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 Replies: 10 / Views: 1,013 |
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New Member
United States
21 Posts |
Looking for opinions on this 1879-S Morgan I picked up. It has some issues I can see, but wondering what everyone thinks it might grade? Also, in hand it looks like it may be prooflike, specifically the reverse. Thanks in advance! Apologies for the pictures.   |
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
10529 Posts |
Not seeing much chatter or bag marks but possible finger print on obverse so I'll stay at 65 and not seeing enough reflectivity in the fields to be PL.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11884 Posts |
There is a fairly prominent hit on the nose parallel to the silhouette above the nostril. There are similarly-sized hits in the field parallel to the bridge and to the left of the tip of the nose. The cheek also seems chaffed. Clearer pictures would help.  IN NECESSARIIS UNITAS - IN DUBIIS LIBERTAS - IN OMNIBUS CARITAS THE MAN IN THE ARENA, Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne Paris on April 23, 1910: " It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." My coin website: https://fairfaxcoins.com |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
74146 Posts |
I'll say MS-64.
Errers and Varietys.
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New Member
 United States
21 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10529 Posts |
It is very hard to post pictures of the reflective fields. The best you can do is try to photograph the fields showing the depth by including a pic with a ruler in it reflecting in the fields if possible.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
18664 Posts |
photos are not not that great to assess the coin possibly due to the reflective surfaces and glare from lighting. cant tell if thats a scratch north of the ear and also cannot determine remaining luster. looks like a finger or palm print from star 1 to star 4 up to the chin and small marks under GOD in the field. small scratch under PL. I think NS noted a few more small issues. best case MS64PL worst case MS63. my guess is MS63+ due to the number of small issues. keep in mind that TPG's ignore fingerprints however they do affect coin value remember that it can pull the PL designation at 2" when you say you can read it at 4" but not all over, if you are looking the entire coin on its edge and you cant read to top half, rotate the coin so that the top is not the bottom. the height of the coin would alter the depth perception due to that. |
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New Member
United States
21 Posts |
I appreciate your responses, Marve65 and Panzaldi! I am having trouble taking good photos (likely due to lighting and photo size restrictions). I won't keep spamming more photos but took one more attempt and rigged a setup to try and show reflectivity. Pictures of the obverse and reverse again with (hopefully) better lighting (but probably not).   Pictures attempting to show reflectivity. I printed "1879-S Morgan dollar" on a piece of paper. Font is 12pt Times New Roman. I placed the sheet under my phone, which is set up at 2.5 inches away from the coin. Obverse shows "1879" (upside down and backwards) right of the bust. Reverse shows portions of "Morgan" and "Dollar" (upside down and backwards) to the right of the eagle.   Thank you again, everyone, for taking a look! Edited by screetalus
06/27/2025 12:57 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1897 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10529 Posts |
Now that you post better pictures where you can actually see the problems - it is no way 65 - the hair detail is very good but the cheek scratches are going to down grade the condition.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
18664 Posts |
screetalus - I cant see anything different with the new photos. if you want to play with it. try taking photos with no lighting at all. meaning no flash and no overhead light. only diffused lighting. it would help.
the 79S is one of the most common morgans. it would really need to be MS64 or higher to make it worthwhile. along with all the other minor issues stated I just noticed a rim hit on the rev at K3. the chances it would pull MS64PL is very slim and not worth the cost to find out imo.
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Replies: 10 / Views: 1,013 |
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Posted 06/24/2025 8:28 pm
