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CACg coin
logger7
Posts: 9,688 ✭✭✭✭✭
CACg has this coin in their weekly update: https://www.cacgrading.com/cert/741516517
"The 1884-S is exceedingly rare with prooflike contrast. Currently, this example is one of three recognized by CAC with a PL designation. This coin also serves as a reminder that CAC will assign strike designations to circulated grades if they meet our requirements."
This piece is graded CAC AU58PL.
Is the 1884-s Morgan really that hard to find in semi-pl or pl condition? I have had had several like this one that upgraded to AU58 at NGC: 
2
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Have you checked the pop reports for PL examples at that grade level?
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Check the census. How many PLs are there?
81 at NGC. 5 at PCGS
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
I have a 1884-S Morgan...somewhere in one of my many military move boxes that I purchased in 1990-92. I have often wondered about what grade it would receive if it was submitted to a TPG.
I saw that article this morning. $13K for a AU58 PL!
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My coin that upgraded had a "pl" look hard to image with this one. I guess the standard is tough and that a)it is unusual for an 84-s to grade Unc. and b) the coin would probably have to be at least a 58 to be called pl.
Being semi-PL and being fully PL are two different things. That said, 84-S is neither common nor rare in PL proportional to the uncirculated population when compared to other dates. 84-S is a weird bird, though, with a population curve that crashes hard when it hits the MS grades. Given the low uncirculated population, an MS PL 84-S a Rare Coin, with a single-digit population here. DMPL is another story, with none here and 2 ATS.
An AU58 with Semi-PL surfaces may be a nicer looking coin than a 61PL, which will cost you roughly an order of magnitude more for the privilege of the registry points.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Why guess, when the pop reports can provide the answer?
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
NGC has a lot, I looked at a HA auction coin and there is an asterisk for PCGS:
https://coins.ha.com/itm/morgan-dollars/1884-s-1-au58-prooflike-ngc-cac/a/1387-3175.s?type=DA-DMC-PCGS-USCoins-1387-11132025
A major reason why uncirculated 84-S are rare is because there were no Redfield bags or even small quantities of them found that would have preserved them for future collectors like us. I have the John Highfill US Silver Dollar book and he notes that the Redfield horde made available many dates of some previously unobtainable uncirculated Morgan & Peace dollars. His horde was primarily S mintages and had all the 78-S through 91-S dates except the 84 and 85 S. Not sure why he could not obtain those dates, although supposedly 100 bags were stolen while he was still alive.