A few questions about 1923 Peace Dollar

Hi, sorry in advance for the amateur questions, I'm kind of new to this.
I bought a few Peace and Morgans from a reputable dealer and I am not questioning their integrity, just trying to learn.
Pictured below are two random year Peace Dollars. The first in BU and the Second in AU, no grade number.
To help me learn would you consider the first one BU? Care to give your opinion on how you would grade it? MS-?
Is it just me or dies the "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" look weak on both?
I think the AU looks better than the BU, but I'm obviously the polar opposite of an expert.
Thanks!!

 

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The lettering on Peace Dollars always looks weak to me. Your Unc coin looks like it has a beautiful strike...but that gash from Liberty's ear to her throat is unfortunate. That, plus the other hits, knocks it down to at least MS61 (imo).

 

Time to find a new dealer. Those are low grade silver coins only worth the value of silver they contain. The first one has a large deep scratch that's very annoying.

Here is a graded MS-64 Oeace Dollar. Notice the difference? No wear on the hair, no deep scratches, a mint luster shine. Please learn about coins before your start buying them. Count this up as a learning experience.

Also, Peace Dollars in general have a poor strike.

Welcome to CT.

 

I agree with @Collecting Nut in all aspects of his comment.

 

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate it!!
The Peace Dollars were $33 and $31.
To be fair to the dealer that gashed one may not be representative.
Below is an AU Morgan I also bought at the same time. It was $40. Do you think this was also a bad buy? Thanks again I could name the place, but I'm not sure if that's appropriate.

 

All of the OPs coins look like they were harshly cleaned, at least to me. None of them would get a straight grade at all. IMHO, I'd find another dealer. What do the rest of you think?

 

While I'm not a Peace Dollar collector, those look AU or lower to me and as others have mentioned, I am not sure they would straight grade. I would do more studying and research before I purchased any additional coins and I would find a different dealer to give my business. JMHO.

Oh yeah, welcome to CT BTW.

 

I'm open to suggestions on dealers.
Kind of weary about ebay tho.

 

The 83-O has been harshly cleaned, and I would not consider it to be AU.

 

First thing I would suggest is seeing if this dealer has a return policy, and take advantage of it.

Second, never buy "Random Year" coins. You will guarantee yourself to be the owner of a common date coin with no significant value, in hopes of getting something good. Know what it is you'll be getting before you give up your hard earned dollars. After all, the seller knows what they are getting, shouldn't you have the same luxury?

 

In the condition those are in, I would say about melt value (about $19 as of Friday price of silver) is what they are worth each. Unless they are some rare VAM, which might be impossible to ID because of all the damage.

 

Thank you Chris.

 

As I stated before, this should be a learning experience to you. Find a new dealer.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Basically any place that doesn't use those baggies.

You said you're not keen on eBay, but buying in authentic Third Party Grading (TPG) slabs takes a lot of cariables out of the equation as far as getting ripped of. The TPG's are PCGS, NGC, ANACS, and ICG. You'll learn more about grades and grading, and then once you are feeling confident, you can look at the raw stuff.

Initial cost may be more, but you'll save in the long run.

 

I agree with other's comments. Junk silver dollars, either badly gashed or cleaned. Just being honest with you OP. Buy a grading book or look at all of the GTG, (guess the grade) threads here on CT and learn to grade, recognize damage, recognize cleaning, or find a good dealer. I agree about Ebay. Deals to be had for those who know what they are doing, but a python's pit for anyone who doesn't.

Especially when starting out, please buy good coins even if you overpay a little. There are some very good dealers here on CT, and not on CT. I hope you get some good recommendations of either.

 

I appreciate all the help so far. Let me know when I start to become a pain. I think I just need to get some experience
If I may, one more question.
Do you think this would be a wise place to start?
The first pic is from David Lawrence, (EDIT photo disappeared see reply) the 2nd and 3rd are very low res photos from the place I bought the coins in the OP.
$30 premium to buy from David Lawrence over APMEX

 

Welcome to CT! We see all sorts of rookie questions here. It is refreshing to see rookie questions that are actually good questions. I hope you stick around.

Sadly, yes I do think you were taken advantage of just a bit on this deal. Not terribly..... When you look at the dollar @Collecting Nut posted, you can see the coin has life. Not just because it is shiny, but looking closely you can actually see the flow lines of the metal from the striking process. This is called luster and is one of the most important lessons you can learn as a new collector. Take a new quarter out into the sunlight and tilt it around. You can see the sun glinting off the flow lines of your new quarter. Become familiar with that. Once a coin is harshly cleaned or dipped too long in silver dip, it becomes dull and lifeless.

We all make purchases that are uninformed when we start collecting. Thankfully, you didn’t get in too terribly deep. A fair number would have been closer to $20.00 for these dollars. But you can still get lost in all the history these pieces represent. Welcome to the greatest hobby in the world!

 

My first photo seemed to have disappeared.