Morgans.. Where Do I Start?

There is some good stuff on this thread. I just sold a load of bullion Kennedy halves, and with the proceeds I am going to add some Morgans. To date I have a few Morgan and Peace dollars, but many were bought as bullion and are all common dates.
I really like the Morgans, and I want to start accumulating dates I do not have. In addition, I think I may use some of the proceeds to buy some higher grade/key date coins. Should be fun.
Where is the best place to get higher grade Morgans/key dates? The coin shops around me don't seem to have them. ebay scares me with higher end coins given the possibility of them being counterfeit. Do you guys get them at shows?

That is not true. I agree if you do not know how to grade yourself it is better to buy slabbed as long is it is slabbed by a reputable TPG but some of my best purchases were unslabbed. Once a coin is slabbed you are on a level playing field where everyone from someone that knows nothing about coins to the seasoned collector knows what grade the coin is or at least what an experts opinion was at one time and the price usually reflects this, if you know how to grade yourself you can find some really nice coins worth quite a bit for allot less money than their slabbed counterparts would cost you. So in my opinion there is no substitute for knowledge and once you train yourself you can find those little treasures unslabbed. When you get into key dates then it may be best to look for a slabbed version because those are the ones that are counterfeited the most and even if its for authentication purposes that is where I think the TPG's really are a asset in the coin hobby. That way at least if it does turn out to be counterfeit you have a guarantee by the company and you will not lose all your money, you just have to be sure the slab isn't counterfeit now also so there is some investigation that needs to be done before making a huge purchase and not just buy it because it looks to be graded and authenticated by a reputable company. I would say 98% of the key dates that are slabbed by a top tiered TPG are legit and not a copy of the coin and slab but usually the ones that are can be found in archives of online auction houses where you can compare the coins to see if they match when it was last sold. The counterfeiters have gotten smart and only use real certification numbers now so when you check them out they show up as legit cert numbers but they are in fact fake coins and fake slabs

Gyrene, that is a beautiful 78S. Thanks for the tips guys. There are so many years/mints that is hard to know where to start. So far, I have been picking up mints/dates I do not have (filling holes so to speak). I think I may do a variation of what Gyrene is doing. I want to get some CC's, so I may focus on them. When I get some CC's, I may work to get the other mints for the same year to create a set. Ultimately, I hope to have all years/mints for the entire Morgan series. Probably, that will be many years to accomplish, but I would love to hand something like that down to my children.

Do you all get your higher end Morgans from coin shops, ebay, coin shows or some other place? The coin shops around me have no CC Morgans. ebay has been okay for me to get basic bullion coins, but I am reticent to buy a high dollar coin there. There is a big coin show coming at the end of the month, so I may try there.

Bryan, You are an inspiration to us as a fellow collector, I commend your intentions, you are a very strong spirit here and I just wanted to thank you for the "extra effort'.

PS, I was thinking of collecting Morgan silver dollars also, I would appreciate any thing you might send my way as I would like to collect these shiny coins also, Mike.....

I thoroughly concur with Bryan's reply to what ambrola wrote. But given fifty years of experience in buying coins, I'm comfortable with that perspective. Then too, I thoroughly concur with what ambrola wrote; however, solely from the perspective of someone who lacks sufficient confidence in their own numismatic abilities.

Even the major dealers and graders make costly mistakes now and then. Sure, slabbed coins can level the playing field, but they aren't a panacea. Slabbed coins have been and will continue to be incorrectly graded and wrongly attributed. Then too, there are fake slabs out there!

Bryan, you and I are on the same page, but I've long expressed that new collectors follow the advice ambrola offers; especially so, when shelling out the big bucks for a 1916-D or S-VDB. Summarily, you're both "right on" in my estimation.