I was traveling for work this week through NH, MA, RI, CT, and NJ. I just started collecting Morgan's this summer and there are no coin shops in my area. I've been trying to keep my eyes open on these trips. Found an old hobby shop that had a tiny sign reading "WE BUY JEWELRY & COINS". I was running really late and the weather was horrible, but I went in to check it out. Lots of models, trains, remote control stuff… and a small backroom with a case full of coins. Not sure if you folks do this all the time… maybe you're close to fifteen shops, maybe you don't mind driving six hours for a specific dealer you have a relationship with, or maybe you're isolated and rely on the internet. My nearest coin shop takes a full day... drive, cross a lake, drive some more. This place had a couple hundred Morgan dollars, lots of Walking Liberty halves, and a few trays of other coins. Ordered by date, mint, and stacked up. All in 2x2's. No slabs. He had a dozen 1878-P stacked upon each other, then a half dozen 1878-S, then ten…. it was pretty cool for a newbie. Prices ranged from $15 to hundreds. I ended up getting a couple marked UNC for $15 and $22. I checked out a blazing coin… so blinding and detailed that I don't even remember the year! He told me the price and I gave it back. I told him it was beautiful and the others looked great too. Said I'd write down the dates I needed and would come back one day…. I was running late. Suddenly he says "I've got a bucket of Morgan's for $8 each. I'm going to raise the price soon because I heard silver went up.". He pulls out a bucket from a locked cupboard and drops it in front of me. It's got about a hundred coins in it. He told me that he buys out estates and pulls the nice coins out to sell separately. Claimed he gets a great deal and can pass it on... and still makes a nice profit. Anything dirty, worn, or scratched, he throws in the bucket. You could read dates on all of them, but at least 80 out of the 100 were very circulated (AG/G/VG). I picked five better grade coins.... 1878-S, 1879-P, 1879-S, 1921-P, 1921-D. I know the dates aren't special. I didn't have time to look. I want to go back and try this "cherry picking"-thing out. Anyways, I paid my bill and was leaving... and he says "too bad you don't like Peace dollars. That bucket's even bigger". I got back to my hotel room and took out a couple books and my loupe. When I heard $8, I thought I could get some coins to "learn" with. I want to see what a dipped coined looks like first hand, same for a coin cleaned with acetone, and maybe a re-toned coin. The 1878-S has to be an AU. It has a black carbon paper type stain on it. Turns out to be a VAM-15 with several very strong die gouge lines through the each wing and two strong lines between the eagle legs. The 1879-P might be VF/XF; has a ding in the rim. It has some dark crud in the devices. 1879-S is very dark on the reverse. Looks like it's just toned to me. Must be XF at least. The 21 and 21-S are XF. One looks completely light/medium green on the back, the other has dark green spots (PVC?). Questions Aside from the 1878-S VAM-15, do the others sound okay to experiment with? Where can I get some "dip"? I assume the instructions are on the label. Acetone? Nail polish remover? Is there a coin-quality acetone solution? Light cleaning with a cotton swap... no rubbing? I'd going back to look more carefully. In general, if a Morgan dollar is just dirty (still VF+ and no dings/scratches), is it always worth $8? I might try to post a few pictures on Saturday. I appreciate all of the help. I'll send a note to ND next week. I'd like to host one of those weekly contests. Norm
Wow. I'm still a newbie to true hobby collecting myself. Sounds like you could blow a day easy looking through stuff at this guys shop. One question, if you don't mind, where did you find this shop? I'd be curious to check it out too sometime as I travel much of New England too. Thanks and thanks for sharing your experience. As for your questions on coin cleaning, I'll leave it to the resident experts
That backwater shop was a nice find. Just about any coin shop will have MS70, or one of the other similar chemicals. Get pure acetone at a paint store, Home Depot, etc. Nail polish remover has unknown additives which may or may not be harmful. Not only no rubbing, but no cotton swabs. Just put the coin in a small glass dish, cover it with acetone, drain off the acetone and allow the coin to air dry. Following up with a quick bath in distilled water is favored by some, criticized by others; but if you do it, avoid rubbing it dry at all costs.
I like your idea of learning the differences in cleaning and rubbing, but may I suggest using something a little less collectible. While any cleaning will not hurt the value of these Morgans, you could pick up Mercury dimes at 60 cents and still have the same learning curve.
You had me goin' there for a minute; the first time I read it as $8 for all the Morgans in the bucket.
what a great find! Congrats. I have to agree with ND, though. I would look for a coin with a little less collectability than a Morgan to experiment with. And, in answer to your other question, there are very few Morgans that I would pass up for $8 - any VG or better or scarcer dates in G4 I think are worth it.
Thanks for the feedback. I stopped by on my return trip and picked up some more info and a "few" more coins (30 of them ). Thanks for the instructions and other advice. I did buy 100 Mercury dimes at a flea market this summer for $30. A few of these might be better choices for my experiments... though one of those Morgan's has big chunks of dark green on the back that I'd like to remove. I wanted to quickly say something about experimenting. I'd never recommend someone fool around with anything at home. I've studied a little chemistry, had a photo lab for 20+ years, and have worked with acids in the semi-conductor photolithographic process. I don't have a lot of knowledge, but I have a lot of caution. I know what can happen when you use even household chemicals wrong, mix with other chemicals, get on skin or in eyes, use in confined areas, etc. I'm just mentioning this because I might be using acetone and recently read an article about "fake toning" with a butane lighter. If I combined the two, I think I'd lose my eyebrows and burn down my house. I received some messages about the location of this place. I want to check it out a couple of times and then I'll PM some people. It's not in CT, RI, MA, or NJ. There aren't any hidden hoards of silver dollars there. I stopped back at the end of the week with my 2005 coin budget in hand. He doesn't like credit cards. I had money when I left. There were only about 30 raw loose Peace dollars. I bought half of them, along with another dozen Morgans. It was a busy place and I don't know what came in and went out over the last few days. I met the co-owner and was told that most of the coins were from old-timers in the area... one collector and one former coin shop owner. Different than what I heard earlier. I didn't think I would catch the place open again, but I got there just before closing time. I'm looking for Morgan VAMs, but I don't have anything memorized. In the parking lot, I opened the Top 100 VAM book and picked a year... 1888. Looked at the double ear, clashed E, scarface, and "hot lips". Went inside and bought 27 of the loose Peace and Morgan dollars, then checked out the case with cardboard 2x2's. He had six 1888's. Checked them all but didn't see the VAMs from the book. I did see an 1888-P with a die scratch from the last T in TRUST to the wing. Bought it for $20. I think some of you saw that note in another forum about the 1882-O O/S. The forum member was asking why the $20 coin was worth $250 (it was a VAM). There were eight 1882-O's in this place, so I checked them all. The third one was an O over S VAM-3. I got it for $20. I had checked his 1878's and 1879's five days earlier. He had a new 1879-S for $23. I noticed it had the B reverse (1878) and a double D in dollar. It must be a VAM. I may not be getting great deals on these, but I'm trying to get different "types" of VAMs for my collection (double ear, double letters, double stars, overstamped mint marks, die cracks, etc). This has been great. Here are pictures of the five coins that I originally got for $8 each. The one on the far right (1878-S) is the VAM-15 with the black smudge (close-ups too). I don't dare clean a coin that I want for my collection. Should I leave it as-is or send it to someone? The second from right (1921-P) is the one with the chunks on the reverse (PVC?). The far left is the one I said looks more like toning than dirt (1879-S). I did look up the 1888-P when I got home. I missed seeing many scratches and die gouges in the store. I think it's a VAM-7A. I'm going to post a few of these in the WHATS IT WORTH section. I haved VAM value lists, but don't know the grade (and there's a big value difference in a couple of these). Norm
