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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ziggy29, post: 12558, member: 1113&quot;]Well, I&#039;m a collector of Morgans though I haven&#039;t bought much in this overheated market (some of mine have doubled in book value in the last three years).</p><p><br /></p><p>What is it about Morgans?&nbsp; Hard to say.&nbsp; They&#039;re big, they have a lot of detail, they evoke a history of silver mining, the Old West and 1890s political debate, and perhaps most importantly, you can buy nice uncirculated coins going back into the 1800s for twenty bucks and gems for $100 or so.</p><p><br /></p><p>The first thing you should do, IMO, is learn to grade them if you&#039;re going to collect them, particularly in the grade ranges you plan to target for purchasing.&nbsp; (Mine is roughly AU-50 to MS-65, depending on rarity and where the big price jumps kick in for that particular coin.)&nbsp; Pick up a book or two about Morgan (and perhaps Peace) dollars and learn about them.&nbsp; Learn which date/mintmark combinations are usually struck well and which aren&#039;t.&nbsp; (For example, don&#039;t pay much premium for an 1881-S with a nice strike; prepare to pay a pretty nice premium for, say, an 1892-O or other date that&#039;s usually terribly struck.)</p><p><br /></p><p>If you&#039;re going to buy certified (slabbed) coins, don&#039;t rely on the slab grade.&nbsp; Also know that some grading services are more respected than others.&nbsp; A common date MS-65 Morgan in a respected slab may set you back (say) $110-$120 these days; an &quot;MS-65&quot; in a less-respected slab might cost $50.&nbsp; But don&#039;t think you got a bargain -- the reason people don&#039;t pay MS-65 money for these lesser slabs is because the coins rarely deserve the MS-65 grade; they may be MS-63, they may be AU-58, they may even be cleaned.&nbsp; While you should never rely on the grading service&#039;s opinion 100%, you do need to know which ones will give best sight-unseen resale value.&nbsp; No one will give you $100 for a common date MS-65 Morgan from that grading service that&#039;s suing everyone.</p><p><br /></p><p>Once you&#039;ve done this homework, you&#039;ll probably know whether or not Morgans are where you want to focus your collecting dollars.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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