Morgan Dollar Pros, grading, authenticating, value help!!

Greetings all,
I have come across an inheritance find of morgan dollars and need your help ASAP! I am trying to help a lady properly authenticate,valuate etc. her inherited collection.
As the story goes her father was a long time collector and they divided his collection between the 4 children when he passed, what is listed below is her portion and some could be VERY valueable if they were properly graded. Upon looking at them I would say the are all over graded and some have been cleaned but I just got them in my hands a few minutes ago and haven't looked through them yet.

The biggest Key Date/Grade is an 1892 S "graded" MS65 in the 2x2 it was stored in. Look it up in redbook and it's a $192K coin! But this is far from an MS65 I think and also appears to have been cleaned. In looking at the mint mark with the dino-lite they appear to be authentic as I have been heavily researching these in the last day, but I am still a total rookie and need help from the Pros!!!

Here is an unconfirmed list of coins and grades which I recieved and am about to verify. Please look through and let me know if there are any coins in particular you would like to see pics of or verify. Included below are pics of the suspected cleaned 1892 S "MS65". The mint mark appears to be authentic and even slightly doubled, could this be a variety? Grade makes such a difference in the value on these so please chime in with all comments or questions and i'll be here monitoring the boards!

The sooner the better as my car title is currently being held hostage
THANKS!!!
J


"The List"
1884 ANGS MS67
1889
1886 O uncirc
1889
1900 O vf
1892 S
1889P VAM-18
1886 P VAM-21
1921 USCG MS 65
1889 O NES MS69
1883 O AU
1881 O BU
1894 O vg/f
1887 O vf/xf
1889 O
1894 O f
1894 O
1894 O uncir
1896
1888
1885 O
1877
1879 AU/Uncir.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Nice 1983 O "Choice Uncirculated, Slight Rim Toning"

Here are some more quick pics of the other nicest coin of the lot. This one does not appear to be cleaned to me, but please let me know what you all think.
Now to verify the list!
THANKS!!
J

 

The 1892 S is no where near MS65, and has been cleaned.
Anything that is graded, is not graded by a reputable grading company, and their grades are probably off.
Some of these could be some very nice coins, I see you already have a redbook, that is good, they can help you somewhat grade your coins yourself. The ones that do have low mintages, or are rare, I'd post pictures here, so we might be able to give you ballpark estimate of grade and value.
If you that lady is going to sell, it is best to get the highest graded, semi key or key dates, graded by PCGS or NGC.
One thing I wanted to point out, the 1877 morgan dollar, doesn't exist. So I don't know if that is a typo or you actually have a fake 1877 morgan?

 

The coin in the first post looks polished. But it may just be the photos.

 

It looks like the "O" is titled a bit, but it could be my eyes playing tricks on me.
1893 O, is a good date to have, but I cannot tell a whole lot from your pics. They are a little too bright, it looks like there could be some hairlines, but I am not for sure. I would need better pics to accurately grade it, but from those pics it looks to have good luster, and small wear, it might grade in the AU range.

 

Thanks TMoney
Yes I am just now going through them and giving them a quick "assesment" and my thoughts. They all appear to be authentic but as I said, very over graded in most cases although many are just loose etc.
I did see that 1877 on the list and am hoping a trade dollar pops up but haven't found it yet, but as you said could be a typo.

Thanks for the quick responses and i'll keep you updated!
Whaddaya think of the 1893 O?

No I agree, it does look polished and cleaned which is a dissapointment. You can imagine her excitement when I told her if it did actually grade that it was worth $200K But I already let her know it was likely cleaned and probably worth very little...

Any thoughts on grades and values are appreciated. Also cleaned/polished coins are pretty much worthless right?

Here is what I have gone through so far with my quick comments:

1892S MS65 1,200,000 CLEANED $20
1893O CH-AU 300,000 Nice$1,100
1893O 300,000 VG - Scratched $100
1889 21,726,000 VG - Rim Damage
1899O Slabbed "NES MS67" 12,290,000 Nice - MS60 at best?
1921P Slabbed "USCG MS65" 44,690,000 OK - Some bag marks, MS60 at best?
1894O 1,723,000 VG - pretty worn

 

Cleaned coins are not worthless, but have lower value then original coins. Yours without a doubt has been cleaned, but it could still have some value. ANACS will grade it at a details grade, your pics aren't good enough for me to tell a whole lot, other than it is polished.
The 1892 S still could be worth a couple hundred dollars, to even in the $1,000 range, depending on what remaining details are left

 

Can you post a good close up pic of the "3" on the 1893 O it looks funny to me??

Maybe formerly an 1898??

 

That is good news - I'll try and get some better pics of it in a minute, being polished it is difficult...:desk:

You could definitely be right about that one - There happened to be a second 1893 O in the collection so I have included a pic of it as well which definitely looks authentic. GOOD EYE! Let me know what you think...


I also got through the rest of the pile - No trade dollars, must have been a typo Hope this comes out OK.
THANKS!
J


YEAR Original Grade # Minted My Comments

1879 "AU/Unc" 14,806,000 F-VF
1879 14,806,000 F-VF
1881 O "BU" 5,708,000 Nice coin - AU
1883 O AU+ 8,725,000 VF-AU
1884 O "UNC" 9,730,000 Nice - F-VF
1885 O 9,185,000 F-VF
1886 "VAM-21" 19,963,000 Nice - VF-AU
1887 O "VF/XF" 11,550,000 VG-F
1888 19,183,000 F-VF
1889 "VAM-18" 21,726,000 F-VF
1889 21,726,000 VG
1889 21,726,000 F-VF
1889 21,726,000 VG - Rim Damage
1889 Slabbed "ANGS MS67" 21,726,000 AU~
1892 S 1,200,000 Polished/Cleaned - VG-F Details
1892 S MS65 1,200,000 CLEANED
1893 O CH-AU 300,000 Nice
1893 O 300,000 VG - Scratched
1894 O 1,723,000 VG
1894 O 1,723,000 VG - pretty worn
1894 O VG/F 1,723,000 VG
1896 9,976,000 F-VF
1899 O Slabbed "NES MS67" 12,290,000 Nice - MS60 at best?
1900 O VF 12,590,000 VG-F
1921 P Slabbed "USCG MS65" 44,690,000 OK - Some bag marks, MS60 at best?

 

If it's possible try to post pics of the Unc 1886 O and the Unc 1894 O, if they are higher grade uncs they could be worth a good amount of money. The 1886 P VAM 21 is in the top 100, so that should bring a premium depending on the grade.

It could just be me but, some of the denticles on the reverse of the 92S look a little strange. If you can try to weigh the coin, also see if it reacts to a magnet.

 

Dutchman was right, the first 1893 O definitely used to be a 1898 O, the second one looks legit, can you post full pics of the obv and rev.

 

I thought that one looked weird.

Definitely converted from an 1898 O

 

Thanks Raider34! I'll work on those pics next!
I do have a scale but it only measures 10th's not 100th's. From what I can tell it is pretty much spot on give or take with the wear but would need a more accurate scale to be sure. The lady who's coins they are works at a chemical plant and is going to weigh them to the 10,000th once I go through them Then we will know for sure!
Also does not react to magnet~

YEP YEP! THANKS!

GOOD EYE LOSTDUTCHMAN!!! This is why I didn't want to make a rush decision on the buy and wanted to investigate them further. You guys rock!


I have tried to get better pics of the 1892 S but it is pretty well polished and I tried several times and these shots are the best I got. I did get a video but it is almost 700MB, yeah... I'll have to see if I can cut that down a bit

THANKS EVERYONE!

 

More 1892 S pics

Here are a few more close ups...
Thanks!
J

 

1884 O Pics - I definitely need to work on my silver pics

Here is the 1884 O "UNC"...

 

The main area of determining what numerical grade it will get (if it has no wear, and is uncirculated) is of course the cheek, and the marks on the coin. The chatter on the cheek can make or brake a morgans grade, and of course the overall marks in the fields can lower it as well.
Try getting some close ups, of the cheek, so we can see how much chatter there is, with those pics it looks to have very little chatter.

 

The 1884-O looks MS-62/63.

 

1886 VAM-21 Verified

Excellent - I'll get some good cheek shots next!
Thanks!

Thanks! I'll get some close up on it as well to be sure...


Here are some pics of the 1886 VAM 21. Appears to be in nice shape and I checked on VAMworld and it appears to be correct, but see for yourselves!

THANKS!

 

Looks like the 21 to me too, nice coin. It's a little hard to tell from the pics but, it looks like 86' still has mint luster. I would say around a 62 or 63, depending on how many marks there are.

 

Cheek Pics - 1892 s, 1884 o, 1886 o VAM21

Ok cheek pics! 1st pic is of the 1892s, 2nd and 3rd are the 1884o and the last 2 are the 1886 VAM21.

Thanks everyone for taking the time and your opinions! Any thoughts on the value of the collection or what I should pay for it or tell her to sell it for?