Hi All! My father left this 1881 Morgan Dollar in an acrylic ball to me when he passed, but I don’t know if it’s authentic or not and have come here to see if anyone can provide any advice. He did get it as a gift from a friend who is an avid antique collector, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s authentic. There is an “S” under the eagle if that means anything. Any advice or insight anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.
I'm going to go with authentic but that it was cleaned and polished prior to being placed into the acrylic. This was a popular thing to have done with coins and currency in the 60's into the early 70's or so. Value is around $20 or perhaps higher if someone finds its acrylic state to be a plus and not a minus to them.
First, welcome to the neighborhood! Even though the 1881-S is known to have a very good strike, the condition of your coin looks a little too good. I don't think anyone in their right mind would bury such a nice looking coin in plastic unless there was something wrong with it. There is probably no way that you could remove it without damaging it in some way, and there lies the problem. You'd probably get a better idea of the authenticity if you could weigh & measure it and use an XRF Analyzer to determine the composition.
Looks real. Putting coins in acrylic as gifts was a big thing when the Treasury hoard was released in the early 60s. It was probably buffed up a little before being encased, making it look a little off.
Looks like the real thing to me. Encasing items, including coins, was a popular thing at one time. This coin is an 1881-S and it looks to have been cleaned or polished to be as good looking as it is.
The pics are a little oblong; in particular, that obverse. I thought it looked a little funny at first for it until I realized the proportions were a tad off. It looks like a PL surface to these eyeballs.
Looks real to me. However it has been cleaned and polished. As most know, 1881s is an extremely common date. Nice as a curio like that in lucite, but no great numismatic find.
