Just curious, since I recently started collecting MS Morgan dollars does anyone have any comments about the markup on Morgan DMPL coins? Average grade of MS-63 graded by NGC and PCGS? I've seen prices all over the place from nearly no mark up (for common dates) to nearly 2 and 1/2 times the normal price. What do you all think is a fair price. I've heard a couple of dealers say they don't even want to deal in them because they don't know how to price them. Sound like a poor excuse to me, but I was suprised that they made that comment. Is it really that difficult? Thanks. Rodger
I suspect there aren't enough sales of DMPL's for any one date to establish a solid value. It boils down to "whatever the market will bear." You have to get into Google and do your own research. Unfortunately I bet many change hands in private sales which means less information is publically available. If you are REALLY into DMPL's, I would think a spreadsheet containing a listing by date/mintmark, grade, asking price and more importantly selling/auction price would be a great help. Yes, definitely search auction results. That's "real world" info.
It's not at all hard to price DMPL (deep mirror prooflike) coins. They're all listed in the Greysheet (the dealer-to-dealer wholesale price guide.) It is difficult to price PL (prooflike) coins, as they are not listed. Let's look at a couple of common dates. Now, coins that are common aren't necessarily common in DMPL. For instance, 1921 Morgans are extremely easy to find in MS-63, but they are quite tough to find in DMPL. Here are dealer wholesale prices (greysheet, sight-seen) for MS-63 DMPL, with the regular MS-63 price in parentheses: 1878-S: $110 ($55) 1879-S: $90 ($39) 1898-O: $90 ($40) Yeah, mostly a 100+% premium on the DMPL for those dates. Keep in mind that these prices fluctuate wildly as you step into MS-64 and MS-65. Now, here are the sight-unseen (blue sheet) dealer wholesale prices for the same coins, with a breakdown between PCGS and NGC: 1878-S: PCGS - $90 ($51) NGC - $80 ($51) 1879-S: PCGS - $60 ($36) NGC - $60 ($36) 1898-O: PCGS - $60 ($38) NGC - $60 ($38) Well, first we see that the prices are lower, because these are sight-unseen bids. And now you can see a distinction even between PCGS and NGC. This variation is even more dramatic on other dates, but we're just looking at common ones. So, the lesson here is learn the market before you buy. You mentioned DMPL coins with "almost no markup" over regular MS-63 coins. I would likely buy those in a heartbeat, unless there is some problem with them. There is always a hefty markup over normal uncirculated prices for DMPL coins. Take your time, do your homework, and show us your nice coins!
I agree entirely. And if you can do something like I suggested with the spreadsheet, you can probably make yourself the resident expert for DMPL's and PL's. I didn't realize the greysheet had prices for DMPL's. It's not something I even remotely consider buying so I wasn't paying attention. Also check out the PCGS site with all their price listings. Probably a wealth of info there.
Yes, greysheet has the DMPL prices. And I incorrectly stated earlier that PL prices are hard to come by. The PL prices are not listed in the greysheet, but they are in the bluesheet (wholesale, dealer-to-dealer, certified, sight unseen prices.)
If you can't access a greysheet, Heritage coins has pricelists for PL and DM to get you in the ballpark.
I made a mistake by saying that some common DMPL coins were not much higher than normal MS63 coins, I meant to say that some "prooflike", not DMPL coins are not much higher than the normal MS63 prices. Sorry. I did find a website called bestcoin.com that lists coin prices and went to the Morgan dollar price list and they list circulated, MS, PL, and DMPL prices so that gives me a good idea as to what some of the going prices are. Actually the PL prices are very close to the prices I have paid for the PL Morgans that I have. Thanks for the information guys, appreciate it. Rodger
