Help With "Pl" Morgan Dollars

I got these today. I had such a hard time figuring out the photo uploading, can you imagine what it would be like for auction links lol. I paid between $150-$170 each. I'm using pcgs iphone app for prices. They have a section just for pl and dmpl. The problem is most sellers are asking 3-4 times the price that pcgs says they are worth. I was lucky 10 min ago. I offered a seller $160 for a 1885 ms64. He had it for $250 and accepted my offer.

I think you've caught the fever and are moving too quickly, to be frank. Can you accurately grade a Morgan and differentiate between regular coins, PL's and DMPL's? Have you an accurate pricing database? If not, you have to rely on somebody else's opinion of the coin and its' value. And even slabbed coins vary wildly in quality; every long-time collector has seen dogs in TPG slabs.

There's a reason for the universal saying "Knowledge is King" in numismatics. The differences between two coins which could amount to thousands of dollars in value are very subtle, do not follow an objective ruleset, and can only be learned through experience.

So I worry for you.

Yeah, I'd slow down. It's nice to be ambitious, but a lot of the coins I bought in my first couple years of collecting, slabbed or not, have been relegated to the closet (where I store my cheap, bulk crap) instead of the safe deposit box or at-home safe, because they're simply not all there for the money I paid. I'll probably consign them to an auction house (and I almost NEVER consign my coins) so I don't have to be reminded of the thousands of dollars I wasted buying subpar coins.

Learn about the series, as much as you can, then refine your eye for quality coins. It takes a long time to really learn how to discern the great coins from the mediocre coins.

Personally, I would pass on that PR55. The obverse is very distracting for a proof strike. I would spend a few more dollars for an un-impaired example.

Yes, you will, and I'm thinking that with your relatively strict standards you haven't gone wrong yet (even though we haven't seen your purchases).

One thing to keep in mind: Grading from images has significant differences to grading in-hand. If you're already a good hand grader, you're going to undergrade digital images. Digital photography, and the bright light required for it, exaggerates every mark on a coin. Color is very difficult to get right, and is the one thing even decent photographers can screw up. Look to the background of the image; see if you can discern what its' exact color should be and how close the actual image is. The closer the background, the closer the coin is to in-hand look.

Size also matters. I would not attempt to grade an image showing the coin less than 600-650px in diameter, and at that size I'll only guess within a couple each way for MS coins. 800 pixels is OK, but only for high-quality photography. A large-but-poor image is actually worse than a smaller, clearer one.

I didn't start buying any coins until I was a couple of months into numismatics, when I could have bought coins.

It's important to learn before you buy anything. You need to study about Morgan dollars, learn to grade them, get more knowledge about the series and so on before you buy anything. I am also worried for you.

Get a Red Book, and learn more about American coinage. Although that is a bad source of coin market prices, but the info in the book is some real helpful stuff. Then, maybe you will discover something better, more attractive to collect. It sounds like you haven't explored much about other coins, and that's why you jumped right into Morgans which are the extent of your numismatic knowledge at this point.

I bought the RedBook thursday. I understand everything you guys are saying. I was always a guy who swings for the fences. I always attacked a challenge head on once I put my heart and mind into something. I know how special the morgan series was to my grandfather. It had to be, he had more of them than anything else. Thats why I decided I'm going to continue acquiring them and complete the set. Thankfully he already has several of the very tough ones needed like the 95 and 4-93s. I will go slow and take everyones advice. The only thing id like to do now is get a pl coin for every year if available. I posted a pic of only 3 ms64pl coins that I purchased. Theres a few more on the way that when I receive them I will post. I just thought it would be cool to have a pl coin for every year. I was up late looking at how many coins are needed to complete the set. I think I'm correct at 106 including the 1878 versions? I think thats a great and fun challenge. Id like to get my 2 sons involved.

I pick coins with much scrutiny. No toning (sorry guys) they have to be white and shiney. And I will not buy a raw coin. I purchased an 1881 and 1883 cc's raw and they were fake. The guy on ebay said he was from the midwest, but the package originated from china. ebay helped and got my money back. And I do know slabs are faked too. I'm very careful of who I buy from. High feedback or a reputable coin shop.