Grade of 1886-O Morgan

I'm curious as to your thoughts as to the grade of this one (click on the photos for enlargements). Please include your reasons briefly, if you care to do so. Thank you; be well.

 

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VF Details, Cleaned.

The "blast-white" color on this coin and the hairlines prove that, because of the grade, the coin has been cleaned. Perhaps whizzed?

Value? Bullion; 13-14 dollars to a dealer, 15-16 dollars on eBay.

 

VF-20 details whizzed

 

Ditto

 

I would say VF details but harshly cleaned. The 1886-O is a date that is typically well struck so you can't really say any of the wear seen is due to a lack of strike. The coin is covered in hairlines that are indicative of a harsh cleaning.

 

That was harshly cleaned note the scratches in a circular pattern and odd blast white color

 

Bullion for sure. Someone took a piece of steelwool or something to the neck but it hasn't been whizzed and would be a poor candidate for whizzing to begin with. Hey, it's a nice pocket morgan.

 

its illegal to whzz a coin

 

Umm...no it's not. But, it does ruin the collector value.

 

"Illegal" ???

 

Actually it is ILLEGAL under article 18 U.S.C. .331

 

No joke? Care to elaborate?

 

Yep... whizzing is high on the Secret Service's list of "coin crimes".. right up there with railroading and unstamped replicas.

 

YES, NO KIDDING. United States Currency and Coinage are governed by the Federal Law through the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Generally, it is illegal to fraudulently deface, mutilate, impair, diminish falsify, scales or lightens any coins minted or "coined" in the United States or any foreign coins which are by law made current or are in use or circulation as money within the
United States. 18 U.S.C. 331

Furthermore, it is a crime to fraudulently possess, pass, publish, sell or bring into the U.S. any such coin which is known to be altered, mutilated, defaced etc.

 

So, how come people don't get penalized for this stuff on a daily basis? It happens all the time. Is cleaning, or anything of the sort included?
Doesn't make sense. I could whiz coins all day long, everyday for the rest of my life, and nothing would happen to me. What are other people going to do, report me to the United States government because I whizzed a coin? I highly doubt it, and I also doubt higher authorities would really care.
JMO

 

Holy mackerel.... they better build more prisons... quick!

 

To answer your question, when it comes to "whizzing" a coin actually the treasury Department could bring a criminal charge against those that do it. Do they? NO. They have larger worries in Counterfeit detection and capture of the culprits that use this process to defraud their potential buyers. The law pertains mostly to and is enforced with regards to our current circulating coinage and currencies. Fraud is Fraud though .


But if your counterfeiting Morgan dollars or any other historical non-circulating coinage, they will be watching for you, you can bet.

 

Oh, come on. First of all, Morgan dollars aren't in circulation anymore....so does that law even apply. And if they are still in circulation, why are we hit with a collectables tax when we sell.

Besides, the law is worded to say, "fraudulently." Meaning, if you do it just because you like the looks of a clean coin, there is nothing illegal about it.

 

Technicalities....costs to much to prosecute someone drilling a hole in one coin to make a pendant. That is in effect to stop the mass scale of such practices.