Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Morgandude11, post: 2558152, member: 37839&quot;]For aspiring and current Morgan collectors, the question always comes up--what do I do with the 1893s?&nbsp; Long acknowledged as the &quot;key&quot; date to the Morgan series, and having good mid grade MS coins become a six figure proposition, the question is &quot;what to do,&quot; if one wants the complete Morgan set.&nbsp; Now, if we take a look at the mintages, 100,000 coins of that date and mint were minted.&nbsp; Survival figures are estimated at about 10%--that would be approximately 10,000 surviving 1893s coins. Given that I have had two complete Morgan sets that were LARGELY MS, and in neither of them did I make the decision to mortgage everything to buy a MS example, the question is, in assembling a &quot;reasonable&quot; set of Morgans, what is the best&nbsp; course of action.&nbsp; My answer to this was to own two nice circulated coins--my first was a PCGS VF35 example, and I later upgraded to a PCGS XF 45 coin, which I now own.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>However, is the 1893s really the most difficult coin to find in the Morgan series?&nbsp; Not really--it has great popularity and notoriety, but is it really &quot;rare?&quot;&nbsp; By most numerical rarity standards, the answer is NO.&nbsp; Even in the Morgan series, many think the King of the Morgans is the 1895 Proof, of which 880 were minted, and can run the price tag up about as far as the 93s.&nbsp; Likewise, if one considers CONDITIONAL rarities, the 1884s in MS condition is brutal to find a really attractive example that isn&#039;t insanely priced due to survival rates in MS.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, what is the best course of action?&nbsp; Hard to say, depending upon one&#039;s pocketbook, but if you do invest in an 1893s, get it from a reputable dealer in PCGS or NGC certified slabs.&nbsp; Make sure that the dealer stands behind his/her coin, and do not take chances--there are no bargains for this coin.&nbsp;&nbsp; Likewise, be aware that 10,000 coins do not a genuine rarity make.&nbsp; It is popular, as the series is popular, but it isn&#039;t a rarity, so much as a scarcity and popular piece.&nbsp; Here is a list of US rarities with which I agree, and note the coins considered more uncommon than the 1893s:<a href="http://cointrackers.com/blog/11/most-valuable-coins/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://cointrackers.com/blog/11/most-valuable-coins/" rel="nofollow">http://cointrackers.com/blog/11/most-valuable-coins/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>So, what to do?&nbsp; A lot of people do not bother collecting Morgans from 1892-1895 altogether, due to price and having to compromise on condition versus dollars.&nbsp; I compromised, but am happy with my decision, even after selling off the two complete sets, and buying another 1893s (I lucked out, and got mine at an estate sale for under market--it is a PCGS example, and was verified by a reliable dealer to be genuine, in a genuine slab).&nbsp;&nbsp; Some folks collect more common Morgans, and are happy doing so.&nbsp; I feel one cannot go wrong either way.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in