1895-S Morgan Thoughts?

I'm at a complete loss to understand why y'all are forming opinions of this coin. It's encased in plastic of completely unknown quality - you have no idea if it's clear, milky, flat or slightly curved and distorting the coin inside - and the images are small and poorly-focused. I don't want to sound like I'm nagging, but forming opinions based on questionable images has no academic rigor and is unworthy of numismatics.

We are doing the opposite of helping here.

You're right SuperDave. Fact is, there isn't enough information to make a coherent judgment.

Come on people, if someone is trying to peddle a key date Morgan in this apparent condition using crappy photos like these - assume it's a fake until someone can prove it's authentic.

Question for the op, what venue is this coin being offered?

I agree with IGE.

Even if the picture is bad it still doesn't look right to me.

... I haven't posted on this thread yet because at first I could not tell, then people chimed in saying fake, then I still couldn't tell for sure. I'm assuming it's on Craigslist but even given that plus how I cant tell one way or the other, personally, I'd take an hourS drive with a scale, loupe & maybe caliper in hand depending on asking price

Here is a 1895 S that is currently for sale on Craigslist. It is being offered for only $200 or best offer. This coin is showing nice luster and looks to be at least AU 55. I would bet the seller would take less than $200 for this $2000 key date.

I don't buy the "uninformed seller" spiel from ebay/CL anymore. That's the one where a seller pretends not to know anything about the item they're offering, takes a couple of terrible, blurry pictures, and throws it out there at a ridiculously low price. 20 years ago, they could have convinced me that it was a clueless seller who honestly had no idea what the coin was worth. Nowadays, no way!

ebay taught bargain-hunters this concept that you can somehow get rich and score amazing deals by taking advantage of clueless sellers selling valuable antiques, coins, etc. for way less than their actual value. During the early days, that worked. However, the Internet has grown so much and improved so much since then that finding reams of information on ANYTHING you want to sell is now a 5-second endeavor. The chances of sellers making honest valuation mistakes have dropped IMMENSELY since the mid to late 90s. Most of your "clueless" sellers in 2015 aren't clueless at all. They know exactly what they have and there's a very good reason why they're feigning ignorance and pulling the stupid-seller act by offering poor pictures of a valuable item at a ridiculously cheap price -- because buyers still fall for it. There are still some bargains out there, but they require a lot more "digging" to find among all the scammers.

I wouldn't try to judge anything by OP's pictures. I'd contact the seller and request full, detailed pictures of both sides of the coin out of the holder. If he refuses, just move on. If you insist on buying stuff being sold in this manner, pay by credit card if at all possible so you can at least stop the charges in the event of fraud.