GSA Morgans Pros/Cons

I'll admit that I'm very fascinated with GSA Morgan's but I'm also curious to hear the opinions of others here on cointalk about these. It seems there isn't a huge premium over a standard NGC slabbed coin of the same date/rating.

Are there any collectors that avoid these GSA slabbed coins? I think I saw in another thread that over 4k were released by the GSA. Are there any firm numbers for quantity by year?

TIA for your thoughts and insight.

 

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The GSA actually released quite a few of them and they carry a slight premium (about 5% in my area) if theyre in the original GSA case. However when they were first released so many were cracked out of their original cases and submitted to NGC and PCGS.
However I know that 1 million or so were sold in the 1980 sale. And when the treasury stopped trading silver cert's for silver they had eitheir 2.9 million or 2.7 million morgans left (Depends on the source) Presuming GSA sold all remaining morgans you could say at least 2.7 million were sold, All were Carson city according to their advertisement.

 

I think the pros and cons pretty much even themselves out. Personally, I won't pay a premium for a Morgan in a GSA case, but there are collectors focusing on a GSA collection that will. There are certain dates/mm that are rare in GSA holders, so those are coins that will command a premium.

Certain dates like the '83 and '84 CC are common in GSA holders, so there isn't going to be much of a premium there. David Bowers in A guide book of Morgan Silver Dollars has the GSA figures at 755,518 coins or 62.75% of the original 1883-CC mintage, and 962,638 coins or 84.73% of the original 1884-CC mintage. The 1879-CC had one of the lower CC holdings in the GSA with 4,123 coins. *Now not all the coins went into the GSA hard cases, some went into the soft packs, and others were sold in the discount lots.

 

Here was the article I was looking for: Numismaster it has some good info on the GSA sales.

The coins were divided into 5 catagories; Uncirculated CC, Mixed CC, Uncirculated other mint marks, circulated other mint marks, and damaged/unsellable coins. The first 3 categories were the coins that went into the GSA cases (both soft and hard plastic). In total, it has 2.9 million Morgans sold in the GSA sales.

 

Average price was $30 per coin. Minimum bid was $20 per coin. If I am correct

 

whoops raider34 beat me to it.

 

I'm not sure that I like the GSA packaging as much as some people do. I would just rather have a slab with GSA written on it, then a big ole' box with a label wrapped around it.
But whatever is cheaper works for me

 

I believe that they are worth a premium as they remained in Govt vaults for around a century and were packaged by the Govt. Unquestionably authentic (at least until the Chinaman starts reproducing them), GSAs have a "history" and have not been "messed with". I believe it is inappropriate (all right, for those who expect me to "say it like it is", just plain stupid) to remove them from their holders.

 

Too funny!

I think that is the allure for me right there, is the history aspect behind it. The Binion slabs have that same mystery behind them a bit (though not as much).

Big thanks for all the great info.

 

If I rember right there were more than CC Dollars in the GSA hoard??

 

I have seen some O mint gsa's, but I can't recall seeing plain or s mint ones.

 

1904-O was one & 1887-O too.

 

I have three GSA CC coins. Not only did I not pay a premium for them, I purchased them all at a discount. GSAs are fairly plentiful, and in this market they are getting squeezed down to a more realistic price.

 

1st brain fart off the year GDJMSP

 

The first three catagories went into the Hard plastic cases, the fourth catagory went into the soft plastic. The fifth catagory (321 pieces) were sent to the old San Francisco Mint where they were used as part of a display until after the museum closed. Then a couple years later they were sold on the mint mailing list for way too much money. (They were all common date damaged pieces and they sold them for twice the retail price of undamaged commons.)

 

But there are Uncirculated CC Morgans in GSA soft cases. Here's one 1878-CC GSA SOFT PACK NGC MS64 * POP 21 / 5 - eBay (item 390135592350 end time Jan-04-10 12:04:21 PST) And he's got the pop at NGC for the '78 alone at 21 in 64, and 5 graded higher.

And there are Uncirculated (other mint marks) in GSA soft cases. Here's one example: 1880-S MORGAN $ MS64 NGC GSA SOFT PACK !!! - eBay (item 190166257197 end time Jan-10-10 13:48:49 PST)

 

I would buy one if it was graded, but would never pay a premium for one, even though it is like owning a little part of the morgan dollar's history.