1894 Morgan grade

A friend asked me to value this 1894 Morgan. Not real good at grading these but do know that acquiring with this much detail should have some luster of which there is none on the obverse and some on the reverse. My guess is at some point somebody that some point somebody devalued this coin by polishing it . I also see some light hairlines under 20 x magnification. I'm calling it AU details. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

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AU Details - Polished

 

AU details. Harshly cleaned.

 

Thanks for your input that was my first instinct so I guess I'm better at it than I thought!

 

That is not genuine. It is a cast counterfeit.

There does not appear to actually be wear - the mushy details are from the poor manufacture.

It was probably then polished to throw you off.

 

It looks funny, like a fake which was polished.

 

There are enough "bubbles" on the obverse to say cast fake to me

 

Thought the same thing immediately when I saw it.

 

1881

 

I agree. It is poorly detailed, and the fields look incredibly grainy. The date is not correct either. So, it is a polished counterfeit.

 

Instant fake, too many plating bubbles to be real, surfaces are too grainy as well

 

Can cast counterfeits come in at 26.7
Grams?

 

Cast counterfeits can come in any weight. It depends on what metals they used to make it from. Just because the weight is right doesn't mean the coin is right.

It sort of works in reverse - a very wrong weight almost instantly means its a bad coin, but if the weight is correct it doesn't mean it's an authentic coin.

 

Thanks. Isn't there normally evidence of a cast on the rim?

 

Not necessarily. This is similar to the weight - if there is a visible seam, it is definitely counterfeit. But if there is no seam, it doesn't mean its genuine.

Whoever made this fake took the time to put chemicals on it to "tone" it, making it look old. Then they took the time to polish it to throw you off and make you think it looks weird because of the cleaning.

It's reasonable to think that they took the time to file down a visible seam as well.

 

Yes, the lump in front of Ms. Liberty's mouth is not a good sign. Plus you see more lumps when you blow up the obverse photo. BTW you can post both photos in the body of the post. In addition the devices are a bit too mushy for piece with this much sharpness. It's been cast, not struck, not that "struck" means something is genuine these days.

 

This is interesting! Very!

 

This one has been a great learning experience for me. One of the diagnostic markers for this coin is a die gouge that appears between the Eagles left leg and tail feathers. According to NGC this marks should be visible on all grades.