Coinbuf

Thank you sir, I agree that the coin is very eye appealing. NGC gave it a grade of MS67, however you are a few years too late. I had visions of putting together an 1897 year date set at one time but then changed my mind and subsequently sold this coin. I would not be all that shocked if the coin now resides in a + holder either by our hosts or in a PCGS holder. The only coin I've sold that I wish I had not, but I made a few dollars on the sale and at some point you cannot keep everything.

Yep filled die, very common quality control issue with every denomination the mint produces. Fun find but no value over the face value.

The registry is free to use and there are no real hassles. Benefits; well that sort of depends on what your goals are for your sets. I see the registry as a fun way to show off my coins with a bit of friendly competition. Coin collecting is a rather solitary hobby so I like the comradery of the registry; what little there is anyway. Also you don't have to start any competitive sets you can also do custom sets where you set the definitions of what the set will be. Another benefit is that I consider my registry inventory a digital backup to my excel spreadsheet, a place to keep all my data on my coin purchases. Photos enhance the registry experience (imo) but they are not a requirement to a registry set. When you add an NGC coin to your inventory/registry the software will automatically look to see if NGC has photos on file for your coin. If so you can add those, PCGS coin you have to take your own photos and upload them. For myself its just a fun way to show my collection.

Thanks for that adjustment William, yes I can do some adjustments to the histogram in elements. And that does help some but its not really the color of my photo that I want to improve its the lack of detail; my photo looks flat and lacks definition vs the one Mark took. His almost looks 3D with the obv portrait popping off the field and all the little details of the rock and hair well defined. Same with the rev as in my photo the leaves look flat and poorly struck where in Mark's photo they are crisp and fully defined. I do agree with you that I prefer the insert to look white, since it is white, but maybe I need to focus less on that issue and perhaps that will help me find some settings or lighting that will better bring out the look and details.

That must be one heck of a special Morgan dollar, considering that no Morgan dollars were struck with an 1877 date. @jimbob87 From your photos the 1879-O shows some luster bands in the fields and usually that will kill a PL designation. Your 1878 8TF does not look PL in the least from your obv photo, NGC does recognize VAM-21 but whoever submitted it either did not pay the fee (it costs $15 extra for variety attribution) or NGC did not agree with the submitter on the VAM. You can resubmit and pay the fee to have the variety on the label if you want, I'm not sure there is enough value in the VAM to warrant the cost of resubmitting but that is up to you.

It is most likely just some PMD, another less likely possibility is someone (very bored) tooled the area to resemble an S. No matter how it did not happen during the striking of the coin and is not an error.

Always in manual but not in RAW, I can shoot in RAW but the old version of elements that I have will not read/open RAW images. That could account for some of my difficulties, but I still think most of it is the lighting.

This ^

Thank you sir, true my attempt is not bad but still not as nice, problem is I only have an ages old version of photoshop elements to work with so I'm limited in the amount of post editing that I can do. I actually think a lot of the difference is in the lighting, he is using some very high intensity lights and I am using just a couple of cheap IKEA lamps. But having his as a reference now I will continue to work and see how close I can get.

Many collectors today want toned coins so no an attractively toned coin (be it rainbow or just nice rim toned) will in many cases sell for more, that is the "pretty coin" or eye appeal factor in todays market place. The real issue and one that has been a bone of contention (and will continue to be) is what toning is real or natural vs toning that is AT or accelerated. Accelerated toning if done right is very deceptive and can fool anyone, AT is easier to identify if you know what to look for. But even then there are AT'd toned coins out in the market in top level TPG holders. Bottom line is that the demand for toned coins over the past ten or so years has led the coin doctors (and collectors) to find ways to create toning in order to cash in on the demand, as with most things in life following the money will answer questions. Here is an example of a coin that I am almost positive is an AT tone job, this Peace dollar is up for auction soon and in a PCGS holder. I have no doubts that this coin will sell for big money even though it looks completely wrong for a peace dollar.

In a nutshell it comes from improper storage, coins stored properly in a temperature and humidity controlled environment will not tone or tone very little over a very long time. Coins that are stored poorly in high heat, high humidity, exposed to chemicals, or some combination of these will tone, sometimes very quickly depending on the metal composition of the coin.

Here is an old thread put together by a forum member years ago, unfortunately it has not been updated since 2008 so you may not find the generation you have in here. If not then a call to customer service is your only option, from the cert number they should be able to answer your question. NGC generations

Thank you Bob, here is my attempt at photos for this coin. Not too bad just not as nice as Mark's, his are so much sharper and have a richness that I have not been able to duplicate.

Welcome to the forum, there is no database that you can search to find that information. If you can post a photo of the whole slab front and back I may be able to tell you which generation of slab it is and a general timeframe that generation was used. For more specific info you would need to contact the NGC customer service.

I can tell from your photo that you do have an RPM but its not clear enough to say which one, perhaps RPM-006 or RPM-014. I do not think its the one major RPM (RPM-001) and there is one recognized D/D/D RPM-002, but again better closeups of the mm are needed to identify.

Sad but true, what the mint considers art today is more like clip art. Only every once and awhile will the mint break that mold and produce an eye appealing coin, but those are usually only for some type of commemorative coin rather than any coins for circulation.

Same for me here in the southwest, I seldom see a P mint coin.

A raw coin is a coin that you can hold in your hand, a holdered coin is in a third party grading service holder with the grade from that service. Like above ^

It doesn't really violate any rules, shows some real stupidity on his part to put a listing like that on a forum of coin collectors. I however have been seeing some similar (although less egregious) threads on the PCGS BST forum recently too. I do hope the mods here will close out his thread in the marketplace but I kind of doubt it.

It is really a registry thing largely, if you want to stay in the #1 spot in the modern categories like this you have to pay up. I have no doubt that more will be made and that the prices will fall over the next year or two, but if you play in the modern registry sets and want to keep your #1 rank you cannot afford the luxury of waiting. Just one of the reasons I think the modern registry sets are money pits from a collector perspective. I also agree with @Fenntucky Mike that the 2021 WCD quarter is a big hit, the change back to the more classic portrait vs the spaghetti hair version of the past few quarter series is a welcome change by many collectors. I also think that while the Tuskegee quarter was a nice design and tribute the lack of a W mint one really cooled off the roll search guys.

Spot on!!

Here is another coin that Mark recently shot photos of for me. This one I was able to get good photos of myself but not as sharp or with with the subtle color showing as well.

Post this in my journal but for anyone that did not see it. NGC MS67+

Yep just a really nice and dramatic example of strike doubling, cool to look at but that is all.