Thoughts on having Morgans graded?

Until recently, I was afraid to buy any Morgans because I was afraid I’d get some fakes. However, I ended up getting brave and buying a few that are in great shape but are ungraded. For the average collector, is it advisable to have them graded? It’s probably worth noting that none of them are rare or anything. There are 5 altogether. Like will it add value to my collection in the future to have them graded now? As always, thank y’all for your feedback. ​

 

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Unfortunately you need to be able to spot fakes and know how to grade to be able buy raw Morgan Dollars and not waste money on grading fees. If you buy fakes, you are obviously nowhere. If you buy coins that are not worth the cost of shipping them to the third party grader (no cheap these days) and the grading fees, you are worse off. If you have the coins, you could post pictures here for the opinions.

As a general rule, most dealers are not going to leave money on the table. If there is more income to be made by getting a coin certified, they are going to do it. If not, in a lot of cases the coins are not worth the grading expenses.

 

If they are common dates, probably not worth it unless they will grade MS65. Maybe not even then.

 

Mika, depending on your budget, you might want to consider buying a quality graded coin if you want to catch any appreciationg.

And as you will learn here, graded or ungraded, do NOT count on coin appreciation. Buy coins that you want to COLLECT and that you LIKE and that APPEAL to you.

If a coin dropping 50% in value in 2 years from when you purchased it will make you upset or hurt you financially, don't buy it.

 

With Morgans, you're way better off buying an example that's already in the slab you prefer. Most are not rare and can be had at reasonable prices in slabs, often avoiding the grading value altogether.
If you must send them in for grading yourself, the cheapest option is pretty expensive now. If you want scratch resistant holders and are willing to wait a month for the cheapest service for US coins at NGC, you're looking at about $27 per coin, plus a $10 handling fee, plus $26 for shipping, plus paying the shipping to get it there. That's the cheapest option now. Only goes up from there. I'm looking to send 3 coins in and it's gonna push $100. Ones just for a re-holder.
For the most part from what I've seen, most stuff that "should" be sent in for grading has been. Morgans are extremely plentiful in high grades, so only the extremely nice ones with few marks at all and/or proof like, mirror fields would be worth sending in.

 

I saw a breakdown of cost in another post and it said at least $27 a coin (similar to what Vess said) to have them graded. I have 6, one is already graded. I seriously doubt I’ll send them in. Morgans are intimidating, I’m going back to the clad commemorative half dollars. Thank y’all! I will post pics when I get them all in!

 

Mika, what are you collecting interests ? Anything in particular ?

When you buy, do you go to a LCS...coin show.....online auctions ?

 

I doubt they are worth having them graded. Pics would be helpful.

 

If you KNOW your LCS and he is a trusted dealer who has been in the business a while (and has others vouch for him or you know he goes to coin shows and numismatic events)...chances are he won't have fakes in his shop.

There are trusted dealers online who you can find out about...and coin shows (local, regional, national) also have good dealers attend.

 

The only coins I've sent off for grading were with ANACs. And, they offer free return shipping - if you deliver your coins to them at a coin show, there's no shipping cost at all.

Right now, they have a dollar and cents special going on - $108 for 10 coins. I was generally happy with their grading too, although a few of my pieces came back 2 or 3 points lower than I'd hoped. And I even like the look & feel of their slabs.

 

If you post decent photos of your coins, the good people of this forum will be able to tell you if what you have is worth getting graded or not.

 

I personally think commems are the most interesting, educational, and affordable. Run with the clads for a while, then you can move on to the old silver commemoratives (1892 - 1954).

 

Hehe don't be afraid of morgans they wonderful but yeah in most cases now is safest to buy them slabbed... costs a bit more that way, but still cheaper then buying then haveing them slabbed (for 9 out of 10 anyway) On the other hand, slabs don't fit in dansco albums hehe