So first off I wanted to say that im very new to coins and collecting.. So i hope to gain a plethora of knowledge here. I know this is a very common coin but I recently came into this coin as a gift to help me start my collection. Hopefully the picture is decent enough, but i was just curious if this could potentially be worth anything over melt. I am not expecting a lot since it was a gift. Any help would be greatly appreciated. EDIT: Coin is counterfeit. It was given to me by family friend since i told him i wanted to start collecting. He gave it to me as a 'lesson' to be careful that these are out there in massive quantities. So mods can close this thread or save it for a 'lesson' or do what you please with it.. Thanks everyone for your help and awesome knowledge.
Welcome and congratulations on your first coin. Pick up a copy of the redbook, you can also get ballpark values here: http://numismedia.com/fmv/fmv.shtml I would not send that coin in for grading, but then again I would not send any coin in for grading by the TPGs...
As the others have said, no it's not worth sending in to be graded. Common Morgan's in that condition, unless a rare date, aren't worth a lot over melt. Because fee's can be expensive when sending one coin in at a time, it's best to just enjoy them raw IMO unless you get a hold of a rare or very high end BU example. Seems you can always sell Morgan's on eBay regardless of condition over melt. Even after fees etc. As beef said, grab a copy of Redbook and learn which ones are common and which are not. I also use this when helping to determine grades on my own. http://www.pcgs.com/photograde/ Good luck and have fun!
Thanks for the reply's. I figured as much, just got a bit excited. I will take a look at all those resources, currently I am in my 14-day trial of the PCGS coinfacts to see if i would like to continue it. I like the photograde also and will pick up a copy of the redbook. Thanks again for all the help and look forward to posting something here someday that is worth some real money.
And the coin doesn't have to be worth "some real money" for you to post. Most of us like pics of any kind of any coin worth any price!
Ok, I promise I'm not picking on the new guy... Have you weighed this coin? The dark areas around the edges remind me of modern Chinese counterfeits... Also the first 2 digits look off... Also what is going on at 3 on the reverse?? It looks like a clash, but I have never seen a clash like that on a genuine Morgan... I hope I'm wrong... Wouldn't be the first time.
I have not yet. I only had it for about 24 hrs before i had to leave town for work. I should make it back home towards the end of the week and i will weight it then and let you know if i got punked.
I didn't even click on the picture to blow it up. The first 2 digits do look a little weird. OP, where did you buy the coin from?
Didn't buy it. It was given to me as a gift. I will try to get in touch with the person who gave it to me as it might have just been a funny prank that they wanted to pull, but i will post the results as soon as i either get the admit, or weigh the coin.
:Rant On: You know... I find it is much more constructive that instead of just posting things like "counterfeit" this that if you believe a coin to be not genuine to post a sentence or two about why you feel this way. It's just the courteous thing to do not to mention it may help others learn. (It also may show others that you do know...or don't know, for that matter what you are talking about). I don't want you to feel like I'm picking on you or anyone for that matter... I'm just thinking about making this a better community for everyone. :Rant Off:
You're absolutely right, Matt, but in this case I felt your previous comment summed it up pretty well already. What I should have done is "replied with quote" to your comment, because I agree with everything you pointed out... Date numerals are incorrect. False patina. False circulation wear.
I agree that this coin definitely has that "Big Tree Coin Factory" look. A quick check of AliExpress shows a bunch of similar (but not exact) examples.
aliexpress site I had not seen that site before. I wonder if they magnetic? Is there another really quick way to determine if one is counterfeit? I need to recheck my album if so... I'd be pretty ticked if I sunk some money into this 'set' http://www.aliexpress.com/item/set-of-96-morgan-dollars/582113791.html R
So I just want to confirm with what everyone though, the coin is fake. Apparently the family friend that I got it from thought it would be a funny joke/lesson to make me understand and get to know and feel what it looks and feels like to be taken. He informed me last night of this fact so I'm not sure if we should close this thread, or leave it up as a reference. But thanks for all of your guys help and insight in this.. I look forwarding to being on here a lot more and posting some good finds I come across
