Till I took the pics and noticed the "S" mint mark on this 1899 Morgan. I am wondering what you think the grade would be? From reading on the net I would guess it at fine but don't have a clue what the numbers after the F would be? This 1921 my guess would be VF? Again I don't know what the number would be or if my VF thought is correct? Sorry about the blue coloring, used some LED lights on one side, still figuring out shooting coins. Thanks. ~Mike
The first coin is right around Fine (F) details, but it's been polished. The second coin ('21) looks like it has MS details, but it's hard to tell if it's been cleaned or not from the pics. Try to take some pics under natural light, or just regular indoor light, the LED light is rough on the pics.
I'll try to shoot it outside tomorrow (suns gone down already). I know they've been polished and or cleaned. They were my grandmother's. When I was a kid my cousin and I would dig out her shoe box that had 80 silver dollars in it and look at them. She promised them to us and when she died, my cousin "cleaned" them before sending 20 to me and 20 to my mother. When I got them I put them on one of those silver cleaning plates that use water and baking soda, let sit a while, rinsed, dried and used my wife's food vaccum packer and vaccumed them in plastic bags (that was 15-20 years ago). That's why I didn't see the S mint mark, the back of the bags are checked. I've ordered some of those air tight coin cases to put them in (just opened a couple of the vaccum sealed bags to take the pictures when I thought it might be worth more than just silver content). Thanks ~Mike
The fact that you cleaned them really destroys the value. Of course, you will get varying advice on that. I think the method you used to clean them sound harsh. Most acceptable methods of cleaning involve dipping in acid. And this usually has to be done by a reputable person who knows what he is doing. The 1921 has very nice details, and probably would have graded at a EF-40 or AU-50. As is, cleaned, they are still worth the value of the silver they contain, and someone might still want a nicely detailed 1921 Morgan dollar cleaned or not. For your information, the silver content in them is .77 ounces. You can look up the spot price of silver on line. Currently, the spot price of silver is $17.37. This would put the price of the Morgans you have at $13.37. You probably could get $14 or $15 for the better detailed 1921 Morgan. Also for your information, the numbers of the grading scale was invented by someone who noted that coins in the best state usually get 70X the price of coins in the worst state. Although, this doesn't hold true for most coins, and the prices usually go up significantly based on grade and rarity. The scale goes AG-3, G-4, VG-8, F-12, VF-20, EF-40, AU-50, MS-60, with MS-70 a perfect coin. Proof coins aren't a grade, they are a coin made by polishing the die and striking the coin under more pressure and for a longer time which results in a mirror like finish.
