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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 869422, member: 112&quot;]You look for signs of wear. On an AU coin wear will be a slightly different color than the adjoining areas. And it will show a break in the luster. </p><p><br /></p><p>Now on Morgans that can be confusing to some because Morgans are also commonly found with what I call frost breaks. These kind of marks are not commonly found on other coins because most other coins don&#039;t have frost like Morgans do. Frost can be thought of as being similar to the cameo effect you see on Proofs. On Morgans, a lot of them anyway, the devices, legends, dates etc will have the frost.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, frost breaks cannot be thought of as wear. Yes, very light wear would cause the same kind of marks. But with Morgans it is most commonly caused by the coins rubbing against each other in the $1000 bags that they were issued in straight from the mint. So Morgans are given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to frost breaks.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now make no mistake, if the metal of the coin is disturbed in any way then it counts as a contact mark as well. But ordinarily frost breaks typically only affect the eye appeal of the coin and can thus affect the grade because of that.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now I would have to write a book to explain all the finer points of grading Morgans, but it is necessary to know at least that much to tell BU from AU.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now on your coin, based only of the reverse pic of course, if you look at the wing on the left, the very tip of it shows a slightly different color. Typically that is caused by wear. But it could be due to your picture or the holder it is in as well. </p><p><br /></p><p>Without seeing the rest of the coin it is impossible to grade it. But based on the reverse alone a TPG would call that coin at least MS64 and it might have a shot at 65. Of course that is assuming that your picture is not hiding some marks or defects that I cannot see because of the glare or the holder.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you wish to know more, please read what you find here - <a href="http://www.cointalk.com/t14179/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/t14179/">Coin Grading</a>. One of those links will lead you to a a complete book on grading that is on-line. Some of the others will suggest other books that you should get and read to understand grading.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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