This is an 1887 Morgan in pretty decent condition. Can someone tell me if this might have been cleaned and if not would it be in AU condition?
i am going to ask u this. do u feel comfortable in spending money knowing that there is a high possibility that u may be taken for a ride. i would suggest u familiarize urself with the coins before u buy them so u can get the best deal. a coin might be unc au or xf but u wouldnt know and i would hate to see you get burned and quit collecting in disgust. spend your time here learn and then buy. we have some very good dealers here on this forum AJ, budgood, gmarguli if u must buy on blind faith buy from them at least u wont get taken advantage off. we had a few members who started out quick then they slowed down and now some of them are SME if you would like i can recommend you their names i am sure they will be more than happy to share their experiences
Yea thanks for the advice. In fact I have been buying a lot of stuff lately. Everything I've bought I have felt comfortable with. I try to take my time and get the best deal. But I also realize that in the coin world you get what you pay for. Honestly most of these Morgans were bought from a swap meet. Except for the coin I bought from the dealer from 1881. So I didn't pay very much for them. At the time I didn't have my 5x and was having a really hard time trying to tell if the coins had been cleaned or not. I was looking at them in the sunlight and they seemed to look good to me at the time. But when I got them home I noticed a difference between them and some of the coins that I've bought from a coin show or dealer. I bought them cus at the time they looked to be in really good condition. Which they seem to be but some of them look as though they may have been cleaned. I even asked the old man who sold them to me if they had either been cleaned or dipped and he said no. So I took his word for it. If they have indeed been cleaned at least I didn't pay a lot for them. As far as your friends on this site that sell. I would love to be refer'd to them. I'm actually thinking of starting to sell coins on the side just for a hobby and to make some extra money. I do realize that I need to really learn how to grade well as that makes a big difference. Thanks again and feel free to let them know I'm interested in buying stuff.
Look on the bright side. An AU common date Morgan Dollar's value is mostly intrinsic anyway so there is little chance you could lose much money. It is hard to tell from those photos if the coin in question has suffered a light cleaning, but I would certainly call the coin AU, lots of luster left. My opinion is that for $50 you can get a beautiful NGC/PCGS certified MS64 Morgan so why waste $15-$20 on a suspect AU example.
I agree, at least in the beginning. Until you are confident and have some serious collecting time behind you don't chance it. There are too many sharks out there waiting to take your money and sell you inflated crap. I learned my lesson when I started and I'm still kicking myself. Unless you can trust someone without question, buying raw coins in your initial collecting days is a real risk. Stick with the slabs until you know what you are doing. And try to buy from dealers, not on ebay, examining a coin in person is very important. There are wide ranges within each grade, and only by inspecting it in-hand will you be able to determine if it's at either end, and in fact if it is up to your criteria. I have seen some hideous 65's just my two cents...
