1887-P You Vs ANACS

I think the coins is a technical MS64 due to the strike being slightly soft or weak, the hair above the ear is not as strongly struck up as needed on most MS65 graded Morgans, though 1887 is known for more softly struck pieces, a MS65 would need a touch more detail in that area, the luster and relatively mark free cheek and fields are all signs of a MS65 in most Morgan dates.

I wouldn't be bold enough to say I completely understand how the TPG graders see things, but MS65 seems to be the break grade that says high end for an uncirculated coin (classic, not modern issue coins), when I began collecting we only used MS60, MS63 and MS65 or more often Uncirculated, Brilliant Uncirculated, Choice Uncirculated and Gem Uncirculated were probably just as common. The point system of grading was in place (from Dr. Sheldon) but AU was only AU no various grades like today.Grading has definitely changed over the years, more intermediate grades in the Almost Uncirculated and Uncirculated grades are now commonplace. More technical issues such as; strike, luster, toning and original surfaces are factored in. As one get's more familiar with a series of coinage, you will learn subtle differences between each year and mint strikes, some years are commonly dull, or weakly struck, others come fully struck, some have planchet issues, or other minting process problems like spotting (peace dollars, even some moderns like American Silver Eagles have that issue), or areas of a design not being well defined, thumb on Walking Liberty halves, Bell lines on Franklins, Bands on dimes, heads on Standing Liberty quarters, etc. For the Morgan dollar is is usually the hair above the ear that is the tell tale sign of a full strike or not. This could have been due to the mint running low on dies available and trying to meet minting goals, so they lightened the striking pressure to make the dies last longer, or maybe it was just a simple careless or hurried job in setting up a press. We do know some years are more prone to weak strikes than others, the TPG's should and do (for the most part) take that into consideration when considering a grade.

Graders examine a Morgan dollar for maybe 2-3 seconds per side before coming up with a grade opinion, most TPGs send the coin to 2 or 3 graders to be sure there is a consensus on their opinion of a grade, if they don't agree it goes on to a finalizer or senior grader for the final call, sometimes they take much longer examining the Dollar, but not likely, Morgan dollars are one of the most common graded coins at TPGs so the graders have a very good familiarity with them, it is probably not unusual for them to see 300-1000 of them every day at the big services.

My friend from high school was a PCGS grader then created ICG, so my numbers are based on his comments, but that was a long time ago (late 1990's to mid 2000) too. There were dealers that would send in bags of Morgans to be graded on a regular basis, I think then the TPGs were doing somewhere around 30,000-50,000 coins per month and that only grew larger as time went on. When graders are seeing that kind of volume one would hope, they would get better also.

As I said, over time grading standards changed, but the technical details of how a coin is made has not, so to be close to perfect (MS65 or better) the coin must be genuine, if it passes that point then, it must exhibit strong strike, above average luster, minimum of marks (scrapes, bag marks, digs, ticks, etc.) then the grader looks at any other contributing factor, toning nice or distracting? Anything that may cause a details grade? Cleaning, doctoring, scratches, rim dings, PVC contamination, alterations of any kind, environmental damage? Only then is the final grade determined. Then the next coin is examined, and the process starts all over. With only 480 minutes (28800 seconds) in an eight hour work day, the grader only has around 10-15 seconds per coin to come up with all this, the remaining time is spent removing the coin from the flip, making sure that it is the correct coin they are putting the grade in the computer, then replacing the coin in the flip. With so little time, a grader really needs to know the series well, and most graders are most familiar with Morgan dollars since they are probably the most graded classic US coin.

Enough of my rambling (sorry it's late here) one of the best graders in the business of rare coins is Jim Halprin (co founder of Heritage Auctions) probably best describes strike vs. grade in his book on grading, which is now available directly from him for free online: http://www.coingrading.com/strike1.html Here Jim also has a nice cheat sheet on each Morgan dollar regarding their known strike qualities. I think his whole website may really help anyone trying to get better at understanding coin grading.

Also it must be said since grading is only an opinion, the final grade may or may not be agreed on even if it is a PCGS, NGS, ANACS, etc slabbed coin.Even the best are wrong sometimes, and mistakes do happen. My favorite way around that issue is by replying to a question "What do you think this coin grades?" Answer with a dollar amount - say, "About $150.00" get's the point across as to the value, which is what most people are really trying to do when it comes to grading.

Sorry for the long rambling post (time for bed now - 4:00am).

Great explanation west. I know I tend to look at strike when I buy a coin, then there are ones like these, with nice toning and eye appeal...strike goes away in my head....plus it was cheap :)