Altered "DMPL" Morgan

Looks like some kind of fake chemical frosting. Looks like some of it got in the fields too to the left of the liberty. Based on his other auctions and past auctions i'd be wary but he has a good 14 day return policy so theres no reason not to take a better look in hand and maybe take some additional pics of it for reference.

 

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Other then the seller has a feedback of 8..


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...654021&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1076

I was to afraid to bid on this one because the feedback was 96.
This note has two from HA in the records. 17k and 20k. This one was just as nice. And I really needed a Alaska
But I get very chicken...

 

There is that I suppose. At least they are all positive.

 

Besides that, it would bother me that the seller was citing information from Krause. I'm sure Krause is an excellent source for describing DMPL Morgans.

Chris

 

The frosting looks weird, but the photo's look enhanced as well. There are certain tricks you can use to make the contrast look greater. I notice this even more on the reverse, which may indeed be semi-pl or pl, but certainly not dmpl.

Can't wait to find out what the coin really looks like, and I hope its a good buy for your sake!

 

Imo the obverse has definitely been doctored, but the reverse actually looks fine. From the pics it looks like the cameo contrast was painted on. (Look right under Liberty's chin in the fields and right by the E, it seems what ever was used to paint on the cameo contrast also got on the fields).

I'll be interested to hear what Matt has to say when he gets it in hand.

 

As others have already pointed out, the sellers pics are not the best. However, I can tell you there appears to be quite a bit of rub and wear on the reliefs, both sides. With what I can make out, I wouldn't go any higher than MS-62 on this coin until I can see better pics with better lighting.

Price is way out of range for this coin. Even if this coin happens to be MS-64, the price is too high.

 

Seeing what coins like this go for makes me think a better profit model is buying problem coins and selling those instead of slabbed material. Supply and demand right?

 

Reminds me of a "California Prooflike". They were around in the early 1970's. The fields were polished to a deep mirror finish and the devices were artificially frosted. Really looked sharp to a novice. (And really looked weird when you saw a Peace dollar that it had been done to. I've seen a small handful of Peace California Prooflikes.) There are a few sellers on eBay who seem to have resurrected the technique.

 

Well, I got to see this coin in hand today.

I think that Conder might have hit this one on the head. This coin appears to have had some frosting added. I'm not sure the coin was polished... it might have been PL or semi-PL to begin with but the frosting is definitely different then the 9 DMPL dollars we had in slabs laying next to it at the shop.

Here are pictures. These are very close to what it looks like in hand. The obverse is very very PL and the reverse is semi prooflike at best. The stars and letters on the obverse show some major breaks in the frosting. Some of the stars are frosted and some have no frosting at all, some are half frosted. This to me is an indicator of the frosting being added.






I was unable to take the coin out of the holder it was in to examine it for any foreign substances so that part remains inconclusive.

It is my opinion that the coin has had frost added at the least and is not a genuine DMPL dollar.

 

Thanks a million Matt. Live and learn I guess.

 

Happy to help.

This is a really tricky coin to be completely honest. It's was a good eye on your part to even spot it. This thing would fool a lot of people. This is an old technique that I have only seen a few examples of over the years. I'm wondering if some of the docs aren't resurrecting it these days... I would assume so. It's possibile that it could have been done long ago as well.

 

Well, I'm sure no expert on these. Matt's photo to me looks a lot more "real" than the seller's. I have one DMPL Morgan, and I will post an image. PCGS seems to think it is ok. Like the coin in the o.p., it has some frost breaks on the stars, letters, and date. Does this mean my coin is doctored? I don't think so. Applied frost, I believe, would be some sort of a fluid and as such would tend to bleed around the edges of the devices. I don't see this on Matt's photo or on mine. I think it would also tend to flake off, once dry, and leave sharp-edged bare spots where it came off. It doesn't look that way to me on either coin. My opinion-- that of a nonexpert and without having seen the coin in hand, as Matt has-- is that I am not convinced that it has been played with.

 

The fake frosting is not something that can come off... in essence it etches the metal so once it is done it is permanent. It looks very similar to a DMPL coin. There is some micro porosity on the bust of the piece I looked at as well. To me this is another good indicator of something fishy going on. It looks good... but in hand with a glass it's funky looking.

 

Thanks for the additional info, Matt. So, it sounds like acid etching, or something similar?
I guess some sort of a masking substance would be applied around the devices to protect the fields, then removed after the process was complete. ((The devious and murky ways of the Docs continue to amaze me.))

 

I'm not quite sure of the process... The coin Doc's don't tell us measly little coin dealers what they are up to. I just know the end result. It's probably some sort of chemical that is applied to the coin and them removed... I would assume something similar to glass etching... But I'm not exactly sure.