I just purchased this one. It appears to be uncirculated to me, and I will guess an ms-62+. I'm still new to grading, so any opinions are great.
I would grade it at least MS64/65 based on your photograph. Breast feathers are nicely struck and the hair above her ear is well defined. I don't see hardly any bag or distracting contact marks so you have a nice coin from the last year Morgans were circulated. Look at the cheek area. If it is free of marks and such, that is good. I also concentrate on the hair just above her ear. Again, it is not worn and well defined, the better. On the reverse, I look immeidately at the breast feathers and have the same rules...well defined, well struck, all the better. Last but not least, I look at the clear fields where there is no pattern for bag and contacts marks. The lesser the contact marks, obviously, the better. FYI...You have to understand that differant mints had differant standards. For instance, New Orleans changed their dies less frequently and many of their coins were weakly struck and less defined than say, San Francisco which produced some of the best stuck Morgans around. So...what would deem a MS65 grade for New Orleans may only grade out MS63 for a San Francisco minted coin. Many Morgan collectors can simply look at the coin and tell where it was minted without even looking at the reverse for the mint mark. How is the luster? The better the eye appeal, the better. Want to know more about Morgan dollars? The best book for that is "The Offical Red Book of Morgan Silver Dollars" by Q. David Bowers. It is a must for any Morgan dollar collector.
Thanks for the info midas! I try to guess conservatively on my grading, as the grading experts here often say I am guessing too high, but hopefully like you suggest, in this case, too low. I only paid 20 dollars for the coin, and I am happy with it no matter what the grade.
I just got the official red book of morgan dollars at barnes and nobles after I took my stupid biochemistry final! I'm eager to start collecting these now that I have completed my barber dime collection.
The pictures look fine. That's a great coin for $20! You'd better go back to the same place and see what else is lying around for $20.
I actually bought it on ebay. The guy had a bunch for sale, and they were all the same price, and he says the coin in the picture is the one you are bidding on. This one was definitely the nicest, so I bought it for 20 dollars.
Mighty fine looking Morgan Dollar you got there Zane!! for twenty bucks you can't go wrong with that PS what Guy????LOL
The sellers name is silversmith25. All of the morgans that are left aren't nearly as nice as the one I got. When I get it I'll post some better pictures, but I definitely think it looks extremely nice from the pictures.
I'd call it a solid 64, depending on the mark on the cheek. However, photography can be pretty selective in terms of the details, overstating some marks while omitting others depending on light. I think $20 was a fair price for that coin. You might also want to look at it for VAMs - here's a link to some more info: http://www.rjrc.com/vams/photo.htm
