Peace Dollars - bewilderin' to me

JeffK8

Hello everyone,

This is my first post. I've collected coins over the years on and off and guess I'll never get it out of my system. At one time I was a precision machinist and worked in the tool and die department. It gave me a good insight into metals and how metal is formed and shaped and the quality of it.

Anyway, so much for that. I've always been conservative when it comes to grading and during all the time I collected coins, silver dollars were not, for some reason, a coin I collected. Just a few. I've recenlty gotten back in to collecting and I started collecting dollars since I left it out of my hobby earlier.

Is it me or is it just a fact that it seems that Peace Dollars, even in higher mint state condition, seems to have more bag marks, surface skuffs, little dings and stuff. I can get beautiful Morgans from Ebay, but I am really disappointed in the Peace dollars. I've tried to bid on grades from AU58 to MS65 just to get a feel for what the grades will look like so I can readjust my thoughts and standards of Peace grading.

If I get an MS65 in a Morgan and compare it to an MS65 Peace, the Peace dollar, I'd personally drop from a 65 to 62. Maybe it's just me, or maybe I just should accept the fact that it takes and extremely high grade of Peace dollar to find one that I consider worthy of the grades I've seen applied to them. I'm so disapponted that I'm not sure I want to consider them. Not to mention those that don't know how to grade (me included, I don't want to be hypocritical), then get the coin and it has been buffed or burnished. Otherwise, left untouched would have actually been a nice coin.

I have always tried within my financial means to get one coin of each denomination and maybe type, that will be a beautiful example of minting.

I thank you for your time and would really appreciate your input. Hope you all are having a good New Year.

Thanks,

Jeff

Steve27

I don't have a problem with scuff marks, dings, and dents. It's the weak strike, inherent in all Peace Dollars, that makes the big difference between Morgans and Peace Dollars.

itsnotjustme

Welcome to the boards and happy new year to you too.

Part of what make Peace Dollars look worse may be the design. They have a less complicated design than Morgans, with more open smooth surfaces to show marks. On the Morgan the hair detail, and busy reverse design can hide a wealth of sins. On the Peace, the hair is smoother, the reverse eagle is smoother, and there are more open fields.

For grades (accurate) Peace dollars are tough above MS65.

BillJones

If the grading is correct, a Peace dollar should have no more marks than its Morgan Dollar counterpart. The biggest problem with these coins, as steve27 wrote, is with the strike, which can be quite weak.

I've found some certified common date Peace dollars that better than the grade marked on them. The reason is that these coins are often bulk graded and the graders don't take the time to really grade them well. Therefore you can run into some "bargains." Most of these coins are not worth a crack out and re-submitt because the "expected value" of the re-grade would not be enough to justify the expense.

Peaceman

Well.. If you bought a MS65 in a NTC slab I could see why you may get discouraged.... I'm not sure what/how you purchased the coin(s) but in any event, quality depends on the year as well. Anything from San fran is weak... Stick with PCGS slabs.... If you can look at a 65 and not like it, either go to a higher quality or stick with Morgans..... I think that's why Morgan's are more popular.....

BigGreek

I have to agree with Peaceman that there is a big difference between top-tier
slabs and crap-slabs w.r.t. Peace $s. It's much less common to find a overgraded
PCGS Peace $ which are quite clean even in MS-64.

Here are a couple of pics of a recent ANACS MS-65 aquisition:



About the only major mark on this coin is the reed mark left of the forehead.
It's in for a cross-over attempt. We'll see how she does.

BillJones

Yes if you buy an NTC graded coin, the chances are quite high that it will be graded less conservatively that if it were in an NGC or PCGS holder. To be blunt about it, I've seen MS-64 graded Peace dollars in NTC holders that were not Mint State.

Here's another piece of advice. For many dealers Ebay is the place they go to sell their less desirable inventory. If you want the front line stuff, go to a show or find a dealer who knows Peace dollars who is willing to work with you.

K6AZ

Here's a 1924 PCGS MS64:

BillJones

That looks like a pretty high-end, PQ MS-64 to me, K6AZ. I don't think that you can expect all Peace Dollars to look like that in MS-64.

K6AZ

No, but they are out there. The problem a lot of people have is that they are looking for the coins on eBay, looking to pay under greysheet. I paid above sheet for this coin, and I didn't get it on eBay.

DorkGirl