FYI - I'm sorry about asking so many questions but since I'm just a kid I don't want to spend my money on things that aren't worth it, Thanks! It's a... 1900 O Morgan Dollar (Good Condition) selling for $30.00 I didn't take a picture of it but this picture should basically match it... It looks a little worse than this... Do you think it's worth it?
@-Andy- I'm not trying to be difficult, but since you're just a kid, I think you would be better off spending the money on a book about grading like "ANA Grading Standards for United States Coins". Granted, it's easier to get other people's opinions of how a coin should grade, but when you learn to grade them yourself, it becomes much easier for you to determine what a coin is worth. By the way, you need to post photos of both sides of the coin if you expect to get accurate estimates. Chris
I agree with Chris. The most important thing for you is education. Read about coins, look at pictures of good coins like HA.com. Education will stick with you forever. I am always leery of antique malls. Lots of forgeries. Ask us for recommendations of good sellers of coins to prevent getting sold a fake.
A thing to consider: You are talking about acquiring common Morgans in circulated condition. These are coins which offer very little "collector" value in addition to the basic fact that they are silver and Morgan Dollars, so the defining metric when shopping for them is price. If it comes time to sell them, there won't be much of a buying audience beyond people who are just hoarding silver. Morgan collectors want nicer examples. So, if you're going to buy them, buy them as cheaply as possible. This one isn't it. On the subject of learning, there are certain 1900-O Morgans with added interest, which a collector might actually pay a bit of a premium for even in that condition. Which ones are they?
I know I'm probably in the minority on this but I am going to have to disagree with @cpm9ball and @medoraman that you should be spending all your money on books when you are starting out as a kid or teenager. We are only talking about $30 here that was probably a Christmas gift. He is excited to get a new coin and should do so as that was probably the intent of the giver. This is a pretty low cost transaction and so overpaying by $5 or so is not a big deal IMO. The first time he gets burned and finds out will be all the insentive he needs to hit the books. But right now have fun I say. As far as the OP question I would advise to buy the coin if you like it. If you decided to wait I think $25 would be a good trigger point for the first run of the Morgan's in circulated condition and $20-$22 is an acceptable cost for the 1921 variety. Hope this helps. Have fun with it!
Andy, If you have a Morgan in similar condition a good exercise / learning experience would be to take it to a dealer near you and ask what he would give for it. The dealer will/should not mind giving you a price and you will learn what to expect when and if you decide to sell them. I would expect that you could buy this coin at a good dealers shop for around $20 to $24 at worst with where silver is at right now. I would expect that you would be offered around $12 for the same Morgan. So then you have to decide how much over what the dealer offers you, are you willing to pay. This is how you should think about the purchases you make. The chances are high you will lose money when you go to sell unless precious metals go up considerably. One transaction paying lets say $18 over what a dealer would offer is not the end of the world. When you do that a few hundred times you will look back and say wow I pail a LOT more than what I have is worth. Patience and taking the time to understand what you are willing to pay is hard. The suggestions are only an attempt to help you learn but at the end of the day it's your money and you need to decide how you are going to spend it. BTW: the coin you posted a picture of doesn't look that bad, but a similar coin that has been improperly cleaned could be worth much less than the example you posted. I feel you should not expect to have people give reasonable advice without seeing good pictures of the actual coin you are interested in.
in all honestly i agree with chris, andy ... save your money buy bullion you can get to ASE american silver eagles at that price... the knowledge is worth more ,,, save about 4-6 months worth of money take the american numismatic diploma course
Indeed, because most of the known examples are indeed circulated. The 1900-O with the micro-O for the mintmark was "privately" minted ca. the 1930s and apparently they were tumbled to give them the circulated look so they would pass for circulation. It is conjectured that they were minted during the early 1930s when silver was about 30c an ounce so that the "minters" made a tidy profit taking about 24c worth of silver and making a coin worth a dollar. When I am looking through coins in pawnshops you can bet your bottom I am looking for VAM-5 1900-O dollars, because they are out there - unnoticed.
thank you for all of your advice! I have decided to pass on this coin and save up my money to get bullion silver.
Antique stores are going to charge more for lesser condition coins than any coin shop. You probably have coin shops in your area and can get the same Morgan in better condition for less money.
You should definitely be able to find nicer morgans cheaper. I just sold a bunch in vf-AU for about 18 each, lots of different dates and mints too.
