Can someone point me to the thread about collecting P-01 or P-02 Morgan or Peace dollars? I remember reading about it here a while back but now I can't find the thread. Thank you.
On the Sheldon scale, 1 is Poor and 2 is Fair. And these conditions are so worn that it's hard to discern the coin type. I think the only difference is Poor-1 is barely discernible as a type and Fair-2 has a barely discernible date. Anyway, it would be a supreme challenge to find any Morgan or Peace dollar in those grades. Bullion value would still set a price floor, however. They just didn't circulate enough to get worn like that. I'm not sure if there would be any demand for such coins other than silver content. But it would be a great conversation piece. Why do you want to find such coins? Just curious. Now, a circulated Morgan set in Good to Very Fine condition would be a nice set. And a Peace dollar set in Very Fine condition is a greater challenge than most people think, since these dollars didn't circulate very much, as stated above.
Now that I think about it, I've never even seen a Morgan or Peace dollar in Poor or Fair grade. The lowest I've seen is AG. Again, this is due to the fact that most of these dollars did not circulate widely, and where they did circulate in the west, they usually didn't wear so much to destroy the rim, which needs to happen for the lowest grades. Maybe it would be a challenge to find.... one example!
Take a look at the low ball sets on the PCGS Set Registry. http://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/Composite.aspx?c=1811
No date, no mintmark, but it's an 1888-O VAM-4 "Hot Lips" graded PO-01 from Ashmore's Original Hot Lips Grading Set which includes every grade ever graded by PCGS of this variety. Awesome set that I saw on display at one of the Long Beach shows last year. Check it out here: http://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/showcase.aspx?sc=397
Wow! I think it would be hard to assemble a low grade collection like the link shows. Then trying to figure out the year, mintmark and variety would take a keen eye and possibly a microscope. The good news is it would be relatively inexpensive for 90% of the coins. Kind of reminds me of some of my V-nickels I need to upgrade...
Thank you Illini! Do you have any links to live (or realized) auctions? I had been telling a friend about this type of collecting but when I tried to find examples I was coming up blank.
Not handy, but I do know that Mad Marty sold most of the Mad Marty Low Ball collection of Morgans on eBay a few months ago which included several graded PO-01. I'm pretty sure most of those in the lowest grades sold for $100+ as there is great competition for those assembling the lowball registry sets and it is very difficult to get a PO-01 graded by PCGS since usually coins in that condition either can't be identified or have other problems that keep them from being gradable.
