Questions from a new guy

Hi Everyone,
I posted recently about a few Morgan coins that I have and I very much appreciate the answers.

I would really like to start learning more about coin collecting and start to share this hobby with my son.

I thought it would be a lot of fun to start with Carson City Morgan's and eventually try to collect all the Morgan's! I'm sure that will keep me busy for quite some time.

A few questions:

1: where do most people go to search for coins? I can see thousands available on auction sites like eBay. I typically shy away from eBay for other things I collect (watches) because of how many fakes are out there. What if they're graded? Or best to stay away entirely? Part of me feels that it's almost like cheating because of how easy it is to find stuff, but I'm a busy guy and i realize it will be hard to "hunt" in the wild exclusively so to speak.

2: opinions on a minimum grade or condition to search for? I do see this as a fun hobby for myself and my son and something I could leave him someday. At the same time this is not necessarily an investment.

3: lastly what's the best resource to find fair market values? Being new to this I have no idea what's a fair price, what's too much and what's a deal. I have looked at the PCGS guide online but it seems most of the coins I've found on eBay list for quite a bit more.

Thanks for all of your help!


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I use CoinFacts a lot to see actual auction results. It gives you some idea of what a coin is worth. http://www.pcgscoinfacts.com/Hierarchy.aspx?c=744&title=Morgan+Dollar

 

1. I go everywhere I can think of to search for coins. Ebay has the exact same problem with coins as it does watches, and worse. Counterfeits, of course, but the key to a coin's value is condition, and you can not necessarily reliably determine a coin's condition from typical Ebay images. You sometimes have to work carefully and deliberately, with professional skill, to capture a cleaned coin so it's obvious to the viewer, and many Ebay sellers aren't worthy of the term "skill" when it comes to imagery. Worse yet, some will deliberately hide that cleaning. So, in addition to developing grading skills (you should not be buying raw coins without the ability to accurately determine grade, and therefore value), you need the skill of evaluating coin photography. Completely different skills requiring the same steps for learning - look at a bazillion coins.

There are hundreds/thousands of dealers with online presences. In fact, many who also sell on Ebay will have the same coin on their business website for less, because Ebay imposes additional cost-of-business on them which needs to be compensated (and Ebay contains bidiots, who seem to prefer overpaying for a given coin, therefore the dealer can get away with higher prices).

Get me a feel for what you like, and what you're going to be paying per coin, and I'll offer more specific advice.

2. Only you can decide what you like for condition. You'll find preferences all over the map among CT members. There will be coins you can collect in high Mint State grade, and others which will cost you a fortune to find one at all in any condition. Get a feel for what you like first. See? I said that again - coin collecting is at its' heart a very subjective, personal activity and only you can decide what appeals to you. If you don't like liver, I cannot "advise you" to like it.

3. Published price guides are not where you determine what to pay for a coin. They are slow to react to market changes, and virtually all of them are published by people with a vested interest in high coin prices. You determine the price to pay for a coin by learning what your competition - other potential buyers of the same coin - is paying for it today, in the real world. Ebay results are a great help, once you learn to factor in the bidiots because there will be "outlier" prices from them. There will also be "outlier" prices caused by unlucky auctions - poor timing, maybe, or just the poor luck of selling something nobody was really looking for at the time. A big news story will drag a bunch of potential buyers away from Ebay and onto CNN.

For slabbed coins, PCGS has an enormous database of auction results:

http://www.pcgs.com/auctionprices/

All the major auction houses combined, going back nearly 25 years. For coins in slabs - or raw coins whose value indicates they ought to be in a slab - this is your hookup.

 

My favorite pricing resource is www.ha.com. Select coins/ coin resources/ price guide for numismatists. All kinds of info available, from other sources as well as auction sales amounts.

 

And that's one problem with eBay: it's easy to find stuff. It's easy for everybody to find stuff -- including people who don't know what they're doing. And if two people who don't know what they're doing find the same item, they can bid it up to unrealistic levels. If one person finds an auction at an unrealistically low price, he can bid it up -- and so can the next one, until it's no longer at a low price.

There are still ways to win. Auctions with poor titles, descriptions or photos can fly under the radar of most searchers, but you need skill, experience, and/or luck to find the ones that are worthwhile. Buy It Now listings sometimes appear with below-market prices, and if you spot them before someone else does, they're yours -- again, skill and experience, but mostly luck (searching at the right time).

And, as @SuperDave said, there are a lot of deliberately deceptive sellers, and there's a lot of garbage. It takes a certain personality to spend the time and effort needed to find the good stuff. If you enjoy coin-roll hunting or metal detecting, you might have the right personality.

 

coin shops, coin shows. pay what you want to pay. if you can only afford low grade stick to it. down the road will you be happy with that grade ? most of the time no, but if you are happy that's all that matters. The most important thing about coin collecting is learning all you can about grading and history and having fun doing it.

 

Some great advice here. This hobby is ALL about learning. You will never stop learning. The best thing you can do is buy some books. I would suggest 'A Guide Book of Morgan Silver Dollars' by Q David Bowers, 'Carson City Morgan Dollars' by Adam Crum, Selby Ungar and Jeff Oxman followed by a book on grading (there are several to choose from including one by a fellow forum member @physics-fan3.14).

 

Thank you all for the advice. I'll be checking out the auction sites. I'm going to absolutely buy a book on Morgan's. I'm excited to start a little collection. I'll be sure to post pics of what I get.


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Be careful, buying beautiful coins is just as addicting as any other vice, be it drugs, gambling or smoking. But with the upside of it not being detrimental to your health. And you can at least recover some of your money if not more (depending on your buying strategy) when you go to sell in the future. It's a fun hobby and you will be looking forward to the rush of your next purchase.

 

Out of curiosity how does this CC Morgan look?








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Looks rather nice, MS-63ish.

Book learning part: Over 80% of the entire mintage of 1884-CC was not released to the public until the GSA sales almost 100 years later. It is actually a pretty common Morgan in Mint State, whose premium value derives wholly from the cachet of the CC Mint Mark.

Resources are already posted in this thread which will give you a clear feel for how much you ought to pay for this coin. Off you go.

 

Let me differ just a bit...collecting coins is a lot like riding a bike, you can read book after book and it won't help you till you get in the saddle. Compare prices, even on e-bay (sold listings) and ask for help here for any expensive ones. BTW, speaking of expensive, why pick CC Morgans?

 

Also maybe just go to some coin shops and just look at some Morgans. The more you look at and handle, the more you can tell better strikes, grades and if they've been cleaned.

 

If you like Morgan Dollars, pick up the Guide Book of Morgan Silver Dollars. Lots of good information in there. Not an expensive book.

It's hard to tell you what grade to buy without knowing your budget, although a general rule of thumb is that you shouldn't by coins in a grade that is priced nearly the same as the next grade higher.

For CC Morgans, you'll probably want to buy them in the original GSA holders from the early 1970s. Many of these are already graded by NGC with a strap around the case. They trade quite frequently, and you can search prices realized (PCGS and Heritage mentioned earlier) for the going rate. If you don't have an account with Heritage, get one. No cost, no obligation and you get access to a couple decades of their auction archives.

People on eBay can ask whatever they want, but those prices are meaningless until an item is sold.

 

I picked Morgan's for two reasons.

1 - I always had an interest in coins as a child but never really took it too serious. I was given an 1895-O Morgan for my Bar Mitzvah 20 years ago or so. Also, my dad gave me my 1880 and 1882 CC when I was much younger. I always loved looking at those coins so I guess Morgan's being back fond memories.

2 - the history is fascinating. I don't think this one needs much of an explanation.


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Mazel Tov...as good a reason as any

 

Thanks for the advice. I bought the A guide book of Morgan's on Amazon. 5th edition.

Also, I picked up a 1884 GSA MS-64 from an online dealer. I figured I'd start with the easy dates first. I'll post pics when I get it.


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The first and the latter are both worth every penny you pay for them.
Very good condition on Amazon for about $12.00 shipped.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...-keywords=guidebook+for+morgan+silver+dollars

Welcome to "Crazy Talk"...I mean Coin Talk.

 

JRS, the history connection will continue to amaze you. Again, welcome to CT.