I'm not good at grading these. But I would say MS 66 on up, I think it's a PL as well. Very nice coin.
I can't fully tell from the photograph but i was going to say say 65. I started at 64 and climbed up. It is a great strike. Is it proof? It has the rub marks on the high points of the cap ect, and I can't figure out what all that noise in in the fields. The strike is perfect... so I bumped it up to a 65, assuming the fields noise in only in the photograph and there are no bag marks to speak of, just the rub marks.
My grade I'm torn between 64PL and 65PL. I don't like the frost break on the cheek or the obv and rev rim dings. And the rims seem to have a lot of light chatter. For an '80-S, think I'd have to stick at 64PL, but a high end one. NGC - who knows. I expect they'll say at least 65PL but 66PL sure won't surprise me. Honestly don't believe the coin deserves it though.
64* or 65. I'd love to be able see it in hand to see how PL it is. Its frosty but does it reflect is the question.
while the slight mark on he cheek does not help the grade by any means, this is still a amazing coin. I would give it a MS-65PL to MS-66PL. The strike and overall great details, few and minor nicks and the 'wow' factor propel this Morgan into the MS-65+ range (for comparison, my avatar coin is a MS-66 )
That's also a big reason. Think "eye movement through the coin." The engraver was controlling that through his use of detail and depth. Where he chose to put that detail and depth is where your eye always comes back to. That graze distorts that intended eye movement through that coin just enough to meaningfully affect the grade. Your eye isn't supposed to be coming back to the chin but with that graze on that coin it is. Why is that meaningful? It's meaningful because, surprisingly or not, the way your eye moves through a coin is the chief determinant of how you feel about that coin. Am I going too fast for you boys and girls? :smile PS: And that's true of any artwork...