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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ksparrow, post: 611536, member: 7638&quot;]This is a very interesting discussion about an interesting coin! Not being a Morganologist, I decided to go back to Jim Halperin&#039;s useful site on grading Morgans: <a href="http://www.coingrading.com/gradems1.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.coingrading.com/gradems1.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.coingrading.com/gradems1.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p>The first question I had to answer was, &quot;is it MS?&quot;&nbsp; per Halperin, the high points of the obverse design are the cheek, from the lower eyelid straight down to the lower jaw, a small area of the neck above the 1 in the date, and the uppermost part of the cap. I see no wear in those areas, with the possible exception of the cap tip, and why that small area alone would have wear makes little sense to me.&nbsp; The area that at first glance appears to be worn is the gray-brown expanse above the ear, and the nearby hair. On close inspection, I see fine planchet striations which tell me that this area just didn&#039;t strike up properly, making this one of the worst struck Morgans I have ever seen. If the metal did not flow into the die, it would not develop the crystalline structure required for luster, imo. </p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; On the reverse, the eagle&#039;s breast has the same color, and a bare hint of feathers- which should be much more apparent on dies for this year. Lousy strike. The remaining high point that is preserved is the patch of feathers to the right of the eagle&#039;s eye- which to me looks intact w/o rub. </p><p>So, in my opinion, it&#039;s an MS coin. Using the Halperin system, taking into account eye appeal, strike, surface preservation, and luster (very subjective here, since you can&#039;t roll it around under the light) I came up with a score of 13 for the obv and 12 for the rev, which translates to about MS 61/60!</p><p><br /></p><p>How on earth did PCGS give it a 64???&nbsp; I would think it would just rate a &quot;genuine&quot; slab except they don&#039;t have a blasted code for &quot;pi** poor strike&quot;. I&#039;ll bet this coin engendered some spirited debate in the grading room. I wonder if it was sent in for &quot;presidential review?&quot; In the end, I think that the cc mintmark and market forces won out. Personally, I believe it&#039;s an ugly coin.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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