Normally don't post GTG's cause I'm not capable of posting quality enough pictures for it to make sense to have people guess. But found out yesterday some PCGS slabs will have their high quality pictures attached to the cert and had this one. I think it's an interesting GTG for reasons I'll bring up after I reveal. Second coin is one I bought raw which I almost never do. It's on the way to NGC right now so will have to wait a month to reveal that one. I think the pictures are pretty representative of it which is rare for me. 1879-S: 1881-S:
Man!! That is a nice looking '79-S. I would call it a MS-65. 66 easy had it not had the large contact mark in the field in front of Anna. The '81-S I would say should make a 64PL, I couldn't say DMPL from the photos, just cant tell how reflective the fields are.
79-S: MS-64 81-S: MS-62 PL ...a few too many hits, but does look PL and could receive a 63 Both coins look very nice!
Your pictures on the 81-S are a tad blurry so I'll hold back on that one but that 79-S is MS65 for my money...every bit of it. Beautiful coin.
Will post up the 79-S answer tonight maybe get a few more guesses in and hint: no one is correct so far. The 81-S again has no answer as it's on the way to NGC. So I may as well put in my own guess for that. I'm in the 64PL category. I paid little enough to where 63PL would break me even, anything less and I made a bad buy, anything more I did well. The obverse is DMPL period, whether my picture shows it or not it just is - super deep mirrors. The reverse isn't nearly as deep so I don't know if that will hold it back from DMPL or even PL, leave it with a star maybe? Not sure. Very curious to see what it comes back. I again almost never buy raw coins, it was a live auction though so I did get to hold it before bidding and it was cheap so not a lot of risk involved. Actually if it comes back less than I'm hoping I may just crack it out, toss it in an airtite and carry it as a pocket piece cause it's a beautiful coin and being 81-S just not worth a lot unless it makes what I hope. The host of the auction listed it as 64DMPL in his opinion and it was the opinion of a friend there that it was DMPL as well. I wasn't as confident but also have the least amount of experience so we'll see.
Don't tell me they graded it down to AU. These are supposed to be market graders. What fool is going to let this go at AU? Here's a toned MS-67 CAC, just for reference: https://coins.ha.com/itm/morgan-dol...c/a/1256-7654.s?ic4=ListView-Thumbnail-071515.
Yep! Even in hand with a loupe sometimes you'll see things you're not certain of with the tone covering it. I have a couple others similar color to this that I've gone over with a fine tooth comb and just can't see any reason they shouldn't be 2 grades higher but I'm sure the TPGs know the tone is covering hits in certain areas that I'm not seeing, etc. This one however I think is every bit of 66. The main question is how much do you discount the location of the 1 main hit on the nose? I think if that hit isn't on her face this is a no brainer high five 67. This coin is less marked than 2 of my 3 67s and cleaner than every one of my 66s including a few 66+ CACs. You can't tell in the pictures but even with all the tone the obverse still has nice luster and the reverse is proof like. The reverse as a whole is just unreal I may never find a cleaner one and the die polish lines (I think that's what those are?) add to the look IMO. Anyways, god willing I live long enough this one will be with me for a loooooong time. Was one of the first coins I bought and one of the ones that got me hooked.