1878-s Morgan grading help

RobM

So I'm not particularly knowledgeable in how old coins grade. Any ideas on whether this 1878-s Morgan would be considered AU or MS? It belonged to my FIL. Thanks for any feedback.

relicsncoins

Looks MS from the photos, but impossible to tell much else from the photos.

pursuitofliberty

I agree, looks MS from the photo's. It's a tough picture to grade from, but I would wag it's in the 63 range.

nwcoast

I took the liberty of tweaking the photos a bit.
As the others mentioned, it looks MS. It’s hard to tell from your lighting but there may be some cameo Prooflike stuff going on too. Just impossible to tell from these pics.

RobM

Thanks all for the feedback! I may try to take some photos with better lighting. I was trying to catch details without getting reflection on some parts of the coin, thus the indirect lighting and yellowish tint. I am more of a bullion investor, and haven't any experience trying to capture coins accurately.

LRCTom

MS, possibly prooflike. Not a super high-grade MS, but a perfectly decent coin.

cheezhed

VAM 76 Funky Feather. Great VAM.

coinbuf

Really tough to call from the photos, I would agree that it could be low MS but the patch of hairlines next to the eagles right wing have me wondering if its been cleaned in the past.

privatecoin

Looks ms.

relicsncoins

@coinbuf said:
Really tough to call from the photos, I would agree that it could be low MS but the patch of hairlines next to the eagles right wing have me wondering if its been cleaned in the past.

If I had to guess, I think they might be die polish lines.

ricko

Looks MS... the lines on the reverse look like die polish lines (as @relicsncoins said above)... I enlarged the picture and does not look like cleaning hairlines. Cheers, RickO

RobM

Thanks for all the excellent info. My FIL, who passed away last year, received the coin as a gift for selling raffle tickets for a club he belonged to back in 1976. She had been sleeping for last 45 years. Another question... Does it make sense to send such coin out to be graded? Ultimately, I may sell it because I offered to sell his coins for my MIL. I actually fronted her $500 for the collection so that I could take some time looking things over and figuring out the best way to sell all those common 70s and 80s uncirculated and proof mint sets that he purchased.

Jimnight

Looks MS.

MFeld

@relicsncoins said:

@coinbuf said:
Really tough to call from the photos, I would agree that it could be low MS but the patch of hairlines next to the eagles right wing have me wondering if its been cleaned in the past.

If I had to guess, I think they might be die polish lines.

That would be my guess, too.

coinbuf

@relicsncoins said:

@coinbuf said:
Really tough to call from the photos, I would agree that it could be low MS but the patch of hairlines next to the eagles right wing have me wondering if its been cleaned in the past.

If I had to guess, I think they might be die polish lines.

I also considered that but I just cannot tell from the photo.

messydesk

Looks MS and perhaps PL. Also looks like VAM 76, which is a good variety that has a premium. An MS63 sold for $720 on Heritage last October.

DollarAfterDollar

Send it with an Economy order. Find 4 more coins.

Looks MS 64 to me.

smalltime

Try using the PCGS Photograde feature and you can come up with a good estimate of grade.. For Morgans, i think looking at the reverse, particularily the feathers gives you the best hints as to grade. Looks MS 63 to me.

logger7

No wear or friction should grade well, definitely get the variety done entering in your best guess, they want you to enter a variety, I have gotten a call before on what I thought it was.

RobM

Thanks,all, for the great advice and feedback. I think i may send this coin in to pcgs. Like i said earlier, i invest in bullion. Like to look at shiny coins, but not particularly knowledgeable or interested in every intricacy, error, or variety (but i have been researching all the VAM stuff that you have been providing). Just cleaned her with some brasso to get ready for grading......

Just kidding on the brasso.

erwindoc

Looks like an excellent candidate for some MS70 before you submit it, but would not apply it until you have practiced rolling it on other coins! Some of that stuff in the fields may come off.

RobM

@erwindoc said:
Looks like an excellent candidate for some MS70 before you submit it, but would not apply it until you have practiced rolling it on other coins! Some of that stuff in the fields may come off.

All kidding aside, one shouldn't clean coins, correct?

Cocoinut

It looks MS64 or better. There is some reflectivity, but it's impossible to tell from the photo if there's enough to make it PL. I'm not an expert on VAMs, but if it can be verified that it's a VAM 76, it would be worth it to have it graded with a variety attribution.

Jim

erwindoc

@RobM said:

@erwindoc said:
Looks like an excellent candidate for some MS70 before you submit it, but would not apply it until you have practiced rolling it on other coins! Some of that stuff in the fields may come off.

All kidding aside, one shouldn't clean coins, correct?

Absolutely dont clean coins! MS70 and the various dips are not cleaning and would be considered conservation by removing oils and other debris from coins surfaces. Tons of posts on this. Practice on cheap coins first!!