I have an 1878 8TF morgan I bought many years ago and just recently re-discovered it. I was wondering if anyone could give me some information or opinions. What kind of grade is it, was it cleaned, is it worth anything? Thanks in advance.
Welcome to CT! its in very good condition, definitly UNCirculated, but Im not an expert at dipper/cleaned coins. It appears not though.- I would grade i MS 64, or 65. This is a great coin! Im not sure if this is a 8 feathers, or what variety i is, but the Redbook, which shows me really high retail figures says its a 1,000+ coins in MS65! Worst case Scenario, its a a MS63 which is worth darastically less (in the 200 dollar range) or its cleaned. Still nice piece! Mind telling me what you payed for it?
oh you say its a 8 tailfeathers? sorry I didnt see that. A ms-60 example should go for around 100 dollars, lets see what an expert says it grades. You might even want to get it graded proffesionally by a leading TPG!
It looks to have been polished and/or dipped a bit too much. I see no indication of luster. If it has been polished, you should be able to see fine hairlines under a light by tilting the coin in varying directions. Hairlines aren't always visible at one angle but are in another. Chris
I do se hairlines. Curious, what would you grade the coin and what you think its worth? Thanks for chiming in Chris.
My first impression was that of a problem coin (cleaning). I suppose it could just be the photos, but I doubt it. 78-Ps, and the 8TF in particular, are known for interesting VAMs, so it may be worth trying to ID the coin. In regards to value, I can assure you that the above estimates (posts #2 and #3) are likely based a redbook guess and not on reality. It is not that difficult to sell any 8TF above melt, but how much above will depend on the severity of the cleaning and, of course, the buyer.
Thank you for all of the input so far. I bought the coin from a magazine A LONG time ago, in the late 80's probably, (dating myself) but I was young and dumb. I remember someone telling me once they thought it was cleaned. I put it away and forgot about it. Now with the wonderful age of the internet, I am regaining my interest in coins. So I pulled them out and was wondering what to do with this one. I am guessing it is not worth slabbing it if it isn't worth much. So any more info on real value would be great. Thanks again guys. BTW I think I paid 50 bucks way back when so I was probably ripped off.
You should be able to recoup the $50 if you can find the right buyer. Assuming what has already been said in regards to its condition, and as a straight date/mint, you did not do great on it at that price, but it could have been worse. Take a look through the below link; there are certain 8TF VAMs that can be quite valuable. Nothing about your coin stuck out to me, but I did not look that closely either. Good luck. http://www.vamworld.com/1878-P+VAMs And with all due respect, quoting high numbers from a poor value reference is of no real help to someone looking for information and a realistic value on their individual coin. While I admire your eagerness to help, you should take care in what you say as there is no reason to give false hope or possibly help to make someone believe a coin is something it is not.
It is a cleaned coin--I agree with my compatriots that there are tell-tale hairlines in the coin that show a cleaning. It is NOT a slab coin, as it will almost certainly come back details. $50 is reasonable, but understand that the coin would be MS details at best.
If there is wear, which is hard to see, with the coin turned sideways, it could be AU details just as well. I would be pretty sure on MS details, however.
$50 is way too much unless it is a scarcer VAM that someone needs. If he walked into a B&M looking to sell it, the dealer would probably offer him something under melt because it has been cleaned. Since the OP has the coin in-hand, it would be far easier for him to sort through the list of 8TF VAM's and check for identfiable markers. At least that would be a starting point for him.
This is how you would like to see the luster on a problem-free coin. Note how the light radiates around from the center giving it that "cartwheel" effect. Chris
Thank you again for the input guys, can someone explain what "details" means? Also, I am curious why would it not at least be worth spot or melt? I understand cleaning affects the numismatic value, but why the silver value? because there is less of it? I would think wear would be worse. Thanks again, learning a lot here.
Years ago, the grading services used to return problem coins in a flip ungraded. It was called a body bag. Today, they are encapsulated. NGC prefers to use something like "AU Details - Improperly Cleaned". If you sell junk silver to a dealer, they won't pay you the full melt value because they have to make a profit from the transaction. Chris
Cleaning is not going to effect the silver value, but will any numismatic premium. If you offered the coin to a dealer, the offer would likely be anywhere from a few bucks back of melt to a few over (most likely the former), but nowhere what it could be if a no problem example. In an earlier post I said that you may be able to recoup the $50 invested, which is possible, but it would not come from a dealer. The 8TF seems a popular variety and they sell easily, so cleaned or not, and assuming it is not a valuable VAM, your best bet would be to offer on ebay or some other retail-type setting.
