Your opinion: 1880 S PL Morgan Dollar Grade

[BLive1972]

I know it's impossible to grade from a photo,  but I'd just like some opinions on this 1880 S MS? PL Morgan. I tried to get various angles. Thanks in advance.  

[BLive1972]

[BLive1972]

[BLive1972]

[Just Bob]

I think the technical grade is a 65, but I want to bump it a point for eye appeal. Nice Morgan!

[BLive1972]

29 minutes ago, Just Bob said:

I think the technical grade is a 65, but I want to bump it a point for eye appeal. Nice Morgan!

Thanks for your opinion Bob 👍

[MarkFeld]

The images make it difficult to assess the coin, but my guess would be MS65 with a shot at a higher grade.

[BLive1972]

55 minutes ago, MarkFeld said:

The images make it difficult to assess the coin, but my guess would be MS65 with a shot at a higher grade.

Thank you Mark.  I appreciate your feedback. I realize some details are hard to see.  Really tough to photo pl coins.  I actually need to reach out to you about something later.  

[Mohawk]

From the photos, I'm going to say MS65 Star.  Once again BLive1972, you have posted an example of a coin type I usually do not dig, but which I find to have a very pleasing appearance.  Nice coin indeed

[MarkFeld]

1 minute ago, Mohawk said:

From the photos, I'm going to say MS65 Star.  Once again BLive1972, you have posted an example of a coin type I usually do not dig, but which I find to have a very pleasing appearance.  Nice coin indeed

Why the guess of a star? It's not beautifully toned, so in this case, as far as I know the only possible reasons could be a just-miss DPL or extremely deeply frosted devices. I don't see either of those, based on the entire group of images.

[Mohawk]

Well, I said the Star guess because, to me, it does have superior eye appeal compared to many 1880-S Morgans I've seen in my time.  I thought that the Star was given for superior eye appeal for the issue, which could mean many things.  But maybe I'm not understanding how the Star is assigned properly.  You have a lot of knowledge Mark and if I'm misunderstanding the Star, I'd welcome the opportunity to learn from your experiences regarding it.

[Mohawk]

In thinking about this, maybe MS65+ would have been better.  I think the coin is better than your usual MS65, but not quite up to MS66.  I went with the eye appeal thing first, hence the Star.  I'll say MS65+ instead. 

[BLive1972]

Ok,  now I really focused in every flaw I can find.  It's def not graded 65 and def does not have a star.  It's flawed,  but how many point deductions. Again,  tough to tell by pics,  but in trying to learn at the same time

[BLive1972]

[BLive1972]

And this hit on reverse 

[BLive1972]

35 minutes ago, Mohawk said:

From the photos, I'm going to say MS65 Star.  Once again BLive1972, you have posted an example of a coin type I usually do not dig, but which I find to have a very pleasing appearance.  Nice coin indeed

Take a look at the new pics and let me know how much this changes your grade. Now,  in hand,  the only hits you can see sort of clearly are the few in front of the face and one by the neck.  

[Mohawk]

Well now, that's a bit different.  It's really hard to grade coins from photos.  I want to throw that disclaimer out there before I throw out a revised number.  Based on the closeups that you just posted and given that they are not closeups of the whole coin, from what I can see I'm going to guess MS63 this time.  If there are more bag marks in areas we can't see, it could be an MS62 depending on number and severity.

[Mohawk]

1 minute ago, BLive1972 said:

Take a look at the new pics and let me know how much this changes your grade. Now,  in hand,  the only hits you can see sort of clearly are the few in front of the face and one by the neck.  

Based on this statement and the photos, I stand by MS63.

[BLive1972]

Thank you.  The other marks were so unnoticeable unless you look very closely. I don't hold anyone to a grade of a photo I'm trying to see how hits affect overall grade.  Just by those few ticks you can now see,  I lost 2 points and a + 

This one is graded MS62 PL,; however,  I felt it was at least a 63 or a gold bean from John mmm maybe.  Those are tough.  It's a great looking 62 and looks better in hand than many 65s that I have

[BLive1972]

10 minutes ago, Mohawk said:

Well now, that's a bit different.  It's really hard to grade coins from photos.  I want to throw that disclaimer out there before I throw out a revised number.  Based on the closeups that you just posted and given that they are not closeups of the whole coin, from what I can see I'm going to guess MS63 this time.  If there are more bag marks in areas we can't see, it could be an MS62 depending on number and severity.

What I took a photo of are the only bag marks aside from the one in the reverse. I wanted to try and get every strike against it   

[MarkFeld]

22 minutes ago, BLive1972 said:

What I took a photo of are the only bag marks aside from the one in the reverse. I wanted to try and get every strike against it   

Can you post a couple more pictures of the coin shot head-on? Based on the assigned grade, I’m guessing there is something else wrong with it.

[MarkFeld]

1 hour ago, Mohawk said:

Well, I said the Star guess because, to me, it does have superior eye appeal compared to many 1880-S Morgans I've seen in my time.  I thought that the Star was given for superior eye appeal for the issue, which could mean many things.  But maybe I'm not understanding how the Star is assigned properly.  You have a lot of knowledge Mark and if I'm misunderstanding the Star, I'd welcome the opportunity to learn from your experiences regarding it.

The star is for extra eye-appeal. But typically, only certain aspects of a coin’s appearance account for that. I believe that a PL Morgan would need to be exquisitely toned, a borderline DPL  (at least on one side) or extra deeply frosted. I can’t envision what else might qualify. Quality-wise, a high end example for the assigned grade, should not have anything to do with a star.

[BLive1972]

9 minutes ago, MarkFeld said:

Can you post a couple more pictures of the coin shot head-on? Based on the assigned grade, I’m guessing there is something else wrong with it.

 

[BLive1972]

[BLive1972]

[BLive1972]

[MarkFeld]

Thank you. I’m seeing quite a few marks by the date and in a previous picture, I saw some lines in the left obverse field. But it still looks too nice for a 62. Right or wrong, however, I give the benefit of doubt to (edited to) PCGS, since they saw it in hand.

[BLive1972]

1 minute ago, MarkFeld said:

Thank you. I’m seeing quite a few marks by the date and in a previous picture, I saw some lines in the left obverse field. But it still looks too nice for a 62. Right or wrong, however, I give the benefit of doubt to NGC, since they saw it in hand.

It's in a PCGS rattler,  but you're probably right.  There must be something that I'm missing.  I honestly don't ever buy PL coins because they're tough for me to grade. I see plenty of ms64 that have less hits than this one,  so maybe I'll just see if I can get it stickered and save for a rainy day.  I appreciate your feedback 👍 

[MarkFeld]

6 minutes ago, BLive1972 said:

It's in a PCGS rattler,  but you're probably right.  There must be something that I'm missing.  I honestly don't ever buy PL coins because they're tough for me to grade. I see plenty of ms64 that have less hits than this one,  so maybe I'll just see if I can get it stickered and save for a rainy day.  I appreciate your feedback 👍 

Thanks and I edited my post to reflect that the coin was graded by PCGS, not NGC. Enjoy it!

[BLive1972]

8 minutes ago, MarkFeld said:

Thanks and I edited my post to reflect that the coin was graded by PCGS, not NGC. Enjoy it!

I know you've seen enough of them to know 😉 Thanks again