I think this coin is in great shape for being 110+ years old, but I am no expert and have very little experience in these dealings. What condition would you say this is in? What is the value?
My guess is that line is a die crack. I'd want to see a picture of the obvere before giving a grade opinion. As for being in great shape for being so old, yes it is. But its not uncommon for Morgan dollars to be in much better condition than that. Mainly because many of them sat in treasury vaults for decades without ever seeing circulation.
Details are AU, which is good for most coins dated 1898, but unfortunately not so much for this one. This is a common date, and it's easy and fairly inexpensive to find uncirculated. Also, I have a bad feeling that this coin may be cleaned; tough to tell from the images. It's likely worth around melt value. The line on the reverse is definitely a die crack; those aren't especially unusual on Morgans.
I say its a nice XF, pleasing to look at. To expand on SWHuck's discussion about commonness. For any other coin this is a great condition. For silver dollars, though, they mostly remained in bank vaults untouched until the 50's and 60's, and then were all hoarded when silver disappeared from our coinage. Because of that, most are found in very high grade. Bottom line find a nice 50 cent piece and quarter in the same condition and year, its a much scarcer coin. I like your dollar, though, I like the color on the obverse. Chris
Thank you all for the great info! I am wondering if there are some years of silver dollars around this age that are more sought after and less common in number minted, or are all Morgans around this date so common(and is this the same for liberty heads?). Also, would anyone elaborate on why they would think the coin has been cleaned?
Is that color (reddish brown) in the obverse pic accurate? And is the color strong in the recesses of Liberty's hair? Liberty's cheek looks too rough, which could be from environmental damage. I could see why swhuck would think the coin was cleaned. The outer portion of the obverse appears darker (in color) than the center, which is a sign that the coin was wiped (in an attempt to remove the color). You can also see in the fields under Pluribus where the person cleaning the coin couldn't reach. Can't be too certain without better pics, but I think the coin has environment damage and has also been wiped.
There certainty are some dates/mintmarks that are much more desirable. For instance, if your coin was an 1898-S (San Fransisco mint) instead of a 1898 (Philidelphia mint; no mint mark). it would be more desirable, especially in the higher MS grades. Here's a link to the mintage figures: http://certifiedmorgandollars.com/Mintages And here's a link to Numismedia, which can give you a general idea of price for the date/grade: http://numismedia.com/fmv/prices/mordlr/pricesfull.shtml
Thank you for the help. The color in the pic is indeed correct, but I would probably need a better camera to get more detailed photos. So the entire coin should be that reddish-brown color like that around the border, instead of a clean, reflective silver like that on the face? I would think that makes a lot of sense.
It's a little tricky to explain, but yes. The voids in color (that is the silver areas) are consistent with the signs of a cleaning. But, that's not to say that voids in color are always an indication of cleaning. Overall though, I believe the reddish brown color is environmental damage (a bad thing) as opposed to toning (not necessarily bad). The color on your coin appears rough and thick, which would indicate damage, as opposed to toning. Furthermore, the entire obverse appears grainy which is a sign the metal was damaged by something (possibly from sitting in dirt/soil).
So most likely, the entire coin was once covered in that redish-brown color, which is not a normal patina but damage, and someone tried to take it all off. Is normal aged patina typically a green color?
In my opinion, yes. Green (depending on the shade) can be a natural color. This is a very good link for understanding toning: http://www.jhonecash.com/research/sunnywood_classification.asp
