1882-CC, You Grade It

No they are not dipped. ( And in the quote above I was talking about the '84. ) That's the nice thing about the coins in the GSA holders - they have original surfaces - never been dipped.

 

I was talking about the 1882-CC in the quote above.

After the mint struck these coins the mint placed the coins in canvas bags containing 1000 coins and sewed the bags shut. Then these bags were stored in the vaults of the US Treasury until the 1970's when they were sold to the public in the GSA (General Services Administration) holders.

The marks you are referring to were caused by the coins in the bag rubbing against each other. But the vast majority of those marks are merely breaks in the luster - they are not marks in which metal is moved. Marks of this nature are considered to be much less severe and thus impact the grade of the coin less than a mark in which metal is moved. And they are not scratches either. A scratch moves metal - these marks do not.

 

First of all you need to understand the differences between the terms uncirculated, Proof and first strike. Proof is a method of manufacture - not a grade. Proof coins are made in an entirely different way than business strike coins are made. Uncirculated is a condition or grade that is assigned to business strike coins.

The term first strike can apply to both Proof and business strike coins. It merely refers to the first few coins struck by a new pair of dies - nothing more. Do not be confused by the term as it used by PCGS when they slab some coins and use the term First Strike on the slab label. This is a misnomer - a marketing ploy used by PCGS. It is, in my opinion, an attempt by PCGS to make collectors think they are getting something they are not. PCGS will apply the First Strike label on coins that are submitted to them during the month of January. It has nothing to do with the coins being actual first strikes or not.

I can understand why it's driving you nuts - it always did me to. So I made it a point to find out why others saw things differently than I did. The way you do that is by examining the coins in person. That makes it a lot easier to understand.

Morgan dollars, when they were minted, typically had a great deal of frost on the devices. This frost is much the same as that found on Proof coins. It is caused by the way the dies are prepared. But the frost on a coin is very fragile. It can be broken simply by two coins touching each other very lightly. If the coins were not frosted you couldn't even see the mark left by the contact - it is that minor. The mark does not dig into the coin and cause the metal on the surface of the coin to be displaced. When metal is displaced it counts more to the grade of the coin.

So that is what you are seeing - breaks in the frost. There are no gashes or scratches in the surface of the coin. Yes there are bag marks - small dings that displace metal on the surface of the coin. But you need to learn to tell difference between them and breaks in the luster as each type of mark counts differently when grading a coin.

Hopefully that explanation helps.