Another Morgan. This makes number three. 0

[Jblindy]

MS 64 1988 O VAM 1B EDS possibly a MDS. I need to have somebody with more knowledge on this VAM series to verify. Sorry, pictures aren’t the best. There’s quite a bit of hidden color that doesn’t show up in the pics. 
 

[124Spider]

I understand that this is a "damaged die" obverse coin, so I guess it's not too surprising that the obverse isn't as pretty as the reverse.  But the obverse looks to me to be significantly worn (like, XF45 quality), not just poorly struck.

Could you perhaps explain that to me?

Thanks.

Mark

[Jblindy]

I am far removed from giving a qualified answer to your question as I am just venturing into the realm of ungraded coins but I will try my best.  

When examining the coin, you need to take the various parts of the coin that receive the most wear and examine them as a whole. Meaning, if there is what looks to be wear from circulation on the obverse then you should see the same amount of wear on the reverse.  If you look at the reverse, you’ll see the eagle’s head, the breast feathers and the wings are still defined with no wear. Look at the talons, they are still sharp with no “flatness”.  There is also the  relative lack of dings and scratches on the field of both the obverse and the reverse. This could possibly what the graders were observing when they assigned the grade. There’s probably more to it than that. Hopefully some of the more experienced members will chime in. 

Edited October 21, 2021 by Jblindy

[Walkerfan]

Coins from the NOLA mint can be VERY soft.  I had an MS 1885 O that was just like that. 

My guess is that the color is MUCH better in hand.  I'm guessing that it's a 64.  

Keep it going and, someday, you'll have a nice box of 20.  

Edited October 21, 2021 by Walkerfan

[VKurtB]

Later O coins, 1900 and later, were VERY sharply struck. 

[Jblindy]

@Walkerfan My goal is to collect one from each mint and year at MS64 or better. The more rare key dates, I’ll have to lower my ambitions but I’d still like to get the best grade I can afford. I also want them all to be toned in some fashion. Once I complete that, I’d like to start on the various varieties. That’s the plan anyway. 
@VKurtB I received my Red Book Guide to Morgan Dollars today. I’m excited to start digging in and learning about the various qualities of the Morgan from the different mints.  Are there any other good books on the Morgan dollar you would suggest adding to my library. I still have lots of shelf space to fill. 

[VKurtB]

On 10/21/2021 at 8:15 PM, Jblindy said:

@Walkerfan My goal is to collect one from each mint and year at MS64 or better. The more rare key dates, I’ll have to lower my ambitions but I’d still like to get the best grade I can afford. I also want them all to be toned in some fashion. Once I complete that, I’d like to start on the various varieties. That’s the plan anyway. 
@VKurtB I received my Red Book Guide to Morgan Dollars today. I’m excited to start digging in and learning about the various qualities of the Morgan from the different mints.  Are there any other good books on the Morgan dollar you would suggest adding to my library. I still have lots of shelf space to fill. 

If and when you expand into Peace dollars, stay with that book series. It is written by a member here, @RWB. And while Peace dollars are not one of my specialties, I have flipped through it and can recommend it.

It also happens that THIS year’s MegaRed (7th Ed.) has a greatly expanded section on dollar coins. I use that series (MegaRed) as an easy “go to” when encountering stuff outside my usual lanes.  Morgan’s are trendy now. When I acquired most of the ones I own, they were not.

Edited October 22, 2021 by VKurtB

[Mohawk]

On 10/21/2021 at 9:19 PM, VKurtB said:

If and when you expand into Peace dollars, stay with that book series. It is written by a member here, @RWB. And while Peace dollars are not one of my specialties, I have flipped through it and can recommend it.

Roger's Peace dollar book is good.  I don't even collect U.S. coins and I haven't for over a decade and I really enjoyed it.  It inspired my fiancée, who is working on an extremely nice Morgan date set to expand to adding Peace dollars to her collection. 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Mohawk
Typo

[VKurtB]

On 10/21/2021 at 8:25 PM, Mohawk said:

Roger's Peace dollar book is good.  I don't even collect U.S. coins and I haven't for ever a decade and I really enjoyed it.  It inspired my fiancée, who is working on an extremely nice Morgan date set to expand to adding Peace dollars to her collection. 

Whitman is a pretty stout “gate keeper” on coin subjects. It’s hard for a beginner to go wrong with a Whitman publication on a specialty that one is drawn to.

[VKurtB]

On 10/21/2021 at 8:15 PM, Jblindy said:

@Walkerfan My goal is to collect one from each mint and year at MS64 or better. The more rare key dates, I’ll have to lower my ambitions but I’d still like to get the best grade I can afford. I also want them all to be toned in some fashion. Once I complete that, I’d like to start on the various varieties. That’s the plan anyway. 
@VKurtB I received my Red Book Guide to Morgan Dollars today. I’m excited to start digging in and learning about the various qualities of the Morgan from the different mints.  Are there any other good books on the Morgan dollar you would suggest adding to my library. I still have lots of shelf space to fill. 

If you find yourself drawn to Morgan varieties, go to “Top 100 Morgan Dollar Varieties: The VAM Keys”. The VAM world is a real eye-opener. Again with this, not my cup’o’tea. But I went to a VAM seminar, and the seriousness of those guys is amazing. Personally, I’m more into Early American Copper and some Liberty Seated stuff. 

Edited October 22, 2021 by VKurtB

[Jblindy]

On 10/21/2021 at 9:31 PM, VKurtB said:

If you find yourself drawn to Morgan varieties, go to “Top 100 Morgan Dollar Varieties: The VAM Keys”. The VAM world is a real eye-opener.

Thank you for the suggestions, I had added that one to my shopping cart but I pulled it out and added it to my wish list instead. I have been perusing VAMworld online though. It’s very interesting and comprehensive. Almost information overload. 🤯

[VKurtB]

On 10/21/2021 at 8:52 PM, Jblindy said:

Thank you for the suggestions, I had added that one to my shopping cart but I pulled it out and added it to my wish list instead. I have been perusing VAMworld online though. It’s very interesting and comprehensive. Almost information overload. 🤯

Yup. Start with date and MM, then have “Christmas for free” searching your pieces for VAMs.

[124Spider]

On 10/21/2021 at 2:13 PM, Walkerfan said:

Coins from the NOLA mint can be VERY soft.  I had an MS 1885 O that was just like that. 

My guess is that the color is MUCH better in hand.  I'm guessing that it's a 64.  

Keep it going and, someday, you'll have a nice box of 20.  

Thanks for this; it's an interesting thing to learn.  I have (so far; the ones I don't have are expensive, and take time to get) 23 different years of New Orleans-struck Morgan dollars, varying (by my non-expert grading) from XF40 to MS63, with most in the mid-to-high AU grades.  Every one of them shows wear/strike characteristics on the obverse that match reasonably well with the wear/strike characteristics of the reverse. By chance, one of the better samples I have is the same year as OP's interesting coin, and I find nothing soft about its strike.

Please understand, I'm not disagreeing with you; I'm just surprised that there could be such variability in coins with only a few million struck.

Edited October 22, 2021 by 124Spider

[Coinbuf]

On 10/21/2021 at 9:14 PM, 124Spider said:

Thanks for this; it's an interesting thing to learn.  I have (so far; the ones I don't have are expensive, and take time to get) 23 different years of New Orleans-struck Morgan dollars, varying (by my non-expert grading) from XF40 to MS63, with most in the mid-to-high AU grades.  Every one of them shows wear/strike characteristics on the obverse that match reasonably well with the wear/strike characteristics of the reverse. By chance, one of the better samples I have is the same year as OP's interesting coin, and I find nothing soft about its strike.

Please understand, I'm not disagreeing with you; I'm just surprised that there could be such variability in coins with only a few million struck.

Even for a small mintage of a few million more than one set of obv and rev dies would be used.   The op's coin was likely struck with a worn obv  and new (newer) rev die, which accounts for the difference in the strike for each side.

[Jblindy]

On 10/22/2021 at 1:06 AM, Coinbuf said:

Even for a small mintage of a few million more than one set of obv and rev dies would be used.   The op's coin was likely struck with a worn obv  and new (newer) rev die, which accounts for the difference in the strike for each side.

Learned something new today. Thanks. 
 

What would cause one side to wear faster than the other. 

[Jblindy]

On 10/21/2021 at 10:43 PM, VKurtB said:

Yup. Start with date and MM, then have “Christmas for free” searching your pieces for VAMs.

Christmas for free. I can definitely get on board with that. 😎

[Jblindy]

On 10/22/2021 at 6:35 AM, Jblindy said:

What would cause one side to wear faster than the other. 

I found the answer to my question for any other new coin collectors who might be asking themselves the same question. 

By law, the Morgan obverse die was required to be taken out of service at the end of the calendar year. The reverse die was not held to this requirement and could be used until it was no longer serviceable which would create “mismatched” dies in terms of time in service

Would there be any other circumstances that would account for these “mismatched”, for lack of a better term, dies?

[Coinbuf]

On 10/23/2021 at 8:37 AM, Jblindy said:

I found the answer to my question for any other new coin collectors who might be asking themselves the same question. 

By law, the Morgan obverse die was required to be taken out of service at the end of the calendar year. The reverse die was not held to this requirement and could be used until it was no longer serviceable which would create “mismatched” dies in terms of time in service

Would there be any other circumstances that would account for these “mismatched”, for lack of a better term, dies?

Yes several reasons, some coins designs just wear faster than others.   So a die can wear faster than the opposing die depending on the design elements, some designs may induce cracks more frequently than others which would require it to be changed sooner.   And there are other issues such as clashing and the subsequent polishing of the dies to remove clash marks, one die may require more polishing than the other.   Or one die may come into contact with some debris; a strike through as an example; which could damage the die and necessitate its replacement.   And then there is operator error which could potentially damage only one die.