My Morgan Collection Part 21. The last!
david3142
Posts: 3,425 ✭✭✭✭✭
It’s hard to believe we’re finally down to the last group. Technically I still have 2 holes to fill and I’m a little disappointed I wasn’t able to find (well, find and bid high enough on) the missing pieces in time to include them here. Since I started the series I did fill one hole and upgrade 3 others though.
We kick things off with a bang, also I’m going to cheat here and post both 1904-Os I own. I have a 64DMPL in the box with my main set and a toned 67 that I include with my type set, but really it fills both slots. (I keep the DMPL for my mirrored date set.)
But first a word about the 1904-O. It is a very common coin and would make a great type example. While not as well struck as a 1903-P or 1902-S, they are usually decent. It comes mirrored and is probably the most often found 20th century date with cameo contrast. Also easily the most common to find with color since 1896. There are several gorgeous rainbow toners and a number of nice ones but not nearly as many in the 63-66 range as there are for the common O mints of the 19th century. There are at least 3 spectacular 67s.
1904-O MS64DMPL CAC
1904-O MS67 CAC
1904-S is a very tough date. Not quite as tough as 1903-S but certainly harder than 01-S and 02-S, and boy are they usually rough. Much like the 1896-S they are typically found baggy or with poor luster, haze, and other issues. Roller marks on the face are also common as these were generally not as well struck as other S mints. My example has none of the above. It looks like an 81-S!
1904-S MS64 CAC
1921 Morgans (all three) are a bit different than the rest of the series. Obviously the design changed slightly, the coins are flatter and generally come with a satiny luster. They were produced in absolutely enormous numbers but many were melted and the coins are not common in gem and above. For some reason most seem to be graded more generously (about 1 point) than any other date. Also, the mint marks for the D and S are comically small.
For the P mint, PLs are tough but available. DMPLs are quite rare and toned examples exist, including a few very nice ones but the method of manufacture usually means they don’t come as pretty as anything from the 20th century. Many are spotty or blotchy. My example is very close to DMPL.
1921 MS63PL CAC
1921-D Morgans are even tougher to find than 1921 and these get quite expensive above the gem level. One characteristic of this date is the “fruity pebbles” toning which is unlike anything seen prior to 1921. I wanted an example like that because it’s specific to this coin. Mirrored coins are extremely rare and generally low grade and unattractive.
1921-D MS65+ CAC
1921-S is usually the most expensive of the final year but I find they actually come pretty nice. They are plagued by weak strikes lacking central hair detail and breast feathers. Forget about toners or mirrored coins. My example is very lustrous, satiny, and super clean (but a soft strike as expected). It still has great eye appeal, and I think represents the characteristics of the date well.
1921-S MS64+
I hope you enjoyed the series! It’s been a blast writing about them and carefully reviewing each coin in the process. As always, please share your own Morgans from this group and let me know what other topics might be interesting to cover.
Comments
I really did enjoy following this post.
Thanks so much for sharing.
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...
Great set and commentary. You have numerous toned coins that are spectacular.
Just asking, but how many years did it take you to acquire such a wonderful set of Morgans and which 1 took the longest to find what you wanted, and/or gave you the most trouble?
Thanks again for sharing.
Of course we need a part 22 with your top 5 favorites. I assume one of these was a particular thrill to acquire so you could include the story in where/how it was acquired.
While I’m not a Morgan collector, I appreciate reading about the apparent joy you have in building your collection. Thank you for the threads.
Thank you for all the posts! Really enjoyed them!
Thanks for all of the eye-candy
Thanks so much for the kind words and for your insightful comments on my posts.
I started collecting Morgans in 2002. The oldest slab in my collection is the 1899-O which was a graduation gift from my parents. I mostly collected raw coins in Dansco albums then. I liked the idea of a short set of DMPL CCs which I bought around 2006 (I still have all but one of those) and I picked up a few different dates over the next few years that appealed to me (toners or PL/DMPL coins). In 2013 (I think) I bought the 89-CC at which point I committed to the full set.
I’d say the hardest ones to find were the 87-S and the 91-CC (and I still don’t have the latter). I’ve been looking specifically for those coins all over for a few years. I finally got the 87-S a few months ago. I still don’t have an 01-S either but I haven’t been as committed to finding that particular date for as long as the others. The bar for the last couple of coins is also very high. There are a lot of 91-CCs around but most PL examples are surprisingly not that nice and I just haven’t found the right one for a reasonable price yet.
Most excellent stuff — I’m gonna have to go back and review many of the groups I missed — killer Roadrunner, too. ⭐️🍺
Nice as usual.
Successful BST with ad4400, Kccoin, lablover, pointfivezero, koynekwest, jwitten, coin22lover, HalfDimeDude, erwindoc, jyzskowsi, COINS MAKE CENTS, AlanSki, BryceM
Nicely done on all counts, David!
What about including links here, to your other threads from this series and indicating that in this one’s thread title?
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
@david3142 ... Thanks for another great installment and thanks for the entire series. Well written and interesting. When you acquire the 'missing' coins, be sure to let us know. Cheers, RickO
Thanks Mark! I can certainly do that. For the first few entries I included links to the previous threads but then there just got to be too many of them.
A quality group here and a great series of posts! It's always fun following along on the journey other collectors take!