Well, I bit. I didn's mean to, but every time I walked past it it caught my eye. My only thought now is, what's the grade? I would personally say at least MS-65, but I have very little experience grading morgans. Just thought I would get some other opinions. I believe that it is the reverse of '79.
That does appear to be a nice morgan! Good solid strike (the feathers could be better though) as for the 65+ grade I'm would give it a strong MS-64, mainly because of the hit NE of her lips and the scratches going across from left to right (assuming they are not on the holder)
I didn't even notice the scratches until I looked at the pictures! I took the top half of the holder off before I took the picture so I didn't get any additional glare.
Ok, good to point out! Still that is one neat coin. I'll stick with the MS-64 (but no comment on the variety, I have not gone into that dimension of collecting yet)
Those photos aren't the greatest but those scratches look pretty bad and my initial thought when seeing the obverse was that the coin had been cleaned. That coin is certainly not a MS65.
I don't know why, but the scratches are hardly viable in hand. The only clearly visible 2 is the one between the cheek and neck, and also the one in between theB and the U in Pluribus.
addressing the part if this coin has been cleaned, I'm not sure. I can see some toning coming in on the sides and if there are more pictures of the coin that would help.
Learning will come by experience, but I would practice with slabbed morgans first. Some of the coins you have posted have details grades and I don't want cointalk to be the bearer of bad news.
That was my exact first impression. However, sometimes a glaring photo can give the appearance of a harsh cleaning. I'd say, best-case scenario, coin had been dipped in the past, has subsequent minor toning and, if the scratches are anything like the photo suggests, would grade 63, tops.
I also agree that 65 is overly optimistic. The dealer said that this coin came from a group of other MS morgans. I can't quite get pictures right with my iPhone. I was just comparing it to a -63 that has MANY more bag marks, and not near as nice of a strike.
well right now I guess the bigger and more important question is if the coin has been cleaned or not (then we can fight it out over a grade ) But maybe post another couple if pics of the coin just to give us a different view
If you cannot provide better pictures then these links may be of help. http://www.cointalk.com/t115123/ http://www.pcgs.com/photograde/#/Morgan/Grades As for how to get better pictures, the flash on any device will make pictures of coins useless for the most part. iPhone's can take fairly decent photos from how I understand it. Try to get an actual lighting source of some kind, lamps with bendable necks are good. Fluorescent or Halogen, both work just fine. I typically use two lamps for my photos, positioning the lamps at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions. This will provide enough light for the coin itself without overexposing it.
Sure.. first the overall appearance is very dull and lifeless, plus the hits, chatter, and scratches are far too much for 64 and certainly not gem. As for a no-grade, I do not believe for a second that the OP cannot see rather strong scratches in-hand. While this could be true for a few hairlines.. simple hairlines these are not. As mentioned earlier, it looks dull and lifeless. The appearance of the coin is that of having been cleaned, but at the very least its been way over-dipped and I do believe to the point this will have an effect on grade-ability, even if the scratches have not done this already. Even if giving leniency to the photos, just too much screams details. For the OPs sake, I hope I am wrong though.
