Size MUST matter..

topstuf · January 30, 2004 12:45AM

It just HAS to be the reason for the Morgan dollar's popularity. All anyone ever talks about when discussing Morgans is strike, color, rarity, frost, fields, VAM's, pops, and almost everything peripheral to the DESIGN.

Be interesting to see what people REALLY like about this coin.

dorkkarl · January 30, 2004 1:13AM

agreed. the larger size of the morgan dollar, & half dollars, is much of the reason for their popularity. it really is not a very attractive design!

K S

Dog97 · January 30, 2004 1:13AM

You don't have "everything" and that is what i like about them and why I have so many.

Dennis88 · January 30, 2004 1:14AM

The design + size.

Dennis

LucyBop · January 30, 2004 1:15AM

<< <i>Size MUST matter.. >>

I'll say!

nepbrs44 · January 30, 2004 1:15AM

Size & Design

Stuart · January 30, 2004 1:16AM

All of the things that you mentioned in your previous post including high availability at relatively low affordable prices (up to MS-64) for common date Morgans considering that they are over 100 years old, comparable to other U.S. coin series minted in the same era (Steated Lib & Barber).

Also the Carson City Mint aura (again at relatively affordable prices compared to Unc coins of the era) as well as the PL/DMPL surface characteristics. The series has alot of desireable attributes for collectors. Their market liquidity is also a positive when you plan to sell.

At every coin show you have virtually thousands of Morgans from which to select. In fact, even as a longtime Morgan Collector, at recent shows (Houston Money Show) I can easily get overwhelmed into sensory overload at the huge number of certified Morgans available.

keets · January 30, 2004 1:17AM

while most will argue the point, Morgan Dollars were essentially a non-circulating Bullion coin. the romance attached to them with regard to high rollers in "Maverick" and the Mississippi River boats is just so much fantasy. much like the SBA and Sac Dollars of the present day, the big silver rounds were the idea of special interest and detested by the populace.

al h.

mgoodm3 · January 30, 2004 1:22AM

I think design is what matters to me. I like all seated liberty, large ones are pretty cool. I love proof/MS IHC's. They're kinda small.

wallstreetman · January 30, 2004 1:23AM

I like Silver Dollars in general, although there are some ugly ones at times! I like a coin that has keeps up with inflation!

dorkkarl · January 30, 2004 2:00AM

Only PCGS for me!

K S

dbldie55 · January 30, 2004 2:09AM

Silver Dollars (Morgan and Peace) circulated in Montana right up until silver was removed from coin mintage. No movie aura here, these were real money and used as such. (paper on the other hand was detested.)

Tootawl · January 30, 2004 2:11AM

I have to agree with most people here: size (don't get too excited Lucy!) and design.

RiffRaff1967 · January 30, 2004 2:28AM

Me too - #1 - the size of the coin, #2 the obverse design. Still not a big fan of the reverse eagle.

LALASD4 · January 30, 2004 2:37AM

Well, I do not have a single dollar coin, but I guess it is because there are so many ms coins out there.

keets · January 30, 2004 2:37AM

hey Brian

i hope you understand that if that's true, it's far-and-away an extreme example and nowhere near the norm. in the larger cities and the country as a whole that wasn't happening.

al h.

Nysoto · January 30, 2004 2:46AM

Like a lot of other people, I started out collecting Morgans, after a couple of years got "Morgan fatigue", and went on to more challenging series. I still like them and have kept the best of my collection as type. Yes, size is their best feature, and their price for the common date MS64 stuff. I like the reverse design better than the obverse. I also enjoy them because of their age/condition/price ratio. Lots of coin for the money!

baccaruda · January 30, 2004 2:48AM

What I like about Morgans is that everyone else likes them and keeps the prices of my favorite coins down. The Peace dollar is a much more attractive coin in my book.

topstuf · January 30, 2004 5:39AM

dbldie is absolutely correct in that Morgans circulated in the West as regular coinage.

I was a kid in the fifties and we had them all the time. Got rid of them fast as they were too heavy. My grandfather had a trunk full when he died in 1952. He rolled them in 25's (with tape of course) and the bank would not accept them for deposit. Gramma an my mother had to bring them home and I helped roll them in the acceptable 20's.

In 1963, my banker asked if I wanted a bag of them fresh from the mint and I told him no because I had no use for them.

My older cousin went to college in the East and every time he came home, he loaded up on face value silver dollars as he could get $2 back east.

Dollars DID circulate. MOST were bullion coins as Keets stated, but in the West, they were just money. HEAVY money.

It should be obvious that they (as a type) don't have much evidence of historical usage as so many are still available in uncirculated condition and the prices are that of common bullion coins with a little "promo premium" attached.

OTHER than the CC's.

razorface1027 · January 30, 2004 5:54AM

Size MUST matter..

Hmmh, what would Siggy say? Probably cathexis! Errrrr wait a minute, we're talking coins here..

Draco · January 30, 2004 6:10AM

I don't particularly like any design by Morgan that circulated, but I do own a few for my "type" set. About the only positive thing I can say about them is that I DO like their heft, ergo, size does matter in this case.

MacCoin · January 30, 2004 6:16AM

sure size matters well unless you do dimes or half dimes. I think a mogan feel good in my hand but it the design the history just every thing about a coin that draw me to it.

drainbamage · January 30, 2004 6:19AM

Morgans..... ugh.... nothing I hate worse than trying to collect them.... So abused it makes me cry

Libertad · January 30, 2004 1:54PM

I've been amused for quite a while to read that the Morgan's (and Peace) silver dollars 'didn't circulate'.
As a kid in the late 50's and early 60's, I'd trudge to the bank and turn in paper route coins for silver dollars
at face.
When I'd collect for the route, every shop keeper in my little midWestern village had them in the register.
I'd offer a magnet to the shopkeeps to run through the penny bin to pluck out the 'steelies' back then.
Morgans and Peace bux circulated from the barbershop to the tavern and back to the ice cream fountain;
granted this isn't the 'world as whole'.
But circulate they surely did.

The folks would scrutinize them as they passed across the counter, and the 'skinny lady' was more popular
than the 'fat lady', but more scarce at the time.

Even though the Plains and the West weren't heavily populated, the notion of bullion never occured until
after 1964, and by then the coins were pretty heavily chewed up.
Limited perspective, but the historians weren't widely traveled in the area at the time either!

I've often thought that phrase needs an asterisk to explain that Easterners who wrote the books were
speaking from their own experience, which is perfectly legitimate, but temporaly limited in scope.

ANACONDA · January 30, 2004 9:11PM

If you take out "I don't like Morgans"....your survey says the number one reason the people who like Morgans like them is

SIZE

so

Size does matter.

wingedliberty · January 30, 2004 9:20PM

I like to stay somewhere in between YAP money and three cent silvers.

Size MUST matter..

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