the heart of my discussion here and would love to hear all of your opinions on this subject.....
GRADING {which you all know) have many dings and chatter marks...
I'm slightly 40 plus after that lol......
Clearly there is an issue here
Are there to many old coins in the closet to upset the balance of values of yester years coins {AND THERE DOLLAR VALUE!!)
Posted 03/01/2010 11:18 am
aladinslamp,
Regarding your comments on "bag marks and dings" these normally don't indicate circulation. A coin, especially a large Morgan dollar, can pick up these imperfections in a canvas bag of 1000 coins without ever being touched by human hands. And that's what separates Unc from AU. When you touch the surface of a coin and let it "rub" against things in your pocket, the surface luster is removed starting at the highest points of the design. This is very hard to discern from a photo ... hence the grades from AU55-MS64. Once that "rub" is verified, that MS64 coin is only AU58 at the most.
When grading Morgans I follow this path in coming to my conclusions: Initial feel based on "first glance"; next, plus or minus to my initial impression based on a closer review of the high points in the design.
A baggy coin with lots of marks from contact with other coins, but no luster rub will earn a low 60's grade. The fewer the marks the higher the grade will go. Once luster is removed, it will never make 60 and I subtract from that score based on the amount and severity of surface marks.
I've looked at tens of thousands of Morgans in the last couple of years and with each look, my grading skills improve. I've also learned which dates and mints produced "hammered" strikes and which ones produced "marshmallow" strikes. You won't find many New Orleans dollars that compare strike-wise to CC, Philly or San Fran strikes.
Here on the forum I will give the coin a grade based on what I see in the picture, nothing else, nothing more. And I'll tell the poster "why" I selected that grade. It's up to them to determine from the coin in-hand whether my assessment is in the ball park. I would highly recommend others take the time to tell us "why" they graded a coin the way they did, rather than just posting MS-63, etc.
With each one you grade, you learn. I'd like to see more members shed their shyness and take a shot at it. No one here gets roasted for their mistakes ... except SuperDave, because we all expect perfection from the master.
Regarding your comments on "bag marks and dings" these normally don't indicate circulation. A coin, especially a large Morgan dollar, can pick up these imperfections in a canvas bag of 1000 coins without ever being touched by human hands. And that's what separates Unc from AU. When you touch the surface of a coin and let it "rub" against things in your pocket, the surface luster is removed starting at the highest points of the design. This is very hard to discern from a photo ... hence the grades from AU55-MS64. Once that "rub" is verified, that MS64 coin is only AU58 at the most.
When grading Morgans I follow this path in coming to my conclusions: Initial feel based on "first glance"; next, plus or minus to my initial impression based on a closer review of the high points in the design.
A baggy coin with lots of marks from contact with other coins, but no luster rub will earn a low 60's grade. The fewer the marks the higher the grade will go. Once luster is removed, it will never make 60 and I subtract from that score based on the amount and severity of surface marks.
I've looked at tens of thousands of Morgans in the last couple of years and with each look, my grading skills improve. I've also learned which dates and mints produced "hammered" strikes and which ones produced "marshmallow" strikes. You won't find many New Orleans dollars that compare strike-wise to CC, Philly or San Fran strikes.
Here on the forum I will give the coin a grade based on what I see in the picture, nothing else, nothing more. And I'll tell the poster "why" I selected that grade. It's up to them to determine from the coin in-hand whether my assessment is in the ball park. I would highly recommend others take the time to tell us "why" they graded a coin the way they did, rather than just posting MS-63, etc.
With each one you grade, you learn. I'd like to see more members shed their shyness and take a shot at it. No one here gets roasted for their mistakes ... except SuperDave, because we all expect perfection from the master.
