Received: New 1878-7TF PCGS MS-63PL Morgan Dollar -- Photos (Update)

Stuart

Here's my Sunday night E-Bay new purchase -- a nice original looking 1878-7Tf in PCGS MS-63PL -- What do you think of her??

FC57Coins

Great find Stuart - 1878 coins can be fascinating. I wonder what VAM yours will turn out to be - anyway - very cool coin!

TWODOGS

That's a nice specimen. That's a B1 reverse. I sure would like to see some larger pics.

airplanenut

Pretty coin... and clean for a 63! Now dip her

Stuart

TD: That's the largest size photo that I can get onto the PCGS Forum server with the 50 kbyte file size limitation.

Please advise if you'd like for me to enlarge a specific portion of either the obverse or reverse, and I'll give it a try.
By the way, is there any scarcity significance or market premium associated with the B1 reverse?

Frank: Thanks for your compliments on the new purchase.

Jeremy: I like the original "skin" on this coin, now why would I want to dip her?? I agree with you that she's pretty clean for an MS-63, and notice how the market price really jumps in MS-64 PL (i.e. MS-63 PL is a "Best Value Grade")

TD: Time for me to go to -- Catch you guys in the morning. Good Night all!!

TWODOGS

I guess I'm late as always. Stuart, the B1 makes the possibility of it being a much more interesting coin greater. There are 7/8 TF's that have no extra TF's showing. It has to have a B1 reverse for that to be the case. Although it does look like the olive leaves are attached to the branch, and that cuts out a number of the possibilities.

wam98

Great strike. To me this coin may be under graded. 1878's are noted for having good detail, but this one stands out IMHO. The sharpness of the leaves in the wreath. Check out how Miss Liberty sets attop the feilds, giving it the three demensional look. Even the rims are extra sharp looking. COOL

magikbilly

Hi,
that is a nice coin. Very original looking with wonderful color and character. Perhaps the suggestion to dip was a joke? Looks like a good bit of contrast too. I'd never dip such a coin.

Nice!

Best,
Billy

rkfish

Nice find Stuart !!

K6AZ

Looks about right for a 63PL. I'm a bit curious about your images though, those aren't what are shown in the auction.

Stuart

Eric: The images that I posted were downloaded from the E-Bay auction. I used the smaller file size images that fit within the 50 KByte file size limitation for the PCGS Forum file server.

I auto-adjusted the image contrast & balance with the default option provided in Microsoft Photo Editor, since the images provided in the auction were scanned and not photograhed. When I receive the coin, I will see how it looks in person...

K6AZ

You may want to avoid doing that Stuart. Those images I lifted from the auction look much nicer. Whatever your auto editor did, it created an image that shows toning that isn't there.

Stuart

Eric: Based on the original scanned images I believe that I can detect some light brown rim-toning which may also be evident on the portrait of Miss Liberty and on the eagles' breast.

It will be very interesting to see if the coin is actually toned, and to what degree when I it and can personally examine it. I'll update the thread when I get the coin and when I can evaluate it in person.

I'm guessing that it's toned a light brown color more so that is shown in the original scans -- we'll see...

Thanks for your post and your suggestion.

K6AZ

Stuart, sometimes scans show color which isn't on the coin. Editing the image to make the coin look like what you suspect before you have the coin in hand isn't a good idea. The best I can tell from the scan is that the coin is mostly white, with maybe a little off white, mainly on the reverse.

beartracks42

Stuart or Eric,

I'm trying to learn here, but should PCGS have designated this coin Rev. of 78? I have a PCGS MS64 that looks very similar to this coin.

K6AZ

Gary, that is designated on the slab. Generally, when someone mentions a 78 7TF, it is presumed to be a reverse of 78.

beartracks42

O.K. Thanks Eric. I knew I could learn something.

sTONER

NICE PL STUART

Stuart

I received this 1878-7TF in PCGS MS-63 PL this week, and am posting this update as promised.

TwoDogs: The coin has a doubled "Liberty" on the obverse with apparent shift mostly upwards, and perhaps also a bit to the left. The eagle's legs show no signs of doubling. However, there is some doubling exhibited mostly on one of the points on several of the lower left obverse stars. There is also a prominent bit of extra metal appearing as a dash under the first "8" in the date, that is about 75% the width of the 8.

More interestingly the coin appears to be a very late die state because much of the lower relief detail has been polished away due to die basining. For instance the lower portion of Miss Liberty's nostril area is polished away and mirrored as part of the coin's field. The same phenomenon is observed in the left portion of the letter "L" in Liberty, as well as other lower relief portions of Miss Liberty's portrait.

This same effect also makes Liberty's portrait look lower in relief than on the standard 1878 7TF Morgan, and the obverse fiields have very significant concave relief similar to what is typically seen on an 1878-8TF.

As Eric correctly presumed, the coin has very little toning and appears strongly PL, almost DMPL with very nice strong cameo contrast between mirrored fields and light gray white very frosty devices. (Bowers states that this date in PL typically exhibits little cameo contrast).

Overall, it is a very attarctive coin for the grade which I am pleased with.