Morgan Dollar 1878 And 1896

Ok Bryan, thanks. I don't know why the pics were on top of one another, but I'll put in the clickable kind next time. The bottom 5 pics were of the 78, but I'll see if I can get some closer shots in the AM when it's sunny. Thanks, Alice

alliegirl, welcome to the forum! If you're into Morgans, you've come to the right place.

I wouldn't want to grade either of these Morgans at this time. I think there's too much distortion through the holders. The 1896 should not have lost its luster except by exposure to severe environmental conditions (e.g., corrosive air) or to cleaning. It actually looks polished; however, this may be just a function of the images. The 1896 obverse looks like it could be uncirculated (MS-60 to MS-62) or lightly circulated (AU-55 to AU-58), but the reverse looks circulated from the image.

The 1878 looks definitely uncirculated, but the image through the plastic is too distorted for a definitive opinion. In the bottom image, it looks cleaned, but that may be a function of photographing the coin through the plastic. It appears to be a 7-tail feather Reverse of 78 (parallel arrow feathers) variety which is one of the more common varieties.

Presuming the coins are not cleaned, max value of both might be $100 to $150 (book value), but expect a lot less on the open market.

Those plastic 2x2s should open up fairly easily so you can get unfiltered images. You might want to repost each Morgan in separate threads so the images of both don't get mixed up.

There's also different value systems when it comes to Morgans. There's book value and, for those of us who are Morgan-obsessive, there's REAL value in the esoteric sense since we feel ALL Morgans are priceless!

Fred

Thank Bryan and Fred for responding. I appreciate it so much. Can one of you tell me how those plastic cases open? I don't want to injure the coin. Do they just pull apart? Or do you have to stick something in the side and pry or twist? I haven't tried, because I never saw them before. My aunt worked for a bank in the 50's and would bring some of her pay home in coins. That's how they built their collection. She got a book on coins, and they knew not to clean them. However, at one time or another, they got these plastic holders, and put 3/4 of the coins in them, and the others were put in the little yellow envelopes that you can see in one of my pics. The ones in the envelopes did not keep their shine, they have a duller grayish tone. Once I hear from one of you on how to open the holder, I'll take a pic without it. I'll check every so often tomorrow. Thanks so much again!! Alice Oh, my parrot! His name is Tiko (the destroyer) LOL He's an Alexandrine, from the country of India (they're plentiful there, like pigeons I hear. He loves to chew anything he can get ahold of with that big orange beak! So he's got lots of wooden toys, that never look the same after the first day! He's 11 and has quite a vocabulary, sings row row row your boat, and loves to give kisses along with the sound effects. He thinks the squirrels outside the window are cats, and calls out to them "here kitty, kitty" or screams "shooo kitty" depending on his mood. LOL

Thanks Fred!! I was thrilled when they opened so easily with a fingernail! Thought they were permanently encased. LOL Told Tiko what you said and he shook his head up and down in agreement!! I'm going to put a couple more of the silver dollars on today, now that I can open them up, and we'll see what opinions I get on their grade. Everyone is sooooo nice here!! Thanks, Alice