There is a 1890 Morgan currently on eBay which is slabbed by NGC and graded "Briliant Uncirculated" but has no Sheldon Scale number (the auction is #120363807300). Being that I am on the steep side of my NGC learning curve, this struck me as unusual. Is this an "economy-class" level of grading? What does it imply about the coin other than it is BU, presumed authentic, not improperly cleaned, etc? The website didn't help me, and not being enrolled with NGC, I cannot delve too deeply into the site. Thanks for any assistance. Best wishes to all.
NGC has, from time-to-time, slabbed coins simply as "brilliant uncirculated." These are usually from large hoards. The good coins are taken out, and they put a bunch of bagmarked, MS-60 to MS-62 coins in "BU" holders. They are likely uncirculated coins, just dogs. I wouldn't pay any premium for them over normal BU Morgan roll prices. In fact, knowing ahead of time that they're dogs, I'd probably pay less.
That's basically correct. Private compnies, even some large coin dealers, submit large numbers of coins all at the same time and pay a minimal fee and have the coins placed in those slabs. Yeah, they are genuine and unc but usually just barely.
I'd have no problem bidding on them as MS-60 coins. They're almost certainly uncirculated, plus they're easier to get rid of in the plastic. For novice collectors, they are an attractive and affordable choice.
PCGS does the same thing, if you look at the submissions on the PCGS site you'll occasionally see them slabbing Morgans BU as well. These are, like borgovan and Doug said, usually lousy uncircs. Common dates, MS60-62 coins. Some dealer cracked a few rolls open, had the 63+s graded and the others slabbed as BU. I am told that when you do a large submission you can specify that any coin which doesn't hit a specific grade, usually MS63, gets in a BU holder. Basically it's a $25 coin in a pretty holder.
"So think MS-60 pricing?" Forgot to mention. When I talk about pricing, my reference is the greysheet, not something like Coin Trends. Does that change your response? Just asking. Not trying to get smart.
Yes, that does change my response. The point being, I wouldn't assume ANYTHING from these slabs, other than the coin is real. I've seen coins that even I (the eternal overgrader) think are AU in these holders. REspectfully...Mike
