As with the star to the right, it appears to be an area that is often protected from the toning. I've seen this on many occasions on Morgan toners. Chris
This is called "pull away" toning and is very common on Morgan Dollars though I have seen it on other coins including Lafayette Dollars. Here is another example. Notice that it occurs on every digit of the date as well as some of the stars.
Looks very much like the basic, MS 63 Morgans that came out of a mint bag. Nice coin, and agree about the toning around the date--this is fairly common on Morgans.
