Grading Tutorial on Morgans

Not with that one. As I said, the leniency is not afforded all O mint coins. The '79-O is known for being of Average or Above Average in regard to strike. As such it is graded no differently than any, (but the exceptions), other Morgan.

Now the '84-O, the '86-O, the '89-O - those (among others) are known for being weakly struck, with the '84-O the least of those so of those 3. To explain: the '84-O is soft to average; the '86-O is weak and soft; the '89-O is quite weak and soft.

Beginning to get the idea now ? These are things you need to know if you want to be able to grade coins correctly and accurately.

 

The terms are really self-explanatory. Bagmark for example is just another name for contact mark. They come in varying degrees of severity, can be quite small to quite large, but are all the result of some other object hitting the coin and leaving what might be described as a hit, ding, gouge, or even reed marks (which is when the reeds of one coin strike the surface of another coin and leave behind an impression of the reeds.

Hairlines are just what they sound like, very fine lines on the surface of the coin. And when I say very fine, I mean very fine, they are often so fine (as in small) quite difficult to see with the naked eye. And even with a loupe they can sometimes only be seen when the coin is held just right (at a particular angle) under a light.

Scratches are also just what they sound like. Just as your fingernails will leave a scratch on your skin other objects will leave a scratch on a coin. On that O coin above you can see scratches in front of the mouth, a the back edge of the cheek under the ear, in front of the crease between the chin and neck, just to point a few.

Bagmarks on the other hand are found on the cheek, near the tip of the neck, on the nose, in the fields on front of the face, etc etc.

Hairlines - ehhhhh, don't really see any on that coin. But as I said, you might not unless the coin were held just right under a light.

 

You are correct - regular standards. But I'm not sure you want me to grade the coin as what I grade coins is seldom what anybody wants to hear. But so be it - I'd grade it AU55. The coin has obvious wear in quite a few places.

 

Well yeah, kinda. You gotta remember, there's one of me a whole lot of you guys. In other words it's easy for all of you to remember my name (1 name) but hard for me to remember thousands of them. And besides that I'm terrible with names, it is the one weakness in my memory. You can show me a coin, and 15 years later I'll still remember that coin - but I'll probably have forgotten your name Especially if I don't see you or interact with you much during that time. Speaking of which, you have been well known, at least to me, for taking numerous breaks from the forum.

So while I think I remember a name, sometimes I'm just not 100% sure I'm right. But I do like to personalize my responses when I can, especially with those who were just whippersnappers when they joined this forum

And I'm glad you understood the explanation

 

There's probably been more written on this subject than just about any other - due to the overwhelming popularity of the coins. And learning to grade Morgans alone can take some a lifetime. But ya gotta start somewhere.

So, this is where ya start, and these books are not just about Morgans, but they are the necessary starting point.

https://www.amazon.ca/Grading-Stand...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KQR0W0VDW2T37EXRE4XQ

Now there is a 7th edition of that book, this is the 6th. And I'm recommending you get this one if you wish to learn to grade correctly.

This is the 2nd book I recommend -

https://www.amazon.com/Official-Gui...=1493397269&sr=8-3&keywords=pcgs+coin+grading

And this one is online - http://www.coingrading.com/

And that's just the start - but do start with these ! When you want to continue move on to anything written by Q. David Bowers. He has several books on Morgans.

 

That's because it isn't. The coin has obvious wear. And unless I'm mistaken that is a wipe mark in front of the face which means it should be in an details slab.

edit - if it were not for the wipe, I would grade it no better than 55. But, it's ungradeable because it does have the wipe.