Morgan question???

[BRIAN339]

I recently purchased this from an auction. Can you guys help me to decipher all the stuff on the label. I paid $104 including the premium, did I do ok?

 

Thanks

[prudden]

Well, not great,but not terrible. Here is a site that describes your Morgan specifically, and if you go the the Vamworld homepage,Morgan and Peace dollar VAMs in general.. Yours isn't a terribly rare VAM,but it has some cool features.

VAM's can be a lot of fun but some people get carried away and put too much importance on some of them.

 

http://www.vamworld.com/1887-P+VAM-12

[BRIAN339]

Is mine also an 1887-P? DOes the P mean plain?

[MarkFeld]

Is mine also an 1887-P? DOes the P mean plain?

"P" stands for Philadelphia, where the coin was minted. Coins struck there do not bear a mint-mark.

 

I am amazed that you would buy a coin, not knowing that or being able to "decipher all the stuff on the lab". Frankly, that is foolish, and if you keep buying coins without knowing what you're buying and what they should sell for, you are guaranteed to get yourself into trouble.

[BRIAN339]

I was bored sorry.

[MunkyMan95]

I could understand buying the coin not knowing what the VAM was all about, but not knowing what "P" stands for? Sounds like you need to get some basic literature, and read it.

[kryptonitecomics]

Be careful Brian....feel free to ask us questions here before jumping in and buying more coins....as Mark and other pointed out....you could be throwing money away. I would recomend buying a copy of the 2009 Redbook so you can get some basic info about coins, coin grading, mintages and rare dates associated with each series (Walking Liberty halfs, Mercury Dimes, Lincoln cents etc).

 

Welcome to coin collecting

[bsshog40]

Is mine also an 1887-P? DOes the P mean plain?

"P" stands for Philadelphia, where the coin was minted. Coins struck there do not bear a mint-mark.

 

I am amazed that you would buy a coin, not knowing that or being able to "decipher all the stuff on the lab". Frankly, that is foolish, and if you keep buying coins without knowing what you're buying and what they should sell for, you are guaranteed to get yourself into trouble.

Man I totally agree here. At least some basic knowledge of coins need to be had or you will get bored and ripped off one day! At least you bought a reputable slab. Next time I recommend buying the coin.

[BillJones]

I'll give you a bit more of complete answer.

 

“1887-P TOP 100 S$1”

 

1887, Philadelphia mint, Silver dollar

 

TOP 100 = one of the 100 silver dollar die varieties named in a book by Michael Fey and Jeff Oxman. At the time of publication there was a contest in which the first collector to assemble a collection of all 100 varieties got a $1,000 prize. The source book for the "Top 100" book was Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan & Peace Dollars by Le Roy Van Allen & George Mallis.

 

Silver Dollar – The Philadelphia mint also struck gold dollars in 1887. Here is a picture of an 1889 gold dollar, which has the same design as an 1887 gold dollar. This coin is only 15 mm in diameter. Most gold dollars are scarcer and worth more than the average silver dollar that you will see at shows and in small auctions.

 

 

“VAM 12 DDO Gator MS-64”

 

VAM variety, 1887 #12, The VAM book I have lists 16 varieties for the 1887-P silver dollar. The New Orleans (O) and the San Francisco (S) mints also issued silver dollars in 1887 and there are VAM varieties for those issues as well.

 

DDO = Doubled Die Obverse – Elements in the design were doubled when the obverse (front) die was made. (It is beyond the scope of this post to explain to you how that happened.) Letters in the word “LIBERTY” in the headband are doubled as well as letters in “E PLURIBUS UNIUM.” Ms. Liberty also has two fronts in her eye, which gives the coin the “Gator” nickname. You will probably need a very strong glass (10 power) to see these features.

 

MS-64 = The state of preservation, in this case MS-64 means a very nice Mint State coin that just short of being outstanding. The scale goes up to MS-70, but for all practical purposes, few Morgan Dollars are seen above MS-66 and virtually none above MS-67.

 

“353949-070” This is the coin’s unique grading service serial number. The first number was on the form that the person who submitted the piece used when it was sent in for grading. The “070” means that it was the 70th coin on the list in the submission. Given the high number my guess is this was part of a bulk submission.

 

I’ll agree with the others that you should do a bit more research before you spend too much more money, but the coin you picked did have a lot of information on the label. Most slabs are a lot less wordy.

 

[BRIAN339]

Bill thank you very much for the response. I did have some idea of what I was buying but I am still learning.

 

My Dad knows alot more about this stuff than me. I should open another account under my name but he wont let me so people dont get confused.

 

He is mostly interested in paper money. I like coins. I am only 14 but someday I hope to have a nice collection and be as knowledgable as some of you. I also hope to be a lot happier than some people appear to be as well.

 

Next time I buy a coin I will try to know more about it. My father just let me pick out a coin up to $100 in value for my birthday and this was it.

 

 

[Jim Beam]

As a bystander to this thread, I want to say "Thank You" BillJones for your excellent response to Brian's questions. I learned a great deal from your well thought out and understandable response. I have asked many questions on other threads and I get very few quality answers. I found it very refreshing to read your reply instead of all the match replies you so often read on this forum. Thank You. Brian - Good Luck with your coin collecting hobby!

Oh, just curious, but what did the term "GATOR" mean on the holder label?

[James_OldeTowne]

Oh, just curious, but what did the term "GATOR" mean on the holder label?

 

I'll take this one, Bill! "Gator" generally refers to a doubling of Liberty's eye, which is most often apparent under low magnifcation. Often, the front of her eye is doubled, looking reminiscent of the extra eyelid of an alligator.

[bsshog40]

It's shame when someone pays $100 for coin and asks what "P" stands for and is given advice to gain more knowledge before buying coins and someone refers to it as "SPOON" replies. I agreed with Mark and I guess supplied one of those replies. If just the information of the coin was given and no advice to gain more knowledge before buying, then, without the poster giving the extra information after the fact of his father being a collector, these replies were only to help him prevent a future mistake and loss of dollars. I'm not a vam person and luckily Bill is knowledgeable of these. But there was still valuable information in the "SPOON" replies that were posted. As a bystander, maybe someone shouldn't condemn replies but give a more knowledgeble reply himself if able to.

[Jakeblue]

I recently purchased this from an auction. Can you guys help me to decipher all the stuff on the label. I paid $104 including the premium, did I do ok?

 

Thanks

 

Don't be offended by a direct answer here; the knowledge in the answer will help you as you learn the morgan "ropes". I did and it has helped me tremendously. (started in modern coins and notes before the coin bug really bit). Since your dad is involved, I would keep him close on buying anything else.

 

Finally, I would surf this site and other internet sites about morgans. It will help you to form a plan and structure for what you want.

 

Happy hunting.

[jesbroken]

Welcome, Brian. Happy Birthday and congratulations on a nice coin. This coin has sold on Teletrade from a low of $74 to a high of $109 since November 2008. So while you did not get a stupendous buy, you nonetheless received your money's worth and were not burnt. You will find that most everyone on this board will give you honest and forthright answers to your questions. Take these responses as they were intended---in your best interests--and that is merely my opinion. The board members, are for the most part, very knowledgeable and quite willing to impart that knowledge---be sure you utilize it for your greatest good as it is hard to come by elsewhere. The recommendations to get a 2009 redbook was good as this is an invaluable tool for whatever coin series you select to collect. Should you continue to collect Morgan Silver Dollars then maybe you might check out SSDC(The Society of Silver Dollar Collectors) and receive a copy of VAMVIEW which gives you prices of recently sold VAM $'s in the various venues such as Teletrade, Heritage, etc.

Should your dad allow I would be glad to send you an old VAMVIEW for you to see what they are about and the information within.

BTW-----Great answer Bill, clean, straightforward information.

As Bobby(bosshog) said all here are trying to help you and maybe were a little worried you were in over your head. So don't be upset with any of the answers that seem snappish as I feel they were not intended in that vein.

Again, I wish you great luck and hope to read many questions(none are stupid) as that is how we all learned.

Jim

[Nick Jr.]

OK, DDO stands for double die obverse & Gator is stating that this coin has an alligator eye due to a die problem when minted, well at least according to the way VAM see's it. But I don't see an alligator eye I guess you would have to look really hard at it & for a long time, but then again you could make it look like anything you want it to be.In the furure try to stay away from error coins in less they are in the top 10,they are not neccesasarily worth more. And they are not listed in The Red Book which makes it harder to find out their worth.

[BillJones]

I tried to download the picture that started this string to get the "gator eye", but the picture was too small. Here is a photo from the top 100 book.