Here some American coins I wish I still had the opportunity to buy http://coins.ha.com/c/auction-home....ms-OpenAuctions-Open-BrowseAuctionInfo-071713 Hopefully someone Here can.
Congratulations, it's a Morgan: Just picked this up this month. It's my first CAC (not that I actively seek them out) and also the highest-rated coin in my collection (with an emphasis on Saints, MS-65 had been my previous threshold as I don't collect smaller, less-expensive coins). It's an MS-66 CAC 1884-CC Morgan....taking the advice of some of the Morgan experts here, I may go for a bit more selectivity here with a rarer mintage and/or a GSA. Hope the pics are decent...I used my Galaxy S4, happy to take any suggestions on setting as I know nothing about smarpthone cameras -- or any cameras, for that matter.
GF, nice CC! Now that you've scratched that itch, take some time to find other beauties that are out there.... What I really like about the Morgan series is there are coins available for every size wallet. 4 mints to choose from (5 if you add the one year Denver struck the coin) and each mint had their own "nuances". Here's a common date "O" morgan in 66. IMO, it's nearly flawless. The NO mint typically had a satiny luster. Notice the strike weakness above the year. This is typical of a NO mint strike.
Thanks JP.....I'm really not seeing the strike weakness, what should I be looking at compared to maybe my 1884-CC ? BTW, beautiful coin, yes !
Look at the hair on "O" mints right above the ear. It's usually "smoother" than the other mints. There was a belief that for a while New Orleans didn't have their die gapped properly and this part of the design is weakly struck. It's missing some "hair strand" detail.
My latest purchase is a rare edition of an auction catalog. Original price in 1989 was $175! The last item in the auction was a copy of this same edition.
New ancient that is also my first empress in this denomination. Common for Billon Tetradrachms to have crappy surfaces to due soil and alloy over the centuries. Faustina Jr. (146 - 175 A.D.) EGYPT ALEXANDRIA Billon Tetradrachm O: ΦAVCTINA CEBACTH; draped bust right, hair in knot. R: Tyche seated left on throne; L-Δ in fields, Regnal year 4 Struck 163/164 A.D. 11.5g 24mm Emmett 2285(4), R1; Milne 2491