1878s Morgan’s- should they be graded?
Ppp
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I just obtained eight 1878s Morgan’s from a friend who had them for many years. He remembers them being part of an uncirculated roll.
Not to overload the forum I attached pictures of two coins.
I think they maybe ms63 to ms64.
What do you think?
Thank you in advance.
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Comments
NOT the best photo
kinda looks like AU !
You are right pictures are not that good using my phone.
Here are pictures from my iPad. I apologize for some glare.
Better photos !
Difficult to grade from the photos, that said, it would come down to what your reasons for grading are. If you want to sell then it is a simple economic calculation. Take what you paid for each, add the cost to ship and grade each, if that cost is less than the avg market selling price for the grade you think they will get then it makes financial sense to have them graded. If you plan to keep them then there are far less expensive ways to store common date Morgan dollars like these.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
MS63 and MS62
Based on the photos, I would not submit them.
If they were mine, I'd wait until the next $10 Morgan grading special at ANACS and send them and a couple more (usually a 10 coin minimum, $500 max/coin or something like that). Those splash page promotions also often include free return shipping. There are a lot of VAM guys who eat up that date. While the likelihood of having a rare one in the mix is low, you just never know.
Reason I am thinking about sending one maybe two in (not all eight) is because I do not have a graded ms 1878s in my collection. I need them to grade at ms62 for a break even.
As far as I can tell I do not have a variety even thou the mint mark on one of the coins appears to be smashed.
don't grade them unless 65. you're just pouring money down the drain. they are quite salable as-is. use the funds to buy a nice one if there is no nostalgia. you could probably just flip em on the bst if priced fairly. i'm a little rusty but i'd bet these are still 45-60 coins raw in unc.
if you get better pics for the top ones in the collection, we SHOULD be able to guide you if they are worth it or not.
"As far as I can tell I do not have a variety"
It looks like one of them has a broken 4th obverse star and a broken R in Trust.
It looks like the reverse die was used for Vam's 19, 35, 74, and 93 this would be a good place to start.
http://ec2-13-58-222-16.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com/wiki/1878-S_VAMs
Grade is looking in the 62 to 63 range and may not be worth grading.
Looks to me like the first 78-S is a VAM-5 and the second is a VAM-78 die 3.
In the 2nd set of photos they look MS61-62.
There are over 11 Vam’s in that year go look them up it may be worth it. Start there then pull out the nices ones before making any decisions.
Hoard the keys.
The fewer you send in, the more they cost to grade when you factor shipping and, depending on grading company, the invoice fee. If you only want one or two anyway, I'd sell the rest (or all of them) and buy a higher grade example. A 63 or 64 won't cost much more than a 62 and will be much more appealing. If you really want one that you already have, keep it as-is. A 62 isn't rare/valuable enough (or difficult to discern the grade) where there's any reason to send it in just to be in plastic. You can buy a holder for a buck and keep a lot of money in your pocket.
Judging from the pictures, they look like 62's, maybe a 63... Good advice above about self slabbing, much cheaper. Or do some research on VAM's and sell them raw to VAM collectors.... Cheers, RickO