GTG 1881-S Morgan Dollar

Here's yet another GTG... I just picked this up on Wednesday. This was one of the most brutally hard Morgan's for me to shoot. I really, really, really hate trying to capture color like this through a plastic slab. At least PCGS can crack the coin out, shoot it, then re-holder it.. Piece of cake.

 

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Looks like a nice MS-64 to me.

 

Very hard to grade based on the reflections on the surfaces. IMO, based on these pics, I think it's at least a 65.

 

65

 

Knick on lower cheek and scrape in focal field limit it to 64 with a possible + for color but I doubt it being an 81s. I collect 81s's specifically and toners. This toning is nice but for an 81s it's nothing special. I'd pick it up in less than a heartbeat though

 

64+

 

MS 65

 

63

 

MS 64 tops
Edit: agree with Cascade's thoughts

 

63+
@Cascade Is there a reason many 81-S examples are toned? The way they were stored, perhaps?

 

Also, I'm really digging the surfaces. The "gritty" cheek and moreover the wicked polish lines under the eagle balanced by the wicked vlds metal flow lines above and around the eagle. This one is cool to a die enthusiast but isn't one of the 2 list vams for the year

 

65

 

64

 

64

 

64+

 

When I first started collecting at about age 13, there were thousands sealed mint bags of these coins stored at the S F Mint. Other Fed. depositories also stored many thousands of bags of both these and many other dates. The Fed reserve used to back silver certs. with these coins. This explains why there are so many nice common date Morgans out there. In 1964, the Fed. Reserve announced the sale of these to the public. They sold for face value if bought with Silver Certs. or sold for about $ 1.30 ea, the going rate for silver at the time. I remember seeing pictures in local newspapers of people lined up around the block with wagons to tote their bags of dollars at the S F Fed. Reserve!

I believe there are a large number of nice 81-s coins because of the high numbers of coins which laid in wait. Also this year of minting was the peak of perfection at the S F Mint.

 

63 with a possible bump to 64 for the color since the 81-S is a very well made date in the series

 

81s was THE highest population of morgan dates found in the treasury vaults. The morgans sat in these sulphur laced bags for over 40yrs which made for some of the most visually stunning morgan toners in existence. It's a numbers thing. More 81s's stored in treasury bags = more abundant amounts of 81s toners

 

@Cascade I do love how grainy the cheek is. The big thing that caught my eye is just how lusterous she is. The toning really pops because of how bright the surfaces are. Nearly the whole obverse is covered in a bright lemon yellow, which with the cheek that color, reminds me of a lemon peel.

I spent about 10 minutes or so trying to identify the VAM for this one. The only one I could really compare it to was a VAM 11, but there are no photo's on VAM World to make a positive ID. So I'm leaving it unattributed. The first 8 has a small spike and has surface doubling.

 

Yeah, I don't even really try to vam 81s unless I'm bored. I just look for the crack going through the eagles breast or the big die chip in the eagles right (viewers left) wing near the D. Those are the 2 list vams