Rainbow toned and prooflike Morgan dollar

Who doesn’t like a nice Morgan dollar. They’re some of the most beautiful and iconic of all US coins. Thankfully they’re also among the most plentiful, even in mint-state grades.

So which one to choose? I hunted through thousands trying to find the right one for my collection and budget. Blast white has a certain appeal, but I like good toning, particularly colorful rim toning; not too much, but enough to give some color and contrast.

I’m really happy with this one. Not only does it have that flashy tone, but it also features dazzling mirror-like surfaces – enough to have earned it a DPL designation from NGC and a PL from PCGS. (both MS63)

I spent literally hours trying to capture the full beauty through the plastic but finally had to give up. You’ll have to watch the video to get a real sense of how it looks in hand!

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AR Dollar (38.1mm, 26.73g, 6h)
Dated 1886. Philadelphia mint
Obverse: Liberty facing left, wearing Phrygian cap, wreath, and diadem inscribed LIBERTY; E·PLURIBUS·UNUM above, 13 stars around; date below
Reverse: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around eagle facing with wings outstretched, head left, holding olive branch and arrows in claws, wreath encircling; * ONE DOLLAR * below
Mintage: 19,963,000
In PCGS encapsulation, graded MS63PL.​

All in all, it’s a nice ending to a recent run of bad luck I’ve had with Morgans. This is actually the second one I bought recently – the first one ended up stolen in the mail. Thankfully, the package was insured and I got my money back. Still a shame, though. And as a matter of fact I wasn’t sure I’d ever get this one, either…it was lost in shipping for about a month before a missing mail report miraculously managed to flush it into the open again. Hey – all’s well that ends well!

In hand:

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Some more photos highlighting the bright blazing colors:




PCGS photo:



Thanks for taking a look! Feel free to comment and/or post your own Morgans, favorite toned coins, etc.

 

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Nice coin! You can see the mirrors and the "cameo" contrast well on the video. The toning around the rim adds some extra character!

 

Nice coin! My first (and only) Morgan to be mail-ordered (which also had nice toning) also disappeared via Registered mail.

 

That would have made a fun GTG!

 

From the first two photos I like the second one the best. The toning on the first is on the darker side and over time, I think it will continue to turn darker. The second one also looks to be a bit more on the PL side with a more frosty look. To me, it has better eye appeal.