Your opinions on this Morgan that came back Detail

goldfixer21 · February 12, 2020 6:31PM

This was sent back as Surfaces Smoothed. Can you tell from these pics what they are seeing?

goldfixer21 · February 12, 2020 6:41PM

It is tough to photograph, but it is a worst PL, at best DMPL, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to understand the Details grading

CoinJunkie · February 12, 2020 6:43PM

The only thing I can tell you is that it definitely looks "funky". It might help to have more even illumination in the photos.

ThreeCentSilverFL · February 12, 2020 6:43PM

What’s going on with these somewhat parallel marks here and here ?

DNADave · February 12, 2020 6:43PM

That little bump at 6:00 on th obverse rim?

ike126 · February 12, 2020 6:44PM

Im gonna say by the neck and the hair area looks to have that PL look from buffing.Also from your pictures its tough with the light angle etc

goldfixer21 · February 12, 2020 6:46PM

@ThreeCentSilverFL said:
What’s going on with these somewhat parallel marks here and here ?

Those are fingerprints on the holder

ThreeCentSilverFL · February 12, 2020 6:51PM

Hmmm I don’t know then. Sorry.

goldfixer21 · February 12, 2020 6:56PM

I've tried to take better pics with no luck. I have a couple of others that I have questions about as well. I will try tomorrow to get better shots of them

david3142 · February 12, 2020 7:05PM

The highlighted areas do look off to me. I am obviously not holding the coin but I don’t think they are fingerprints on the holder. If they are, wipe the holder and post new pics. The coin looks borderline PL to me and would grade 63 at best which would be worth about $45-$70? What grade were you hoping for?

goldfixer21 · February 12, 2020 7:09PM

@david3142 said:
The highlighted areas do look off to me. I am obviously not holding the coin but I don’t think they are fingerprints on the holder. If they are, wipe the holder and post new pics. The coin looks borderline PL to me and would grade 63 at best so it’s worth about $45-$70? What grade were you hoping for?

I bought over 100 UNC Morgans a while back , and sent in 5 that appeared to be PL's. One came back PL, one DMPL, and 3 came back Details, two were altered surfaces, and this one Smoothed surfaces. I'm trying to learn what to look for to avoid sending in ones that I shouldn't.

DNADave · February 12, 2020 7:13PM

nm

MFeld · February 12, 2020 7:23PM

Based on the pictures, I would have guessed cleaned. A coin which has had its surfaces smoothed (to remove flaws or damage) typically displays unnatural looking surfaces and the coin definitely has an odd appearance.

I would suggest examining the surfaces to look for an unusual texture to them and signs of unusual/diminished luster.

Jimnight · February 12, 2020 7:26PM

@goldfixer21 said:

I bought over 100 UNC Morgans a while back , at a great price, and sent in 5 that appeared to be PL's. One came back PL, one DMPL, and 3 came back Details, two were altered surfaces, and this one Smoothed surfaces. I'm trying to learn what to look for to avoid sending in ones that I shouldn't.

I'm in the hmm group.

goldfixer21 · February 12, 2020 7:37PM

I looked at it under my bench microscope, and there are definitely parallel lines on the obverse in a few areas. Also, up next to the left side of the neck, the mirror finish breaks about a half a millimeter from the neck

jedm · February 12, 2020 7:47PM

Those pics are awesome and really show that the surfaces are not original. Nice work!

Jimnight · February 12, 2020 8:43PM

@goldfixer21 said:
I looked at it under my bench microscope, and there are definitely parallel lines on the obverse in a few areas. Also, up next to the left side of the neck, the mirror finish breaks about a half a millimeter from the neck

Great photos. I see the problem ... the surface has been altered. IMO.

Texast · February 12, 2020 8:45PM

To bad that happened, I hate to see anyone get ripped like that. Until I saw the close-up I had wondered if someone might have tried to touch-up the surface using old film /x-ray developer solution, I can remember dipping copper pennies in them and Silver Plate them, and have heard of this techniche used on silver coins, it's use to be known as painting a coin.

messydesk · February 12, 2020 9:00PM

The fields look kind of weird, as has been pointed out already, but there are also no marks left in the smoothed field, while the cheek is pretty hacked up.

goldfixer21 · February 12, 2020 9:17PM

I'm amazed that someone could do anything to the surface of this coin without causing any uneven areas around the lettering and bust. This coin, and the others I purchased with it, belonged to an older guy that passed away. Every coin was in a stapled 2 X 2 cardboard coin holder, and had obviously been in them for a number of years.

ricko · February 13, 2020 2:04PM

Thanks for the closeups, I thought it had been buffed, but it really shows in the magnified pictures....Too bad. Cheers, RickO

cheezhed · February 13, 2020 2:10PM

Nice detective work and question answered.

Cougar1978 · February 13, 2020 9:26PM

The face has unnatural appearance.

ChrisH821 · February 14, 2020 10:25AM

WHIZZED

Insider2 · February 14, 2020 10:59AM

@ChrisH821 said:
WHIZZED

Almost. This coin has been severely BUFFED. Whizzed coins have a ridge on one side of their design elements. I see none. However, the patch of parallel lines by the neck is a characteristic of whizzing. No matter , the coin has been destroyed.

Note: IMO, this coin is NOT "SMOOTHED" (a very stupid word dreamed up by ancient collectors and auction houses to downplay the damage on a coin whose field has been severely tooled to remove corrosion or other defects!). This word did not even exist in numismatics when I was collecting.

Bigbuck1975 · February 14, 2020 11:28AM

You can tell when cartwheeling them usually if the surface is altered. Take the ones that graded and compare and see if you can tell the difference.

messydesk · February 14, 2020 8:17PM

@Insider2 said:

@ChrisH821 said:
WHIZZED

Almost. This coin has been severely BUFFED. Whizzed coins have a ridge on one side of their design elements. I see none. However, the patch of parallel lines by the neck is a characteristic of whizzing. No matter , the coin has been destroyed.

Note: IMO, this coin is NOT "SMOOTHED" (a very stupid word dreamed up by ancient collectors and auction houses to downplay the damage on a coin whose field has been severely tooled to remove corrosion or other defects!). This word did not even exist in numismatics when I was collecting.

Of course, neither did terms like MS64, clad, and Lincoln Cent, right?

ChrisH821 · February 14, 2020 11:38PM

@Insider2 said:

@ChrisH821 said:
WHIZZED

Almost. This coin has been severely BUFFED. Whizzed coins have a ridge on one side of their design elements. I see none. However, the patch of parallel lines by the neck is a characteristic of whizzing. No matter , the coin has been destroyed.

Note: IMO, this coin is NOT "SMOOTHED" (a very stupid word dreamed up by ancient collectors and auction houses to downplay the damage on a coin whose field has been severely tooled to remove corrosion or other defects!). This word did not even exist in numismatics when I was collecting.

MFeld · February 15, 2020 5:34AM

@Insider2 said:

@ChrisH821 said:
WHIZZED

Almost. This coin has been severely BUFFED. Whizzed coins have a ridge on one side of their design elements. I see none. However, the patch of parallel lines by the neck is a characteristic of whizzing. No matter , the coin has been destroyed.

Note: IMO, this coin is NOT "SMOOTHED" (a very stupid word dreamed up by ancient collectors and auction houses to downplay the damage on a coin whose field has been severely tooled to remove corrosion or other defects!). This word did not even exist in numismatics when I was collecting.

@Insider2 said:

@ChrisH821 said:
WHIZZED

Almost. This coin has been severely BUFFED. Whizzed coins have a ridge on one side of their design elements. I see none. However, the patch of parallel lines by the neck is a characteristic of whizzing. No matter , the coin has been destroyed.

Note: IMO, this coin is NOT "SMOOTHED" (a very stupid word dreamed up by ancient collectors and auction houses to downplay the damage on a coin whose field has been severely tooled to remove corrosion or other defects!). This word did not even exist in numismatics when I was collecting.

What very brief description would you suggest instead of “smoothed”, in order to say the equivalent of “damage on a coin whose field has been severely tooled to remove corrosion or other defects”? Repaired? Tooled? Other?

Your opinions on this Morgan that came back Detail

Comments

Leave a Comment

Categories