Show off your chop marked Morgans.

Coinstartled

Elusive certainly but they do exist.

Not mine....this one is no longer available from Apmex.

http://www.apmex.com/product/63753/1878-s-morgan-dollar-ag-details-ngc-chopmarked

I wonder how they are priced?

OriginalDan

Wow, let's not everyone go at once here.

I'll share a couple...the second one came my way recently.

ricko

I do not have a chopped Morgan.... do not recall seeing one....those are certainly well 'traveled'... Cheers, RickO

Meltdown

Wow, cool. I'd love to have one... never seen before but not surprised they're out there.

JJSingleton

I've only seen a couple in over 20 years. Pricing? I don't think there is much of a market for them. I find them pretty cool but I suspect the vast majority of Morgan collectors find them a damaged goods. But with the current interest in chop marked TDs new interest in these may result.

topstuf

I'd like to know who chopped an underweight coin.

OriginalDan

@JJSingleton said:
Pricing?

Usually $300-500 for examples like I posted above. Not much data to go on however.

Coinstartled

@OriginalDan said:

@JJSingleton said:
Pricing?

Usually $300-500 for examples like I posted above. Not much data to go on however.

I had never seen one. Saw an interesting CM Trade Dollar on Ebay and figured a few Morgans had to be chopped as well. Thank you for posting yours, Dan.

1630Boston

I'm sure I have never seen one of those in person, thanks for sharing

Insider2

I've never seen one either. Thanks!

topstuf

uhhhh.............????

messydesk

Rare because they're underweight compared to the trade dollars, so they wouldn't be likely to be chopped. I'm told there's an 1878 VAM 14.8 (!) with a chopmark, but it's not on the market.

OriginalDan

@topstuf said:
uhhhh.............????

Doesn't look like authentic chinese chopmarks of the period, but who knows.

Insider2

LOL, that is a "14 Kt" counterstamp! Tiffany "Studios" was the company name over twenty years later so someone (an employee there?) was playing with an old dollar.

OriginalDan

@Insider2 said:
LOL, that is a "14 Kt" counterstamp! Tiffany "Studios" was the company name over twenty years later so someone (an employee there?) was playing with an old dollar.

Hah, sure enough. I was trying to see how it could possibly be a Chinese character, completely missing what it was.

CascadeChris

@Insider2 said:
LOL, that is a "14 Kt" counterstamp! Tiffany "Studios" was the company name over twenty years later so someone (an employee there?) was playing with an old dollar.

Or its a fake Tiffany piece lol. Wonder if you could send pics to Tiffany's to have them try to match the font and style of the punch to something they would have ever used

OriginalDan

@topstuf said:
I'd like to know who chopped an underweight coin.

@messydesk said:
Rare because they're underweight compared to the trade dollars, so they wouldn't be likely to be chopped.

My thinking on chopmarks is that they were not used to verify "correct" weight. Instead, they were a stamp of approval to say the coin was real and silver. It was also effective in breaking the "skin" of the coin to reveal any base metal coins that had been plated with silver, etc. Having said this, I have a few examples of contemporary counterfeit coins with chopmarks, so it wasn't a perfect system. You also have to realize that all of the minor denominations are known with chopmarks, which wouldn't make sense if the purpose was to confirm "correct" weight. The common standard of the day was the Mexican 8 reales, but many, many other coins are known with chops that are not of the same weight as the Mexican 8 reales. Here are some examples:

The favorites of the Chinese shroff (money changer or banker) were the Mexican portrait 8 reales, as well as the later Cap and Rays design.

1818-MO JJ Mexico 8 Reales Ferdinand VII draped bust type
Specification: 27.07 g, .896 fine silver, .780 troy oz (actual silver weight)

1875-Go FR Cap & Rays 8 Reales, Guanajuato, Mexico mint
Specification: 27.07 g, .903 fine silver, .786 troy oz (actual silver weight)

However, many different coin designs from different countries, with varying weights and purity were used in commerce in Asia. Here are some examples of crown sized coins. (Note that some are larger and some smaller in weight compared to the Mexican 8 reales).

1780 Netherland Ducaton "Silver Rider" Hollandia Province
Specification: 32.779 g, .941 fine silver, .992 troy oz (actual silver weight)

1846/5-PTS R Bolivia 8 Soles
Specification: 27 g, .903 fine silver, .7838 troy oz (actual silver weight), edge reeded

1850 Spain 20 Reales Isabel II type, struck at the Madrid mint
Specification: 26.29 g, .900 fine silver, .761 troy oz (actual silver weight)

1867 British Hong Kong Dollar
Specification: 26.96-27.25 g, 0.900 fine silver, 0.780-0.788 troy oz (actual silver weight)

1883-So Chile Peso
Specification: 25 g, .900 fine silver, .723 troy oz (actual silver weight), reeded edge, 37 mm diameter

Here are some minors to show off the various silver weights that were chopped:

1668-Mo G Mexico 4 Reales cob Carlos II type
Specification: 13.54 g, .931 fine silver, .405 troy oz (actual silver weight), this specimen 13.9 g.

1732-Mo F Mexico 2 Reales Philip V type
Specification: 6.77 g, .917 fine silver, .200 troy oz (actual silver weight)

1836 Peru 4 Reales
Specification: 13.54 g, 0.667 fine silver, 0.290 oz (actual silver weight)

1860 Netherland 1 Gulden
Specification: 10 g, .945 fine silver, .304 troy oz (actual silver weight), 28 mm diameter, lettered edge

And finally, this giant is one of the prizes of my chopmarked collection:

1840-A German States Prussia 2 Thaler, 3-1/2 Gulden
Specification: 37.12 g, .900 fine silver, 1.074 troy oz (actual silver weight)

bkzoopapa

L C Tiffany. Was Louis Comfort Tiffany maker of stained glass lamp shades that are worth big money. This is not the 5th Avenue Tiffanys Jewelers

Coinstartled

@Insider2 said:
LOL, that is a "14 Kt" counterstamp! Tiffany "Studios" was the company name over twenty years later so someone (an employee there?) was playing with an old dollar.

Studios have been known to create a new subset of collectibles generally by placing a brand sticker on a coin...often a dollar. In this case it was stamped.

Insider2

Of course it was, the question is who stamped it, when, and was this an official Tiffany stamp. That's all.

grip

I will Google Tiff stamp and see what comes up.

topstuf

When I first started out, I ran around with a guy who had all SORTS of stuff.
I would not be surprised if it WAS a real Tiffany stamp.
I also don't think its kosher to have a karat stamp.

BUT.... this guy was shady from the git-go.

His favorite trick was whining that he didn't have money to make an auction bid and our local dealer would LEND him the loot. He would of course bring in some problem slug for "collateral."

THEN..... when he won the auction, he'd tell the dealer to "just go ahead and keep the coin as I don't have the money now."

Crooked as they come.
He DID know foreign coins, though.

DDR

Would love to own a chopmarked Morgan. They rarely appear on the market.

Overdate

@OriginalDan said:
You also have to realize that all of the minor denominations are known with chopmarks, which wouldn't make sense if the purpose was to confirm "correct" weight.

It would be fun to see a chopmarked half dime!

Crypto

@Overdate said:

@OriginalDan said:
You also have to realize that all of the minor denominations are known with chopmarks, which wouldn't make sense if the purpose was to confirm "correct" weight.

It would be fun to see a chopmarked half dime!

Here is a counter stamped 1/2 reale which might be smaller than a half dime