Having seen livingwater's beautiful PL 1904 $20 a few days ago, I started looking at the branch mint PL $20's. They are scarce, expensive and not too attractive. They piqued my interest in Morgans. Branch mint PLs and DMPLs are much more common than the gold. 1880-S and 1884-CC dates provide plenty of affordable examples to pick and choose from.
For me the desirable characteristic is "black and white", which is hard to see in most seller photos. fenton does a good job of showing it. Clean black mirror fields and clean white cameos of Liberty and the eagle.
Comparing Morgan PFs with Morgan PLs, the PLs usually show better cameos. Unfortunately those cameos are usually covered with contact marks and Liberty looks like she's been in a disfiguring car accident. The grading services should use PF guidelines on PLs. Most PLs below PL66 would drop to PL60. Mirror isn't everything.
"Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
Edited by thq
04/03/2024 1:26 pm