1885-CC Opinions Wanted

Georgous Morgan!

The lines are die polish marks left over from polishing the die, as they strike coins and begin to wear (heat and friction) the dies are re-polished and this will also leave the cameo effect on freshly polished dies for the first hundred strikes or so right after, as evidenced in you coin. A close look at the surface of the coin should reveal the lines are actually raised and not scratches in the surface, the were scratched into the die, probably by a wire wheel buffer and some polishing compound, this of course will leave the opposite on the coin from the die, being a mirror image.

With this much die polishing showing the strike has been affected and the coin is not as fully struck up as normal, that or the die polishing has just been done so heavily onto this die set that it is wearing the die down, causing the details to begin to wear away. Heavily polished dies are usually a sign of the end of life for a die in the Morgan series, the Mint was cranking out as many coins as humanly possible to keep up with the Bland Allison Silver Act of 1878 requirements.

I'd grade this CC at MS64PL, I don't think there is enough cameo effect to go full DMPL but the hit on the cheek is hard to tell how large and deep it is in the photo, hence my MS64 from these photos. It is not too far off of a MS65 grade though.

Thank you for the comments and information. The coin is graded by PCGS as an MS63DMPL. I can't seem to get good photos of it, but it looks very mirror/proof like in the fields in hand.

The look like roller marks to me. This is the definition from the CCF glossary:

"Term to describe the mostly parallel incuse lines seen on some coins after striking. These were originally thought to be lines resulting from debris "scoring" the metal strips before the blanks were cut. However, new research has pointed to the final step of strip preparation, the draw bar. To reduce the strips to proper thickness, the final step was to pass them through the draw bar. It certainly seems logical that debris in the draw bar may cause these lines, if so, then draw-bar marks or lines would be a more appropriate term."

Before seeing the post revealing the grade, I was going to guess MS-64 DMPL. The surfaces look deeply mirrored , enough I think to qualify for DMPL. There are few marks and/or grazes and appears to approach 65. The strike is somewhat weak and the rollers marks are not preferable. I think the grade given is fair since there are many alternatives that are sharp and don't have roller marks.

That is a cool Morgan! I agree, this is an unusual coin!