As a Morgan collector, I have owned thousands of Morgans, of varying grades, ranging from high grade blazing DMPL coins, to original toned circulated specimens. All of them, except this one have been in slabs. This one, oddly enough, has been hiding in my safe, in an airtite copy capsule. I put it out there for your consideration, for grade, and comments. The obverse is very contrasty, and hard to photograph. The reverse is extremely brilliant. Any marks appearing are dust from years of storage, on the capsule. Better photos added. Opinions and comments welcome.
The obverse is hard to interpret....it looks very clean/mark-free but that could partially be the photo....I'll guess MS 65 given the date ... I think it looks nice overall!
Added better photos. The surfaces are extremely clean. Beginning to think it deserves a slab, as it looks 65+ or so to me.
I dont want to insult you but at first I thought the date was a little off and the way the coin looks in the light is like it has been whizzed as very few marks and the luster is off. So your last comment makes me think it is just the photos and not a fake or altered. MS66.
Look at the new photos. Looks ok to me. Definitely not a fake. Don’t see it as whizzed or cleaned. No insult taken.
Lovely looking surfaces, couple of small bag marks on jawbone in front of hair, nothing major. Reverse a bit better than obv. An easy 65 IMO, probably a little more. Great looking coin
It's just me, but the first thing that captured my attention was what appears to be a die crack from (or through) the left wing almost to the leaves below which turns almost 90 degrees toward the N. edit - Looking at other photos, it does not appear to be a design element through the wing at that location, so a dramatic crack or die scratch along the left wing. edit2 - It appears die cracks may be too numerous to catalogue for VAM ID. The only thing I could find about die cracks were die stages for VAM 67 (photo) or VAM 54. I don't work with high grades so guessing TPG grading just doesn't capture my attention. But this looks like a VAM marker opportunity.
Under the neck , looks to be an arrow, pointing up at about 11 oclock, Look's like a shadow line going down at an angle at the bottom of the arrow's Above the mintmark , Does this look different Top of the ear and going to the end of her hair
Added ? under neck. I'm not sure about shadows around the MM possibly playing tricks. MM looks shifted slightly left, but minor deviation seems to be common until HUBs included the MM. I'm not familiar enough with Morgans to see what you're seeing behind the ear.
I'm at a solid MS65. I think the couple marks on the obverse (equidistant between the eye and the ear) are the only significant dings on the obverse. The reverse is spectacular. It might eek out MS65+ but I don't think it goes higher due to the tough grading the 81-S coins receive. I'm going to say solid MS65.
I observed numerous die cracks on the reverse, and some die hub artifacts by the eagle’s face. The wing die crack is rather cool, actually. Mint mark is in the correct position. The capsule is a 40 mm capsule, and too large for the coin, for sure, so the coin rocks around like a rattler holder. When I took the reverse picture, it is obviously shifted Left.
I think it’s MS-65 from what I can see .when you say only unslabbed Morgan . Have you bought many non slabbed and had them graded or do you just buy slabbed coins ? I like my coins slabbed but have bought quite a few raw and sent to grading though it’s a crap shoot buying raw online .
I have not bought any raw coins, except for world coins, in about 15 years. All of my Morgans that I now own, except for this one were bought certified. This one was given to me as a present years ago.
