What is the difference: GSA Morgan Silver Dollar vs GSA Morgan Uncirculated Silver Dollar

The GSA had dollars that had been in circulation and had seen a lot of use, and they had dollars in mint sealed bags that had not seen the light of day since they were struck. The coins needed to be separated because the pricing was for "Uncirculated" coins and just plain old dollars." More than a decade ago, I know the government still had some of the "real dogs." They displayed them at the old "Grey Lady" San Francisco Mint.

Some of the dollars I saw back then in the plain holders were Uncirculated but they are some really bad bag marks. You can debate about how bad bag marks can be to get the point when the coins are not worth Unc. money.

 

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Yes, the $1,500 price was listed in the 16th edition of "The Red Book." The book is dated 1963 on the cover, but it was introduced in the spring of 1962 when that hoard surfaced.

These dollars had nothing to do with the GSA sales. They were released at the very beginning of the silver craze in 1962 when people lined up, some of them pulling a child's express wagon, to get silver dollars at face value from the government. I can remember seeing news reels covering them on my parents' B&W TV. Before that, the thinking was that most of the 1903-O dollar mintage had been melted.

 

I had one of those chld's express wagons but was unable to get to the Mint to get mine.

The fact that I was only 2 months old didn't help......

 

The Star Rare Coin Catalog was the prices Mehl would pay to people that had no idea what their coins were actually worth.

 

It's not a "Star" catalog, just a greenish #83 Price List. 1959 date.

Maybe they changed the name over the decades.

 

I always thought they were all uncirculated no matter how dinged up they were...maybe I missed something back then. I know there was a card or clarifying statement included about how bad some may be and that there were no guarantees, etc. Regardless of the heavy bag marks and such, uncirculated/MS is uncirculated/MS...right...? So if they all came from the mint vaults/storage...no matter after how many years...not collected/returned from banks or elsewhere that had received them back from some kind of circulation...they should still be in the category of uncirculated...albeit definitions do change over time in how they're used or interpreted/applied, and maybe that's what's going on. Maybe there are some using "worn" simply to indicate heavy bag marks, worn die specimens, etc. If certain GSA holders only indicated 'Silver Dollar,' but either the card indicated uncirculated or they appeared as such despite the marks (no wear, just marks), you may be better let a good TPG decide (hopefully on a good day, graders in good moods, etc.). Don't they grade them in their OGP holders, now...?

 

Gotcha.....and certainly possible/likely with Morgans....but you were more likely to get 100% uncirculated condition if it was a bag of Saints.

 

Nope, technically that is true.

Yup, at least in theory.

The TPGs have graded them in their OGP for years. They put a ribbon with the grade around the plastic holder.

As GD said above....it's possible that uncirculated AND uncirculated silver dollars got into the bags decades ago at some point in time, esp. with bags of mixed coins from different years/mintmarks. But I would wager that most of the bags that contain 100% identical coins of the same year/mintmark.

 

Totally agree. I have a friend that has purchased the "pig-in-a-poke" and he got POKED. the coins all looked like the bottom end of MS60. Red Book for some reason thinks highly of these coins. Like you I have purchased several but it has always been a purchase where I held the holder/coin.
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One of the weird things that PCGS started doing 20 years ago was to mark the label of their slab with wording like "GSA hoard." The message was these coins were sent to PCGS in the GSA slab. PCGS broke them out and graded them. I don't know if they are still doing this.

 

I don't believe PCGS breaks them out of the GSA holder today. I have an 1880-CC in a large PCGS holder that contains the GSA holder. I did not have it graded, purchased it that way. NGC values those in the original GSA holder higher then not. My PCGS may be their answer to NGC.

 

I like NGC's answer better....just put a label on it or a ribbon around it. To put an oversized plastic holder in ANOTHER holder is too much for me.

 

I agree. It doesn't fit in anything but the safe. On the bright side, it's double sealed so less likely to allow gases in over time. When I figure out how to take a decent photo, I'll post it.

 

One of the coins I got in a GSA sale was in a floppy plastic holder and was the most worn Peace dollar I had ever seen. I paid $4 for it, which was about what it was worth at the time. Little did I know that it would become valuable as a Low Ball coin. I got rid of it as soon as I could.

 

They will still do that if you don't want it slabbed in the original holder.

There were very few Peace dollars in the GSA sales and all of them ended up the GSA "softpacks" that sold for $3 each. I have never heard of a Peace dollar that was considered Uncirculated and put in one of the "United States Silver Dollar" hardpacks.

 

I've seen several of these but don't own one. Crazy what they're going for today. Hindsight.....

 

A bunch of GSAs for sale over at HA.

 

Not my understanding, GD.

99.999% of Saints were used in settling trade and gold accounts. Very few circulated, something I didn't really know about until I read Roger Burdette's SAINTS masterpiece.

There weren't that many Saints in circulation -- or even private hands -- to collect and re-bag. The widest distribution was probably that 1907 High Relief and that was the 1st issued.....huge hype....high relief...replacement for the Liberty DE....and with all of that, circulation for the public and collectors and speculators was only in the thousands.