I am not a Morgan guy, but this one kinda fell in my lap. (Isn't having numismatists in the family great!) Anyway, what would you grade it? The luster is fabulous and the reflectivity of the fields allows me to read 10 point print at up to about 7 inches before it gets blurry.
Maybe a soft strike... but it seems like I see wear on the eagles breast. More interesting, however, is that blob on the obverse along the rim at 11 o'clock. what is that? My stab at a grade is either AU50 or MS62. But... something just looks funny. Too shiny... especially the obverse device, it seems to almost glow, like its been whizzed, though I don't see other signs of whizzing.
I believe it to be the "gooey stage" of PVC. I gave the coin a bath in pure acetone today and the spot is now much less thick and a little smaller in diameter. It's going back to the acetone tomorrow to see if the rest will come off. Under magnification it doesn't appear to be damaged under the area, but I guess time will tell and I'll know for sure once the stuff is off. I'm hoping anyway...
IMHO....it would get body bagged--sorry but the pits around the R on the front would kill it.... If it didn't get bb I would say MS63 as the big mark on the face and some large ones on the back take it down from 64. Speedy
I don't want to sound like a naysayer here, but I've never seen such a shine on the devices of a Morgan that wasn't heavily polished. It just doesn't react to the light properly.
I agree on the pits. I cant see it not getting tagged if it were submitted for grading. looks to me that the coin has had some serious dipping time. notice around the stars the dark shadows? I would be curious as well about seeing that coin and looking at the rim nicks. Although not severe, certainly has seen some abuse. JMO
thanks guys for your opinions! It seems that the consensus is that it is a major problem coin, oh well, too bad. I'm gonna take it to my dealer next week to see what he thinks and if he agrees that it is a problem coin then I'll just keep it happily since I have nothing invested in it and it came from a family member! It is quite purdy and you all know I'm not averse to collecting coins that are a little problematic. lol, at least there is no hole!
CT, my opinion, and likely everyone else's, is based on the pics - keep that in mind. It could be that it is the pics making the coin look like something it is not. Truly that is a nice coin with great detail - and better mint & date to be sure. So it is my hope that we are all wrong in our opinions.
Thanks! I too hope that the opinions that you guys have expressed are faulty based on my photos being less than adequate, thus my intention to take it to someone to evaluate it in hand. But, my experience here over the last year has been that the opinions about coins posted here for evaluation are almost always accurate, so I think it is likely that the coin has problems I didn't spot immediately. But like I said, I don't intend to sell it since it came from a family member and problems or not I will enjoy it!
Dealers are not by any means experts. Be sure you trust your dealer's opinion. If you would, CT, PM me.
It would have been better to send off such a nice "CC" Morgan Dollar for restoration! The acetone while removing the PVC, brought back the original DMPL look to the fields but at the same time, it removed the frosty appearance and gave a polished look to the details. If it were not for the acetone bath, the coin would have probably came back a MS-63 or MS-64 DMPL and possibly higher with the restoration done! In it's current state, I also believe that the coin would be body bagged by most Grading Services and probably graded MS-60 to MS-61 "Cleaned" with no reference to DMPL by the one's that would grade it. Frank
You may be right that I should have sent it to NCS instead of using the acetone myself. Please note that all of these pictures are pre-bath pictures, so it is possible that something had been done to it prior to my ownership that caused the way it looks, but I would say that the devices are relatively un-frosty now and were that same way before I put it into acetone.
