New Member - Grading Morgan Dollars

Can't tell from one side of the coin. TPGs are very hard on that date, as it is so common. Need to see the reverse to see what it looks like.

 

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Save your money for now. Buy the ANA grading guide and Grading Coins by Photographs. Read the introductions. Then practice grading your own coins with the books and the PCGS grading guide. If there is a dealer or coin club close, let them help with your decisions.

 

Here they are. It's blinding, so the pictures had to cope with that complication.

 

Really clean looking coin overall. The only problem area I see, I think, is a pretty big hit on the obverse right across the eyebrow? It's a little hard to tell, but if so, that may be why it was graded MS-65. If that's just a weird light trick and there is no hit there, it should grade MS-66+ to MS-67 to me. That said, it at least appears like a pretty significant ding and, if so, that would definitely impact the grade. Depending on how it looks in hand, I think it still would be strong for the grade. That said, it just depends on how the individual feels about an otherwise clean coin with one significant hit.

 

I took a closer photo so I could see what that was. It is there, but ties in directly to the bridge of the nose, so looks bigger than it actually is. And it is quite ragged, and there is no pushed-up ridge of metal at its edges. It this not a hit, but something else? I also saw a hit I had not noticed on the nose, too. (Note how the silver is pushed up around the hit!)

Thanks for taking a look and offering your analysis. It is very helpful.

And, the coin does look terrific in the hand. The fields are extremely bright and mirrorlike on both sides. I do like it.

 

IMO, the hits take it out of the 66 grade.

 

I couldn't afford 66 anyway!

 

Definitely NOT a 66. Look at the fields to the left of Liberty's face. There are minor nicks and chatter marks all over--they are not big, but enough to prevent it from being a high gem grade. The reverse is nicer than the obverse. It shows that photography at the right angle sometimes shows the reason that a coin grades a certain way. NGC got it exactly right.

 

That photo definitely helped me to see the left field much better. It is a little more choppy than I originally noticed, but I do think it's very nice for a MS-65, but I think a little too much for a MS-66.

 

Sure you could.

1881-S is pretty much the cheapest Morgan in MS66 - almost 18% of all PCGS MS66's are 1881-S. One in MS66 is about the price of anything else in MS65.

I agree with the descriptions of yours as a rather high-end 65, but that's the ceiling for it. Lovely coin.

 

Thanks, everyone. I hope the original poster learned as much as I did.

I can be pretty thick-skinned about the actual grade, when any coin has this much amazing 3D sculptural quality. The arrows and branches seem suspended in space. The feet are just marvelous.

I can see why you all like Morgans so much.
Regards,
Ron

 

You kind of lucked out here. 1880-S and 1881-S are known to Morgan aficionados to be generally the best-struck - the San Francisco Mint was careful and conscientious about the quality of their work. Viewed as a whole, you won't find better strikes coin-to-coin, and yours is a particularly well-struck example even for them. The cotton bolls on the obverse, and the talons and largest bottom wreath leaves on the reverse tell the tale, and I don't really see any strike weakness anywhere on your coin. It's a good one.