Reed mark on Morgan or other damage
logger7
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The fellow I got this 1885-s Morgan from said the obverse damage was a reed mark. What do you think?
What about the toning on this one, real or fake?
1886 Morgan, how would you grade? Thanks.
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Comments
1) Odd looking for a reed mark, but brutal - like the rest of the coins' condition. Your guess is as good as his.
2) Dark & natural.
3) MS65
Just my $.02
On the first coin, whatever the source of the obverse damage, the result is more severe than any I recall seeing from a reed mark. (Edited to add: As such, it should receive a detail-grade, if submitted.)
The second coin looks artificially toned (and probably cleaned on the obverse).
The third coin looks approximately 64+ and might be a somewhat unusual case in which the reverse negatively impacts the grade.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
That's not a reed mark and anyone who says it might be either doesn't know what they are looking at or believes you don't know what you are looking at. The second coin appears AT. The third coin is meh.
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And to think there were people who said all that mathematics in school would never come in handy in the real world.
1 looks like it was caught in something or it was in a bag that was thrown hard. Could have been whizzed also.
We won't know for sure but hey its a pocket piece.
2 not a fan of the toning.
3 looks a little off color. Probably natural.
I hope you didnt pay to much 😔
Student of numismatics and collector of Morgan dollars
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Looks like this was intentionally done to "make it appear" as a reding mark. I believe it had a deep intentional scratch and a coin doctor tried to make it look like a reed mark.
1) AU Details, Scratched/Damaged, whatever you want to call it. It is not a reed mark at all. Shame on the seller for pushing it as such.
2) Coin's toning appears to be artificial and has a staple scratch on the obverse. It is AU Details.
3) If all three of these are from the same seller, then I suspect the third coin also has some issues that you cannot decipher from the pictures. I suspect the obverse has been cleaned. If not, and is problem-free, then I would guess MS62.
Agree with others. Some better date details coins I could look past the issues for my album collection if at the right price. Shame it ruined that 85-S which was in an AU condition. But I could never look at that gash and admire it. For reference, below is a better date coin I bought a long time ago with the most noticeable reed mark I purchased. The spacing is completely different then the 85-S. Replaced with a nice slabbed XF when I could afford a better one.
The first 2 are culls. The last one looks CH Unc. Too much tarnish on second one (needs a dip). First one horribly damaged.
Frankly you need more lighting on those - 100 watt.