Guess the Assigned Grade--1887 Morgan Dollar

Soemtimes it takes them a few days to get the grade in, but you need to be patient. Lehigh has always posted the grade.

With these pictures I think the coin is a 62. And I do agree with others that there looks like a break in the luster across the ear. But AU was not a choice.

 

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Chinese counterfeit.

 

With this coin, what I see first is it is not an excellent strike. At first glance, it looks like wear above the ear but upon closer inspection it appears that no wear is present because there is no color change or loss of luster. So, I'm going to say its MS but leaves a little to be desired in the strike department.

Now, what grade of MS. The fields are beautifully clean, very little bag marks or luster grazes. I think the coin is clean enough to warrant a grade of MS66 except for one problem. There is a very distracting hit to the cheek. In my eyes, this knocks the coin down to MS63. However, the coin has excellent eye appeal and lovely toning. I think NGC would bump it up a point because of that. So, I went MS64.

 

I'm at MS60. The chin and cheek worry me.

 

MS-63. Wouldn't be surprised if NGC gave it a bump to 64 for the toning. (And, if you own the coin, we know it has to have pretty toning.)

 

I'll say that NGC gave it a MS-65 due to the cleen cheek and toning. I give it a MS-64, if there is no wear on the coin. If what I am seeing is wear in the circled areas below, I'd say it's an AU-55. (I don't know if it's wear for sure, but I'd be incined to say it is for some reason, I could very well be wrong though, lol.)

Phoenix

 

I believe the 1887 is a well struck year as well. However, the strike on this coin is not as good as many others I have seen IMHO.

 

I too have never heard that the 1887-P is weakly struck. In fact, my dad has a roll of them that, if I remember right, were pretty well struck. However, I don't think there is wear on this coin. I'm sticking with my grade of 65 for now. Can't wait to hear what NGC said though.

 

I'll guess MS67 so that at least two people have voted for each option, making Lehighs guess wrong

 

Bowers.. p. 187... "Today, examples remain plentiful, but as most are weakly struck in one area or another, or have poor luster, or are afflicted with both negatives, being fussy is the order of the day when buying one."

A quick look at the first dozen or so NGC and PCGS ones I saw on eBay confirms it, most of them are weak strikes, at least on the obverse. One was a strong strike and was noted as such.

Now, ANY Morgan from New Orleans seems to be a lousy strike, Philly just seemed to have their stuff together more often than most but they did screw up too.

 

Again, I have to agree with this. I'm no expert, but I have seen alot of 1887 Morgans, and a weak strike is not something I ever noticed, except maybe on the O's of course.

 

Someone thinks its a weak strike as evident by the MS grade.

Ruben

 

great minds think alike

 

There is qa color change. It's dark...

 

First 10 or so I looked at on the 'Bay... I'm like water tonight, went to the path of least resistance (Easiest and laziest place)..

Well struck (And advertised as such)

http://cgi.ebay.com/HARD-STRIKE-PCG...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1308|301:1|293:1|294:50

Ditto

http://cgi.ebay.com/HARD-STRIKE-PCG...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1308|301:1|293:1|294:50

Lousy strike..

http://cgi.ebay.com/BEAUTIFUL-1887-...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1307|301:1|293:1|294:50

Weakish

http://cgi.ebay.com/1887-Morgan-1-N...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

Weak Hair

http://cgi.ebay.com/1887-TOP-100-MO...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

And again

http://cgi.ebay.com/1887-MORGAN-SIL...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

Weakly struck, lacking full hair detail

http://cgi.ebay.com/1887-Morgan-Dol...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

DMPL, Green Holder, bad strike..

http://cgi.ebay.com/1887-MORGAN-DOL...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50

Weak strike

http://cgi.ebay.com/1887-Morgan-Sil...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50

Pics are lousy but appears weakly struck

http://cgi.ebay.com/1887-MORGAN-DOL...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50

So assume that #10 is actually a well struck coin, that's 7 out of 10. I just took the first 10 listed and linked to them.

Did the same thing on Teletrade, went 365 Days back and opened the first 10 I saw. Almost every one weak in the lower hair area.

Strong
Weak
Weak
Weak
Weak
Weak
Weak
Weak
Strong
Weak

Then you throw in that the 1887-P was the fifth highest mintage of the series, the top 3 being the '21s, and you assume that Philadelphia was just cranking them out as fast as possible. You know, big huge rush to get them made so they could rot in the basement of the treasury for 80 years