The second coin used to be NGC and is now in a PCGS holder. Please guess the grade from each grading company. Note: both the NGC photo and the TrueView is posted below.
Winner! Both called it a 64. NGC did not give this one a star, so it was an easy decision to crack. A color bump could have taken it to a 65 but I think 64 is fair.
For some reason it has become standard practice to put a premium (in dollar terms) on obverse toned Morgans. There are some that say it is rarer to have toning on the obverse. The Jhon E. Cash website has the following explanation: "There are more reverse toned coins out there with beautiful color because the surface is flatter than the obverse. There is less elevation between the fields and highest points of the design which results in a smoother gradient of the particular band of the spectrum to flow across." Is that true? It seems to make sense but I don't know if I fully buy into the reasoning. In terms of color bumps for grading, I've seen it on both obverse and reverse toners. I do think TPGs are more willing to give it to obverse toners though because of the prevailing thought that they are more valuable/scarce.
I agree. Obverse toning is usually rewarded more, in terms of grading, star designation, CAC beans, and price. It is rare to see an extremely high graded, high priced reverse toned Morgan. I had one that got the star—a MS 65 1902o, but it was reverse mounted in the holder, and it had really nice rainbow pastel toning. However, it did not sell as well as the obverse, or two-sided toned Morgans. That being said, I really like the toning of this coin, and think both TPGs should have gone a minimal 65, for nice surfaces, and color.
