Hello I have a friend at work who is a great blue collar kind of guy. He has an interest in coins, but is not yet the scholar that he will be in this topic. He brought a few Morgans at $20 a peice about a year ago and he asked me my opinion on them. So instead of just giving my amature opinion, I took some pictures and I'm now passing these photo's on to the forum for some more expert opinions. They are a few of them so I'll put them up one by one. Ruben http://www.mrbrklyn.com/images/rons_coin/dsc00123.jpg http://www.mrbrklyn.com/images/rons_coin/dsc00124.jpg
http://www.mrbrklyn.com/images/rons_coin/dsc00125.jpg http://www.mrbrklyn.com/images/rons_coin/dsc00126.jpg 1890-O
http://www.mrbrklyn.com/images/rons_coin/dsc00127.jpg http://www.mrbrklyn.com/images/rons_coin/dsc00128.jpg 1891
http://www.mrbrklyn.com/images/rons_coin/dsc00129.jpg http://www.mrbrklyn.com/images/rons_coin/dsc00130.jpg 1896 - I kind of like this one
http://www.mrbrklyn.com/images/rons_coin/dsc00131.jpg http://www.mrbrklyn.com/images/rons_coin/dsc00132.jpg 1882
I think your friend paid a little for these, as I think some of them have been cleaned. I would say they are worth about 15-20 each, at most.
Well, I think he may have paid a bit much for some of them. The '98 looks absolutely whizzed to me. If one is decent though, then the 100 dollars spent is not a complete loss. The 1890 - O is one i really have no clue how to grade. Ruben
I'd grade the 1890-O vf-20. The breast feathers look completely worn, and the rest of the characteristics look consistent to a vf-20 coin to me.
The '96 is the nicest of the lot - the rest have been harshly cleaned and/or polished. You might get $20 for the '96 - $12 each for the rest IMO.
Yeah - I liked the '96, actually quite a bit. Unfortunately, the market is flooded with them. This is the kind of fellow who works so hard for his money, I was only hoping for better news. The guy selling them to him in Manhattan put prices from $85.00 to $30.oo on them and then offered them for $20 each. Without much experience, it is easy to take advange of someone. It kind of annoys me because this very gentle man is very enthusiastic about his coins. Ruben
how would you grade the '96 - Oh Future Professional grader It has all the details, breast feathers etc. BTW - the O can not be just a victem of a bad strike? I thought now... But the '96 has to be an MS 62? ruben
It's really sad that some people do that, it really kills the hobby for some people, This is my second year of collecting mostly British Coins But Like the Modern Eagles and Mordern Britanias, I like Morgans very much, but only have one because so many I think have had things done to them and they can be expensive at times as well as over priced I think, as a whole market to hype them has built up. I think with VAMS and such are part of that hype but then again I could very well be wrong and I willl be the first to say I don't have a full understanding as i have bee scared away from buying them because of the dipping doctoring problems I read about people running into. I do get scared though when I read this, as at some point I would like to buy the most common Morgans in Good grade, I can't afford the High end stuff but really do love the artistry of them, I have thought about grading companys but sometimes I think they have the same marketing hype going on as well. Yet in time I think I will learn and then the world of Morgans will open up for me I look forward to that time. I just hope this does not turn your friend off from colection if the coins were giving him such joy.
mmmm (exhale) well... he was aditionally impressed because he goes into this place and everyone with wearing a firearm, and the place has a ton of gold coins. It was in the 50's on the Westside I believe. Maybe Stacks. I'll check with him after the weekend and make sure I'm not disparaging the wrong place. My friend first went to the bank and asked them for some silver coins and they told him to go upstairs. This might sound silly to many on the list, but for someone of his background, he doesn't really know well what banks do and how currency worked. So he went to the bank to get some real silver coins, and they pointed him upstairs to this place and he brought these coins which can look good to someone unfamiliar with the problem of cleaning coins. I told him not to feel to bad about the polished coins. If the Smithsoneon thinks its a good thing to do to a coin, why shouldn't you I was hoping to give him good new about the New Orleans coin. What does the 1896 grade at? Ruben
I don't Have My 2006 redbook yet, but the values from the 2005 red book for a 1896 O are VF-20 is 18$ EF-40 is 20$ AU-50 is 200$ MS60 is 850$ MS- 63 is 7000$ then 40.000$ and 150.000$ for the uper end grades, for an 1896 with out the O it's much less expensive a top end one is 125$ and thats at MS-65 a caveat though, like all things the market will determin value. A question though, is he looking to collect coins or just buy invest in silver?
I think the 96 would go 62 possibly, but something doesn't look right about it to me. It looks like there is some weird residue on the coin, possibly PVC, but I can't tell if it is just the lighting.
Ruben you've seen the '96 in hand, if it has luster then I would agree with the 62 grade. If it doesn't - 60. There is a possibility that if submitted for grading the coin might be body bagged because of the bad rim ding.
yeah I'm not going to enjoy making this report... There also seems to be some kind of bubble looking thing on the photo on the bottom stars. I do get excited when look at this coin though, especially the reverse. I need to think up a way to ameliorate this. Ruben
