My Morgan Collection Part 10 (1887-S - 1889)

david3142

So we come to my first empty spot. I had an 1887-S but I wanted to upgrade it eventually, and I sold it before finding a replacement. Hopefully the other four in this group make up for it.

The 1887-S is shockingly hard to find nice. Look through any recent auction and you may see one ok example but more likely it will go from 87-O to 88. I know of one beautiful rainbow toner but it’s a 61 and I just didn’t want a coin that baggy. There are some mirrored coins around but I haven’t seen any I like in my price range.

1888 Morgans are also surprisingly difficult for what seems like a common date. I encountered far more 88-Os, especially when looking for PL or DMPL examples. Toned examples are also rare. I’ve seen some nice ones but nothing like what you can find from 86 or 87 Philly issues. My example is very flashy and clean.

1888 MS65PL CAC

1888-O Morgans are pretty common and come with mirrors and there are even a couple of beautifully toned examples. I’d rank this one after the Sunnywood (now Aurora Borealis) coin but I love it.

1888-O MS65+ CAC

1888-S is a tough date and priced accordingly. However, there is virtually no premium for PL coins even though they are much rarer. Seriously, PCGS has a 63 at $600 and a 63PL at $625. 64 prices are $1100 and $1150 respectively. That’s just weird. Anyway, this is a nice reflective example that’s very close to DMPL.

1888-S MS63PL

1889 Morgans are readily available and there are a few nicely toned ones. It’s a little easier to find with rainbow color than the 1888 but still a challenge. I think the coin below is a true monster regardless of date.

1889 MS65+ CAC

Show me some of yours from this stretch! Hopefully my commentary will be more interesting going forward since there aren’t many common dates left.

gumby1234

Christmas is coming soon. Wonder if all of these would fit in my stocking. LOL. Nice looking group.

vplite99

Beautiful, thanks for these posts.

ricko

Another nice installment of your set. I do enjoy seeing them and your commentary. Cheers, RickO

asheland

Awesome!

david3142

Update! I have since purchased an 1887-S. It is the only hole that I have filled since I started this series although I have upgraded three others.

As mentioned, the 87-S is very hard to find but this example is everything I would want. A sparkling and mirrored example with absolutely no haze but the just-missed-PL reverse keeps this from being a $20K coin (so I can afford it!)

As a fun side note, the rainbow-toned MS61 I mentioned in the OP recently sold at Heritage for $2640 - 4x the price it brought on GC less than a year ago! A few people got wise to the difficulty of this date!

gumby1234

I like it

coastaljerseyguy

Great addition to your collection, great luster and strike, & a nice obv cameo. Agree with your comments, easy to find 1 sided PL but not both sides. Also very baggy and seemed like a lot of coins had a haze or rust color toning, maybe sitting in mint bags too long.

WAYNEAS

Thanks once gain on sharing this marvelous collection.
Wayne

Meltdown

I love these Morgan posts of yours but I just HAVE to ask about that 87-S.

How bad is that jawline scratch? MS65+ seems pretty generous if it's that prominent.

littlebear

Awesome!

david3142

@Meltdown said:
I love these Morgan posts of yours but I just HAVE to ask about that 87-S.

How bad is that jawline scratch? MS65+ seems pretty generous if it's that prominent.

It is WAY less obvious in person. It is hard to capture the cameo and not also highlight that line. It is very shallow but it is more noticeable because the rest of the cheek is very clean. Here’s another shot:

Walkerfan

MS 63 OGH

MS 64 OBH