Before anyone asks for a picture, i will get one in the next few days or so =) My father-in-law pulls out his small collection of coins this past weekend. In his box, was an 1889 CC Morgan dollar. I almost dropped it. I didnt have a lot of time to examine it, but i jotted down the year and looked it up when i got home. I am not a collector of morgans, so it wasnt until i looked in my books did i realize the possible value. There were only 350,000 coins minted there, and Carson City has alot of 'fake' coins. So one of my fears is that it is a fake coin. The coin has a blackish color tone to it. My first thought was that it had been cleaned. Morgans usually tone a rainbow color, yes? In an email i sent him, i told him of ways i could think of to determine in the coin was real or not - 1) weigh the coin, morgans weigh 26.73 grams not counting the subtraction for wear. 2) the 'ring' test, where a silver dollar will ring differently then a steel one would 3) the rim test, to see if there was an edge on the rim from the early days of casting fakes 4) have a local dealer look at it, but they live in a backwoods town so im not sure if they have them there 5) thrid party graders my questions is if anyone else has come across morgans that have that blackish tone on it, and if that is an indication of it being cleaned or fake. and also if there were any other ways for myself to determine if the coin is real or fake before sending it out if he so desires. and yes, i wil lpost a picture as soon as i get one. thanks goes to those who help!!!
We need the picture Toning has nothing to do with whether or not the coin is fake. Dirt is dark. Case in point...
thanks for that picture, that is the type of black toning the coin has. I looked over google trying to find an example but couldnt. Im glad that type of toning doesnt necesarily mean the coin is fake.
My grandpa had a bunch of coins in an old leather wallet. That wallet toned those suckers black or dark grey. I'd say that many a Morgan has toned that color...and then been dipped. Yes, definitely weigh it or send it to a TPG and/or any of those other ideas you had. Before that though, do you have any idea of the possible grade?
i only got a quick glance as company for Thanksgiving dinner started arriving, but i would guess an EF or possibly at the very least a VF. I usually rely on the steps listed in my Red Book when i try to grade a coin. I am far from an expert hya:
Daggarjon: Nice catch. I wouldn't worry too much about the dark color. I have seen many cions that were toned dark. It usually happens because the owner dosen't carefully protect the coin when it is put away. Better dark than cleaned!
I agree with tcore. The tanic acid in leather can cause the black/grey toning and it can be spotty or just in a few spots. I think a TPG would be the way to go. Also, make sure you tell him how to handle the coin.
I would go with #1 abd #5----I wouldn't do the #2 just in case it put a nice size nick on it---the weight would tell if it was silver or steel and many times the fakes were even made out of silver---just a lower form of pure silver. Speedy
You should also ask him where he got the coin. Sometimes it helps to know where it came from when evaluating the likelihood that it is a countefeit. If it's been in his family in the sock drawer for 100 years, that lessens the chance that it is fake.
Actually it doesn't. There were large quantities of contemporary counterfeits of all the coins which circulated in the Far East, including Morgans, US, British and Japanese Trade Dollars, etc.
thanks to all for the replies. He has had the coin in his possession for almost 40 years or so. He collected it when he was a kid. Since then, its just been sitting in his box of other coins. He doesnt remember where he got it, he just knows it was when he was a kid. The bad part is that alot of his other coins have been cleaned. he doesnt remember cleaning any of them, but some of his standing quarters were cleaned. He lives several hours from me, so i will see if i can get him to take a picture of the coin to send to me, otherwise i wontbe in his area until x-mas. I will keep everyone posted as i get more info as to what the coin is and its value (if he wants to)
