I recently picked up a pair of 1894-O Morgans while Cherrypicking from a gold/silver bullion store. I'm thinking about keeping one and selling the other. Which would you keep? And what grade would you assign to each?
I wouldn't keep either one. Both have been harshly cleaned. I hope you didn't pay too much for them. Chris
I would sell them both and put the money obtained into a coin with better surfaces to go into my collection. A nice 1894-o in xf-45 can be obtained for less than a hundred bucks.
It appears you’re looking at varieties, DDOs/DDRs and such. I would first learn how to identify cleaned coins and try to avoid problem coins by all means. Buy slabbed Morgan’s, they’re readily available in all grades.
This seems to be the status quo lately.....posts of detailed coins, ddo's ddr's etc etc...and the person who has started the thread, or post are so clueless as to what they are buying or posting ! When the senior memembers of this forum say buy the book before the coin...there's a reason . What's even worse is the members who perhasp purchased the book ,but never read it.... giving out information that is anything but correct!!!
I'll never get that picayune in this hobby. Thanks to posts from people like @Paddy54 and @Kentucky, though, I've learned to distinguish coins I should consider from those that have been futzed with. I bought another member's book on grading, but, while useful, it appeared much too pedantic (sorry, there, no offense intended) for my simple needs. I'm still looking for a 1904-S Morgan—about 15 months, now—but can't stomach the idea of paying thousands for a slabbed copy that often doesn't meet expectations for the asking price. I don't give a rat's behind whether it was owned by Al Capone, or the people at the mint got drunk at a party on the day that copy was struck rendering it slightly odd and therefore worth hundreds more. I'll leave those kinds for the guys with the real big bucks.
There's no pleasure telling another member that they got hosed! I can't speak for other members ,but run your purchases pryor to on the open forum. Yes true another may bid against you,but lesson your chance of making a bad choice. Remember photos can be juiced......so if it's a higher priced purchase ask the members .....first.
In hand, neither looks cleaned. They are certainly both circulated, but the wear looks honest. And at $28 apiece, I feel like they were both well priced.
Both show parallel scratches indicative of harsh cleaning. They may look better in hand, but unfortunately the cleaning is there.
No offense, but you’re mistaken. Look at all the hairlines going north to south: Also note the coin’s uniform color and missing luster. It was improperly cleaned, there’s no question about it. An example with original surfaces wouldn’t look like this.
Eh. You may be right about the cleaning. Closer examination under magnification does have more parallel lines than circulation alone generally causes. I'm still thinking about keeping one as a details rarity and selling the other. Does anyone have a different opinion about which one I should keep?
I keep looking and trying to pick one over the other but it is just a toss up. I am afraid you might have trouble recouping what you paid.
Warts and all, this is my latest Morgan acquisition. I figure at the price I paid, the deal was fair.
Let's just say that my snipe was set about $50 more than the winning bid; there were several other bidders.