How are these Morgans "junk silver"??? I don't think my local coin dealer knows about the internet.

I purchased these from the Junk Silver Case at my local coin dealer. I know the 1921 Morgan is far from rare, but given the condition and toning of this one, is it really only worth its silver? The other is also in better condition than I would call junk or cull.

This dealer also has a box of "junk bills" beside the common World Coin Bucket, each bill is $1. I have purchased several notes from the box and resold them on eBay for a modest profit. One of which (an Indian "Government of Pakistan" note) I resold on eBay for $88.

EBay is also a great market for Morgans, as I have seen some horrid specimens go for upward of $30.

So, either this guy has more than he knows what to do with or he has yet to discover the internet and eBay.

 

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I don't know how much of a premium junk silver commands where you are, but I have no phobia about signs of cleaning or less that perfect condition, I'd find both quite acceptable and would buy them happily for more than I'd call a junk silver price.

Of course, they are not as common in the UK as they are in the USA.

You could probably provoke a war by calling a Pakistan note Indian, though. They do tend to be a bit touchy about not being India.

 

The Indian/Pakistani Rupee note does exist though, and is somewhat valuable.

 

True, I'd forgotten that and was thinking more of the present day.

 

1885: common year and cleaned to death - junk
1921: unattractive toning, not really a high grade coin

I think you did much better with the notes.

 

Maybe he's just extremely picky, or he relies on his own (possibly outdated) knowledge rather than checking current values?

 

I like the 1921. It looks like a nice EF/AU coin. The other is cleaned and worth melt.

 

Your local dealer didn't need the internet to know that the extensive hairlines on the '85 rendered it a problem coin that would probably sit in his display case for a long, long time at typical UNC/AU prices. In addition to the fact that the '21 is the most common of all Morgan dollars, I suspect that the green stuff along the rim on both sides may be PVC damage.

Don't underestimate your local dealer. Whether he uses the internet or not is immaterial. There are plenty of untrained bidiots on FleaBay. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the local dealer gained a good amount of his knowledge by reading books, something that I've learned many new collectors refrain from doing.

Chris

 

The 85 been cleaned to death. The 21 a nice au. Better. Morgan dollars are always easy to sell for over melt unless severely damaged. The public loves them. I can sell any and all I get average circulated problem free for $25-30 ea all day long. I often see them bring $50 at auction when the un initiated get into bidding wars. They make great Christmas preseents too. How many of us remember a grandfather or uncle with a stack of old silver dollars they saved!

 

As to the dealer he probably doesn't have the time to deal with common low end stuff. Is for him more work then it's worth to make an extra $5-10 on the Morgan by putting it on flea bay. Plus the shipping fees etc. being an antique dealer I do the same with my low end items either sell them cheap or put it in auction. Just not worth dealing wits $25 items any more then you have to when you got $2500 items to sell

 

I agree with the other that the 85 is cleaned up pretty good. However the joy of eBay is that no matter how cleaned or damaged a Morgan or any coin really is that they always carry a premium on there. Seems people love the convenience of the coins being sent to their homes and don't care how much they over pay sometimes,

 

I really do not share the fear and loathing that generally attaches to cleaned coins. It is the object itself, its 'life', its design and historical significance that appeal to me.

I'd not clean a coin myself, but I'd be happy to take advantage of what I consider to be an excessive aversion to any traces of cleaning to buy interesting items for a reasonable price.

Polished to shininess like a silver spoon would put me off more, but I would not expect the 18th and 19th C. silver flatware and hollow-ware that I buy to be uncleaned in a couple of hundred years and as long as the appearance was generally acceptable, I'd not let nitpicking prevent a reasonable priced purchase, as exemplified by the OP's sensible purchase of these items.
To dismiss a 100+ year old coin as scrap metal because at some time it has been cleaned is an unreasonably snobbish attitude I'd be happy to take advantage of.

In agreement with another post, I tend to sell off lower priced items cheaply just to clear them out and leave more time for the seriously expensive antiques that I can both treasure more and make more money out of.

 

Being an antique dealer as well I like my furniture just like my coins. uncleaned untouched. And with original patina and surface. Is what I specialize in. And as to low end stuff I have finite space and a huge inventory so storage just isn't worth it

 

From my own experience, and I'm speaking from a profit-making perspective, the existence of eBay has thrown the "books" out the window as the potential "buyer base" has gone from only locals to literally the entire world's population. Aside from the excessively rare coins like the 1944 steel cent or the three legged buffalo, I have yet to see "book prices" be remotely accurate.

By simply being a "Morgan Dollar", even if it has three holes drilled into it and an obscene drawing scratched into liberty's face, the coin will still go for more than melt price.

The intelligence and/or expertise of the eBay bidder should not matter. What should matter is that the eBay bidder is going to pay you $5-$10 more for the coin than someone buying it at spot price.

Get 20 of them together and sell them as a roll of "cud morgan dollars" and the bidders will go completely nuts.

As for the collectors who treasure condition and rarity, this should be a good thing. This means you can sell your "trash" pieces for excess profit in order to use the funds to obtain what you really want in your collection.

See this auction for example:


http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=261674959911

That's $176.00 over melt price. And I would consider that well worth the time it would take to list the coins and ship them.

 

These are not "junk silver". I've even seen totally flat/faded coins (AG-Good grade) sell each for $18/$19 at a shop. Morgans have a melt of roughly $13 dollars and I have yet to see any sell for this price.

As far as I'm concerned, the only coins that are considered "junk" are pre-1965 90% Washington/Roosevelt coins. None of the dollars are in that category, because they all have a pre-set premium both online and at shops.

 

I sell a lot of late date walkers slq especially dateless common mercs and cull and damaged earlier stuff for pretty much melt too. Even damaged morgans

 

Say you take the time to sell a cull Morgan on eBay. Let's say the coin goes for $25. By the time you factor out fees and shipping, the coin is only going to net about $18, which is basically the price dealers charge out of the shop.

It's really only a great deal if you can get them for right around melt.

 

Amen time is money at least for a lot of us!

 

eBay's fee & s/h on a $25 Morgan is 28%? Wow.

 

Most dealers pay below melt value for these types of coins, 80%-90% of spot is pretty common. Most will sell them for over melt, but that still pretty much defines them as junk. Very little numismatic value at present, but everyone loves 'em....especially stackers....who doesn't like silver?!