1881-O Morgan Silver Dollar For Grading

The lighting makes it hard to grade. Clearly MS with nice luster and a good strike, I'll guess MS63.

Surfaces look off to me. If the green areas are actually green I'd be wary of PVC damage. If it straight grades I'd say MS62, there looks to be a lot of chatter on the cheek.

I think it has too many scratches on the cheek but the reverse is fairly clean (like around 61 obv and a 63 rev). So, I'd say MS 62.

here's some info to add to your knowledge base and the process I use in my mind when assessing a morgan

for New Orleans minted coins everything before 86 or after 97 were average to sharp strikes. anything between were soft to weak.

the 81(O) was average for strike that year. the hair around the ear and the eagle breast are the first two places to show wear. your coin is MS state. next you need to limit the grade scope. based on the scratches and marks (especially the cheek) and broken luster on the obv it would not be above 63. so your grades would be narrowed to MS60-MS63. there is lot of glare from using overhead light. avoid that as it obscures surfaces and luster.

the amount of issues is not bad enough for a 60 or 61 so now its down to 62 or 63 as the possible grade. at this point you need to look at the overall coin, eye appeal, luster, and deeper marks as well as number. your reverse is fairly clean other than the right field field with some minor hairlines. this one is going to be graded by the cheek and the glare is tough.

i dont think there are enough to keep it to 62 and the reverse is close to if not a 64, so I'm at net MS63 which is where a lot of MS coins fall mainly from banging around in a bag with other coins.