What is the difference: GSA Morgan Silver Dollar vs GSA Morgan Uncirculated Silver Dollar

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Is that true ? If they are still in Mint bags, I'm not sure that is the same as going into a cash register or being used for purchase.

THOSE I would think are still considered Mint State. The others, if they came out of a bag, I guess you could say they circulated.

But if the coins are still in the bags, they might get bag marks but shouldn't get wear, right ?

Yup....but again, my understanding is that if they stayed in the bag, they're still Mint State. In fact, bags moved around more in Europe than in Central/South America which is why the hoards from south of the border are generally nicer.

OK, we're at the crutch of the matter. My understanding was that bag marks from coins banging around INSIDE a bag would NOT be considered wear.

I personally agree with you -- wear is wear -- but I think the generally accepted principle is that bag marks without wear still equates to mint state. Even bag marks with "wear" from the bag is different than wear from circulation.

Circulation > Bags

I think you are right. But lots of coins from bags do NOT show "wear" of any kind, right ?

 

No disagreement, GD....but I guess that the TPGs had to make a choice in the mid-1980's before starting up and they decided that "wear" in a bag was NOT the same as "wear" from being handled, going into a cash register for a few days, or even circulating for a week before taken out of circulation.

Also, I would think that a full bag of coins might not jostle around that much if it was filled....certainly not the coins in the CENTER of the mass. The coins on top and on the sides touching the bag itself, yes, no mass weight constricting their movement.

Then consider that bags of coins in Europe moved around alot more and that's why many of your Mint State coins from Europe look much worse than Mint State coins from South/Central America.

Didn't some coins have lousy/mediocre luster to begin with hot off the mint press ?

I do agree with your analysis of luster being easily worn off.

Yup, you are right.

I think the TPGs may have considered all you said, GD....and then realized that VERY FEW coins would EVER grade MS65 or above, maybe at best low-60's.

 

I in the next week plan to show bag wear, been going thru a 50$ bag of 63' Lin5colns. Fun bag of die variety's, it is evident that a 65 Gem can be an AU. Heck I might even have one to post tonight. ^

 

I remember 20 years ago you could get as many 82-84-CCs as you wanted for $50 each ($45 for 5 or more) in 62, 63 and even 64 if you knew what you were looking at.

 

Really ? From whom ? Certified or raw ?

I would have thought the price skyrocketed in 1979-80, came down hard, and then gradually rose again up to 2000 (20 years ago in your timeline).

I just saw a nice MS63 GSA 1882-CC for $250 over the weekend for auction on one of the sites.

 

I got outbid here ....I really thought the bidding was excessive but it IS a nice coin:

https://www.greatcollections.com/Co...lar-Reverse-of-1878-PCGS-MS-63-CAC-GSA-Holder

 

I know that little explanatory cards (now often referred to as COAs) accompanied the soft packs and the two types of Carson City hard packs. Was a card made for the hard packs, which are labeled as "United States - - Uncirculated Silver Dollar" I think, from mints other than CC?

If so, can someone share an image of one of these?

Also, is there a source for the number of coins GSA sold in each type of holder?

Thanks very much.

 

I partially answered my last question. A 2008 CU thread indicates that for non-CC hardpacks:

"The total number released by the GSA was estimated as 28,000, but no one documented the number of each date included in the 28,000. "

and

"97,591 soft pack gsa coins packaged and sold. Again, no one knows how many coins of each date were included in the total."

No source is provided, but it looks like these were provided by someone knowledgeable; I'd appreciate a correction if these are incorrect.

Thanks again, what fun!

 

I believe the GSA sent out over 3 MM of the coins, so even 100,000 is <3% of the total.

 

Thanks for the comment GF1969. Morgans were an early interest of mine that I'm just coming back to after too many decades chasing ancients and St Louis metro area national currency. After a quick I/N search I've found a number of pieces of the data I was seeking. Understandably most of the focus is on Carson City but I was able to massage the numbers pretty close to agreement despite rounding in a few cases.

My purpose in asking the third question was to get a relative scarcity of each of the 3 types of hard packs; the various data I've come across seems ok for that.

I am still curious about what, if any, card accompanied the non-CC hard packs. If one was used I've love to see an example.

What fun!

 

My CC MSD just has something written in the blue fabric in the top of the base from Pres. Nixon saying this silver dollar is part of our nation's heritage.

No other paper. Maybe there was and I just didn't get it even with the OGP ?

CORRECTION: There WAS an insert, I must not have gotten it. You can see it in this listing, zoom it on it to read it:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1883-CC-MO...088246?hash=item2affd9c4f6:g:kTYAAOSw5NZgNxRr

 

If silver was about $2/oz in the early-1970's....and these things were being sold for $15 a coin....and most ungradeds/graded CC MSDs and non-CC MSDs were selling for between $2 and $15 per coin....no wonder they had trouble selling out.

I know they wanted to cover the cost of the sale, the OGP, and other costs, but the markup on the price of silver bullion and other MSDs was pretty steep when you think about it.

 

If I remember right silver in 1975 silver was between $4-$5 an ounce. The first GSA sales had higher prices for selected years. Some were $80 each. They didn't sell out. There was several sales and the GSA didn't sell out. When they dropped the price for them to $15 in one of the last sales of mixed CC dollars with no order limit there were so many orders that they reduced every order to a limit of 5 coins and cancelled a whole bunch of orders because they sold out the remaining stock. Many who ordered got no coins at all. I was lucky and got 5 coins. For a long time there was little interest in the GSA sales when they first started because the prices were too high for the general public to afford.

 

Wow, with no formal grade you were basically selling raw CC MSDs for 15-20x the spot price of silver. No wonder many people balked.

Was the last sale @ $15/coin after the 1980 Silver Bubble burst ? At that time, the premium for charging $15 was pretty nominal....but with all the volatility and publicity the government may have just wanted the coins gone at any price by that time.

What's amazing is even though I did a fair amount of reading back then, I can't recall any advertisements for these coins. Probably in magazines I didn't get -- like National Geographic -- although I think I may have seen an ad for one in Boy's Life when I was a Cub/Boy Scout in the early to mid-1970's.

 

I think the last sale was in late 75 or early 76 before the silver run up.
I read about the sales in Coin World since I subscribed to it back then and I think some banks had brochures for the sales also.

 

To your last, I have seven (7) of them, but on my limited fixed retirement income and health costs, I cannot afford to have them graded to sell...same for my entire collection which I somehow need to do. I waited too long, not liking TPG such as it was/is...way too subjective and suspect...and with at least one major TPG service and maybe two, I do not trust the anonymity of their process (in general, the VIPs get the passes and higher grades, while the avg Joe's settle for nit-picky "details" and lower grades). Sorry to venture off the main subject.

 

There may be good or bad reasons for submitting or NOT submitting your coins to a TPG....but I think the coins will be graded pretty fairly.

You should still get a decent price for them if you price them to sell....see what other coins for the years you have sell for in the approximate same condition....maybe discount it 1 grade....you should get a decent price from more knowledgeable graders/collectors who think there is upside.

Leave something on the table for them and it's win-win.

Good luck with selling your collection. If you ID the coins and size of your holdings, you should get good advice from your friends here at CT.