Grade Opinions on a Couple Coins

Hey guys, I have a couple coins that I would like some grade opinions on. I haven't been in the coin loup for several years now and my grading ability has gotten a bit rusty (and it was never that good in the first place).

Anyway, I would like an opinion on these 3 coins.

The first is a 1881-S Morgan Dollar. I know its a common date but it was the first Morgan I ever bought (I have about about 30 now) so its my favorite. It also has a hint of reflectiveness in it that makes it almost prooflike (just a little). I have often wondered if it was one of the early ones produced or something. It doesn't doesn't appear to have been cleaned or dipped or anything from what I can tell. Anyway, I have always suspected it would grade about MS-60 but no better. Any thoughts.






Next is a 1892-S Barber Dime. Its kind of funny, I don't remember ever buying this coin (although I did buy a partial collection for like $40 so it may have been hidding in their under the wrong slot). But, I always did tend to buy key and semikey coins in lower grades to make my collection a little more rarer even though the value doesn't increase a lot (its the only way for a young collector to get these coins-lol). Anyway, I'm by no means an expert at grading Barber Dimes at all so I won't even guess with this one. What do you guys think.






Finally, this is my 1854 Type 2 $1 Gold Piece. My grandmother gave me a couple small tins of coins that her father had saved, they hadn't even been open since the 1930s or so. Inside where a bunch of common coins, but this one was wrapped inside a small piece of wax paper. I notice it does have some scratch marks on it (which are MUCH more obvious on the photos than the coin) and I have wondered if the coin was cleaned. It sort of looks like it might have been but with the coin being stored for so long I kind of doubt it. It has been scratched by something though, especially on the left side of the obverse. So, I have no idea how to grade the coin due to those marks. So, any thoughts?





Anyway, thanks and I hope the photos are good enough!!!

 

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I'd say 63/64 on the morgan, and f-12 on the dime.

 

I would say MS-63 on the Morgan and vg-10 - f-12 on the dime. The scratching on the gold $ would make it hard to grade properly.

 

I would guess MS-63 on the Morgan, VG-10 on the Barber and VF-20 details-Cleaned on the gold dollar.

Charlie

 

I'd say MS63 on the Morgan , VG-F on the Barber. Since the gold was cleaned I don't have a clue.

 

Why so low on the dime if you don't mind me asking? It appears to have a fully readable liberty, and the leaf clusters show, and also the rim looks ok?

 

Liberty definitely looks clear to me. I can make out each letter distinctly, except for the Y, but I assuming that is because of shadows. As far as better eyes, you always catch things I don't. I'm very nearsighted, and on a 19 inch monitor. Am I the only one who can see liberty?

 

Oh, one more question, I always read that some letters need to be visible to be visible, that's what my grading books say as well, by some do they mean 2,3,4?

 

I see the L and I pretty clearly. The B E R T is there, but not fully. Can't see the Y, but like you said it could be the pic.

 

I can see almost all of the letters....but they aren't full.....it wouldn't go over VG....

Speedy

 

Here is the photos with the letters outlined in Blue.....see them Doug?

Speedy

 

I agree. You can see most of Liberty but the letters are not clear enough for anything over VG. G6 would be a decent estimate in grade.

The Morgan would go around a 63/64 range. Very nice piece.

Can't help you on the gold, I know nothing about that area

 

I definitely agree that I can see all of the letters in Liberty (except Y), but they are not what I would call "clear" by any stretch of the imagination. Doug, can you tell us why you think that the $1 may be counterfeit? Most of the coin looks okay...even the F in OF sits a little higher than the O like it's supposed to. The only things that look a little fishy to me are that all of the text on the coin might not look quite as defined as I would expect. Also, LIBERTY on the headband may look a little off. The curls on the neck also may look a little mushy. What do you think? When a picture is too small on the internet, it's hard to see the coin. When the picture's big, sometimes I think it makes things stand out way more than they really do...that's why I'm kind of wishy washy on what I'm seeing.

 

I used to think that the letters had to be completely full and not just distinct, but then I bought an 1895-o barber dime that was graded f-15 by anacs, and it crossed over at pcgs as such. The lettering was just a hair better than the one in this thread, but still not completely full. Where they lenient on the lettering since it was a key date?

 

BTW, I'm not trying to be a dissenter or a troublemaker, just trying to understand grading as much as possible.

 

I don't know if this will help, but when I took these pics they were a lot higher resolution and I had to resize them so they would be somewhat small for the screen. I took the original pic of the Barber Dime and cropped out the LIBERTY, so its not resized. Hopefully this will give you a better look at it. I think that all of the letters are visible but they deffinately aren't strong.



As for the gold coin, I would like to know why one of you thinks it might be a counterfit. I know basically nothing of gold coins so I would like to learn so I can be sure.

Also, thanks for the insight so far everyone-I really appreciate it. :thumb: