1883 Morgan

Hi Ralph-- Sorry I haven't been around more often to look at your marvelous Morgans, but I've got 200 on-going projects not the least of which is trying to do the final edit on my book. And gone for several days starting Thurs to get my Jeep GC upgraded (unnecessary repairs which will improve it ).

1883(P) Morgans are generally fairly well struck, but there are exceptions. The marks on Liberty's cheek may be bag marks or may be light circulation marks. I'm inclined to go with very light circulation since there's some tiny marks on the rim which look more like circulation marks than bag marks. The hair above Liberty's ear and the Eagle's breast feathers show detail, but not full detail although, as I mentioned, the 83 doesn't necessarily show full strike details. Luster can be lost to either cleaning or light circulation as you know. Unless cleaning is professionally done, the chances that luster will remain after a cleaning are slim although it can be done. What is most suspicious to me about this Morgan are the "shadows" (actually contrast) in the recessed protected areas around the stars and some of the letters on the obverse which I don't think is a result of the scanner's lighting although it very well could be. I lean toward it having been cleaned at some time in the past. Cleaning aside, I'd guess AU-55 to 58; if I'm all wet (been known to happen a few thousand times) and it is a weak strike and not cleaned, maybe MS-61 to -62.

Feh, it's not a carson so I gave up looking at it.

All kidding aside, I'd go with a very high AU grade here, 55-58

I'm just going to let Fred speak for me here, since we're in complete agreement. The only thing I'll add is, if the coin had been polished with fine enough cloth, no marks would show except under pretty significant magnification. I have a couple "prooflike" Morgans which show clean under my 10x loupe, and are hairline city at 60x.

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Originally posted by Ralph

Dave - that's an interesting bit of information. I've only a 20X for my most powerful magnifier, and can't see any hairlines with it. Do your "prooflike" Morgans still exhibit luster?

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Not in the "cartwheel" sense, no. Mine were leaned on pretty heavily. The drop in shiny-ness is evident near the devices, also, a sure sign of polishing.

It's impossible to determine your coin's condition from a scan, of course. I could imagine the possibility of polishing with fine enough cloth to avoid losing the minting lines which cause cartwheel.

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Originally posted by Silver Dollar

Super Dave,
I found your reply interesting and informative. Could you please tell me more about your loupes. Also could you recommend a place to purchase quality magnifiers?
Thank You for your time.

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In my opinion, a loupe which says Bausch & Lomb on it is a good purchase, whatever the price range. I use an inexpensive (less than $20) example with twin swing-out 5x and 7x lenses, sufficient to attribute all of my die-crack VAM's. Anything I cannot resolve with the 7x lens (doubling, etc.) gets stuck under my QX5 microscope for further investigation. I bought it from Brent Krueger.

Following are a few dealers I can recommend from personal experience. By no means a complete list, because when I find a good thing, I stick with it:

http://www.joelscoins.com/ (Really friendly people)
http://www.brent-krueger.com/
http://www.jakesmp.com/