but MS Morgan's also have a very noticeable cartwheel luster, and as coins were circulated the original luster was the first to go and isn't able to be reproduced. AU (occasionally EF) coins can have luster remaining but far less than a MS coin. It's very hard to be able to tell circulated from uncirculated when starting out, practice and seeing many of both will sharpen your skills over time. And toned coins become even more difficult, lol"
OK - what is MS? I think AU = Almost Uncirculated and maybe EF = Extra Fine?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
9792 Posts |
This is a really nice example of a lightly circulated Morgan dollar, no damage, lots of detail. I wouldn't have this graded as the cost to do so is more than the value of the coin. Is there a coin shop near by you? If so check it out, look at some coins in different graded holders, as hands on is the best way to begin to see what differences are an MS63 and MS65 grade. Coin Shows or large auctions are the also good. Auctions you want to go to the viewing sessions where you could spend time examining all lots that interest you. A good way to see lots of coins in a short time. I live in Dallas, TX where Heritage puts on weekly coin auctions of high end coins and have learned a lot by looking at hundreds of coins in slabs every week that I can. "Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman - "And read it" - Me 2013! ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1981, ANS, Early American Coppers Member (EAC), Colonial Coin Collectors Club member (C4), Conder Token Collector Club member (CTCC), Civil War Token Society (CWTS) member, Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) & Numismatic Bibliomania Society member (NBS), USMex, Member in good standing, 2¢ variety collector. See my want page: http://goccf.com/t/140440Edited by westcoin
03/10/2013 11:59 pm
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New Member
United States
18 Posts |
Thank you, Westcoin. There are a couple of coin shops in this area. I will check them out.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1511 Posts |
I'm sorry Sue, I should have been more clear.. Yup, your absolutely right, Au is about uncirculated and EF is extra fine. MS is mint state, or uncirculated.
The grades roughly go (and there may be a few minor differences depending on where you look.. But this is a general list):
PO-1poor
AG-3 about good
G-4 good
VG-8 Very good
F-12 Fine
VF-20/30 very fine
VF-35 very fine plus
EF (XF)-40 extra fine
EF(XF)- 45 choice extra fine
AU-50/53 about uncirculated
AU-55 choice about uncirculated
AU-58 very choice uncirculated
MS-60 Mint state
MS-61
MS-62
MS-63 mint state choice
MS-64
MS-65 gem mint state
MS-66
MS-67 supreme gem. 100% perfect, some say not possible.
PR- proof
And there are various proof grades as well, as well as PL (proof like), DMPL (deep mirrored proof like), DCam (deep cameo, proofs) as well as many others. Grading gets VERY complicated, and it's all subjective to different people, even third party graders are off at times. There's been numerous times I've seen slabbed coins that I didn't agree with the grade with, both up and down.
Discriptions on the above grades can be found in detail online, describing each grade, it would have been alot to type. Other good references besides general guides online are books and sites about a specific coins and there specific wear patterns etc. One of the easiest way, as westcoin's said is to look at many many many coins, preferably slabbed or from grading sites and you'll learn as time goes on.. As mentioned the more you see the easier it will become.
I hope this helps and I hope I didn't confuse you :) grading is a difficult, confusing and sometimes overwhelming task for sure, the later especially when there raw and there's huge price jumps between grades of certian coins. And that's a great looking Morgan you have there. I'd say EF-AU, it's a bit hard to tell exactly from the photos but definitely a nice early date Morgan! And even more special as your first coin!! Did you buy it or was it left to you or something? Hope I'm not prying...
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New Member
United States
18 Posts |
Hi Nathan,
You had asked about the collection. I have been toting these 30 or so silver dollars around for about 40 years. My aunt would give each of us children 4 or 5 silver dollars each Christmas for a few years. Our mother would put them away for us and then, when we grew up, she handed them off to us.
Sue
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Hi Dave,
Thank you for the link to the images of different grades. It is very helpful to see images of the coins.
Sue
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4337 Posts |
Sue, if you're holding onto 30 or 40 of these you may want to list each year and mint mark for the community. If you happen to have any particular Carson City or San Francisco minted coins you might be winner winner chicken dinner with regards to value.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
Quote:
My aunt would give each of us children 4 or 5 silver dollars each Christmas for a few years. Our mother would put them away for us and then, when we grew up, she handed them off to us. This is exactly the reason I started collecting Silver Dollars but the only difference is it was my Great grandfather that would give us silver dollars each Christmas. As a child I would remember how big and hefty the coins were so when I started collecting the series I collected was Silver Dollars because of this memory |
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New Member
United States
18 Posts |
DSFreeWorld, I just posted the list of silver dollars on the VAM? Forum. Not sure what VAM is so I hope I put the list in the right place. Bryan, It is a great way to get started, isn't it? Sue |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3076 Posts |
 Sue...Its great to have you here, I have been a way for some time,, Bryan1315, It was my Uncle who came from afar to present us with a SILVER DOLLAR which we went straight to the general store to buy our penny candy,,WOW...such riches back the..Early 1960....it was from that arena, That my first coin collecting even back then at such a young age was not pennies,, it was the Morgan,, In Montana they were still in circulation.... the going rate was around 3-4 bucks for an UNC coin LOL...imagine that..to today"s values... Sue....as for value, today's values are a mix of the spot price of silver per ounce,,,,and that is the try ounce not the 90% silver within the Silver dollars we hold... but usually its a few dollars less say 4 buck's if you want to sell, and persay on ebay it will bring about 5 bucks over the silver price...due to the fact that there will be some shipping charges and they are taking advantage of it may be a non rare coin or VAM, and they love to throw out the condition to pay the low spot pricing,,unless its a nice coin AU or above unless its a hard to find coin... AND Grade for year and mint mark make such a difference. Its part of a learning curve for all of us when we start learning what has been given to us...SO glad to see you here...G |
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New Member
United States
18 Posts |
Thank you, Aladinslamp. I grew up in Montana. We are from Choteau. We never thought of spending them. They went straight into the family safe until we were grown. Of course, in Choteau, there weren't very many places to spend the money.  It's a shame to think they are only worth 4-5 dollars each. If that's all they are worth, I will keep them. Can't make a house payment with that. LOL Sue |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1511 Posts |
No, no... Gosh no... lol. What alladinslamp meant was Morgan's even heavily worn sold to a shop or in person will bring $4-$5 less than the silver weight/value in them... And if sold on ebay around $5 over the spot price of silver, which changes all the time. As of today's silver price of $28.70 per Troy ounce, a Morgan is 90% silver and would have a "melt" value of the silver of around $22... And the reason you'd get more on ebay would be because you have eBay/paypal/shipping fees... As well as postage and actually bringing it to the post office. I upgraded all my family's Morgan's (I also received alot as hand me downs) to MS-63 and up, but when I brought my circulated Morgan's in to trade up/sell I still got $26-$32 each for them... And that was from a store... Actually a few different stores. I guess it depends alot on where you live.. Personally in my area nobody offers under melt for anything, even scrap silver. Yet a friend of mine from the other side of our state has never heard of even getting melt for scraps... I quickly looked over our list and a few dates could potentially be worth a bit more, IF they are in high grades... If they are circulated and especially anything below AU (in my area at least) you'd be looking at the prices I listed above. If you could possibly post pics we could help to give an estimate on grade. Like for instance the one you pictured here would be worth around the melt value of silver.. So if all are in roughly this condition or lower grades that's what you could expect for each. Even at $25 each, if you have 40 of them that's like $1000... (Although personally I'd keep them  ) I hoped this helped with a few of your questions. If you stick around here for a while and build up to 250 posts you could also sell them here, and you'd probably do better than at a store or ebay... But obviously up to you.  |
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Replies: 15 / Views: 1,240 |
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Posted 03/10/2013 4:13 pm
