1900 Morgan

Ralph, you picked a tough year to grade. The 1900 Morgans tend to be weakly struck although not as weak as typical New Orleans Morgans. Worse, luster for this year and Philly mint is generally poor and lifeless. I see none of the usual signs of circulation (e.g., marks which are not bag marks, traces of wear on the wing tips), even for a slider AU-58 It almost looks like the Eagle's breast might be a little frosted which will not be found in a slider. Based on the scan, I would have no problem labeling it an MS-62 or -63 (might go up to -64) since it has very few bag marks except, of course, on Liberty's cheek and jaw and two minor rim dings on the reverse. Most of the distractions in the fields are minor contact marks. The only question I would have is with what appears to be a water stain on the field right of Liberty's head that raises my suspicions. If it shows good luster as you state in your description (good description, by the way), it might be due to a chemical dip which might also account for the fine film. The '00(P) typically isn't supposed to have good luster**. Does the film feel oily or residue of some sort? (You might be able to tell better with either latex or cottom gloves; the film might attach to the gloves.) Nevertheless, I think you could get away with calling it Mint State. Of course, the only way to be certain is to send it off to a grading service, but you could get around this by sending it to moi .

Fred

**The differences in value between a 1900(P) MS-63 with typical dull luster and an MS-63 with Deep Mirror luster is $50 vs $2500, reflecting the uncommonality of high luster 1900s.

This one definitely needs an in-hand evaluation to be sure. However, since I doubt Ralph is going to give it up.....

The only caveat I might add to Fred's excellent evaluation is that the darker areas (either luster breaks or, more likely, brighter areas since it's a scan) are presicely where I'd expect to see the very first signs of wear on a Morgan. The cap, the cheek, the leaves, the leading edges of the wings and the tips of the breast feathers.

In all honesty, if it were mine I'd be dropping this one into acetone for a day or two.