My Morgan is Hard of Hearing, Take A Look..."-) Hi All.. Here's an interesting Morgan I got in the other day... It's a 1884-O slabed by NGC @ MS63... Anybody want to venture a guess on what's up with this Hard Of Hearing Morgan...?
At first I thought grease...but I think it mgiht have been a softer strike in that area as the hair is flat too...I'm not much on things like this so I could be worng--But it is a O and the O's are known for a soft strike. Speedy
It is a very weak strike.With the lack of definition especially in the ear area and flat hair. O mint is famous for their average to weak strike pattern.
I was thinking a light strike also but the rest of the coin has a nice strike so I would think it has to be something else. Maybe grease or gummed up die, low spot in the original blank, imperfection in the die... The imperfection did not seem to hurt the grading of this coin maybe they considered it an error coin...
The reason it didn't hurt the grade is becuase the O mint is known for a soft strile... I'm 98.99% sure that NGC didn't think it was a error. Speedy
Here is a photo of a Morgan that has a nice strike...strong around the ear... The buyer was real nice and let me take photos...its graded MS65PL. Speedy
The O mint morgans are very softly struck and can exhibit good detail in the lower areas of the coin without having definition in the higher areas since they are the last areas filled in the die resulting in the look of your morgan. Hereis a good site for pics of strike characteristics. Link Winky Poo
The New Orleans mint, on average, produced coins that had a much weaker strike than those produced at any of the other mints. Although this was not the case with every year, for instance the 1882 and 1885's were both average, but it was most certainly the case for the 1884. Unfortunately, what you have hear is a coin with a very weak strike. I would guesss that if you look at the reverse of the coin you will see a similar lack of detail in the eagle's breast - the other area most effected by a weak strike. Since the 1884 is very common with a weak strike, NGC took this into account when grading the coin. As a matter of fact, if the coin had a strong strike and a similar state of surface preservation and eye appeal, they might have bumped the grade to MS64 on the basis of the strike!
Hi All... Thanks for all the great help... It just struck me funny ( pun intended ) that there was no detail in that area at all, I've seen lots of soft strikes but most if not all had some detail in the high areas... The reverse Brest feathers are light also but are there... Each coin has it's own personality, this ones just a little flat... Well... Off to the coin show I go...
