1904o Morgan dollar grade 1 1

[Coinzrfun]

Hello

I have a few Morgan dollars I want to submit for grading. I believe they are in very nice condition. I have taken a picture of one of them with my cell phone. These are really high resolution and really show the surfaces well. Almost to good but I see this coin as very high grade when I compare it to other coins I see. Is it worth sending to NGC for grading?

 

[Henri Charriere]

Welcome to the Forum!

There are many different reasons why collectors submit their coins for certification -- value of coin vs. cost of certification being only one of them.  This is a personal decision that is strictly yours to make.

[VKurtB]

On 5/8/2023 at 6:14 AM, Coinzrfun said:

Hello

I have a few Morgan dollars I want to submit for grading. I believe they are in very nice condition. I have taken a picture of one of them with my cell phone. These are really high resolution and really show the surfaces well. Almost to good but I see this coin as very high grade when I compare it to other coins I see. Is it worth sending to NGC for grading?

 

This is a very nice 04-O. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there are extremely many very nice 04-O’s. According to the Mega Red book, the average grade of NGC-graded 04-O’s is 63.7. There are also many PL and DMPL examples. Here is my best advice. Get out a 10x loupe and count up the hits and marks. If there are very few, you might just have something. The change from MS64 to MS65 is decent. MS66 gets real interesting. 

[Sandon]

    Sending coins to grading services is the last thing that a new or casual collector should be thinking about! Instead, you should learn how approximately to grade and otherwise evaluate coins yourself.  This is a process that will take you some years to master and will involve the study of grading guides and other numismatic books and resources, the examination of many professionally graded coins, and conversations with experienced collectors and dealers, which you can do at such venues as coin shows and coin club meetings. A coin should be worth at least several hundred dollars in order for it to be financially worthwhile to send to a third-party grading service such as NGC, and you will be unable to make that determination without going through this process.

    A 1904-O Morgan dollar is an abundantly common issue of which it is believed several million uncirculated pieces were found in a Treasury vault that was unsealed in 1962. NGC and PCGS have together numerically graded over 302,000 pieces, the most frequently awarded grade at either service being MS 64, which currently has a bloated retail (dealer selling) list value of $125-$150. Coins grading MS 62 list $75-$85. A coin returned with a circulated--even AU--grade or "details" graded due to "cleaning" or other impairments would be worth no more than $45 at retail, and a dealer would likely pay no more than its silver value. In any of these cases, the least expensive option for grading at NGC ("Economy" for coins valued under $300 each) would involve a $23 per coin grading fee, a $10 per order processing fee, a $28 per order up to ten coin return shipping fee, and your cost of shipping your coins to NGC. (You could also submit the coins through an authorized dealer, who might get a discount but would likely charge you for the service.) It really isn't worthwhile at these prices to submit the coin unless you have a good reason to believe that it will be graded at least MS 65, with a retail list value around $225.

   I am unable to evaluate your coin thoroughly, especially its obverse due to the darkness of the photo, but from what I can see it appears to have uncirculated details but highly doubt that it would grade MS 64 or better.  The grade would be based upon a number of characteristics, including the number, size, and location of bag marks and other abrasions, the quality of the strike (which seems somewhat weak), the luster, and its overall "eye appeal". There appears to be a large area of discoloration or abrasions at the lower portion of Liberty's face, which would negatively affect the grade.  I strongly urge you to learn more before submitting your coins to grading services. The resources shown in the following forum topics should be of assistance to you:

 

[RWB]

The reverse is very nice with only 1 or 2 dings. The obverse has a lot of chatter on Liberty's cheek and the left field. It might go into a TPG 63 or 64 holder. Value about $110-$175. Not worth the cost of slabbing if those are the likely grades.

[Coinbuf]

Welcome to the forum, you have a very nice example of this date and mm Morgan dollar, from your photos It seems to grade MS64 at a minimum.   My reply to your question would be what are your plans or goals for this coin?   If you want to sell it on a retail platform like Ebay or the like then getting it graded and slabbed by a reputable TPG like NGC may help make the coin easier to sell and bring more bidders and a higher value vs selling raw.   If your goal is to keep the coin then there is no rush or even any need to spend the funds to have it graded, there are multiple products that will protect the coin just as well as a TPG slab at a fraction of the cost.   If your reason to have it graded has no financial aspect then the costs to grade may not be a part of your decision, and that is fine also.

Best of luck with whichever choice you choose and enjoy the coin.

[rrantique]

MS64

Edited May 8, 2023 by rrantique

[VKurtB]

I won’t hazard a guess on a grade from still pictures. Lighting matters. Roger is correct about something - that reverse is a winner. The obverse less so, but I’ve seen much worse in MS64 holders. 

[Henri Charriere]

On 5/8/2023 at 3:41 PM, Coinbuf said:

Welcome to the forum, you have a very nice example of this date and mm Morgan dollar, from your photos It seems to grade MS64 at a minimum.   My reply to your question would be what are your plans or goals for this coin?   If you want to sell it on a retail platform like Ebay or the like then getting it graded and slabbed by a reputable TPG like NGC may help make the coin easier to sell and bring more bidders and a higher value vs selling raw.   If your goal is to keep the coin then there is no rush or even any need to spend the funds to have it graded, there are multiple products that will protect the coin just as well as a TPG slab at a fraction of the cost.   If your reason to have it graded has no financial aspect then the costs to grade may not be a part of your decision, and that is fine also.

Best of luck with whichever choice you choose and enjoy the coin.

To the OP:  This is as fine an explanation as you are likely to get expressing intelligibly what I was attempting to articulate.  

[Coinzrfun]

I really appreciate you guys taking a look at it. To be honest the obverse is as nice as the reverse. I think I need to take better pictures so you guys can really see my Morgan's. I have a few hundred of them. They have been with us for a very long time. I have had some graded but that was many years ago. I still have them. Many are 65, 66 and I think one or two 67's. We stopped sending them on for grading because the dealer we submitted them through closed rather abruptly. It's really hard to take pictures of lustrous coins I find. Here is another image just to try to represent the coin better. There is chatter as you put it on the cheek of this particular Morgan but it isn't really coin dings its more like rubs. Anyway I am not as much concerned about the numerical grade. I'm looking forward to joining in some conversations about Morgan dollars and from time to time I will share some more pictures if that alright with you guys.

Edited May 8, 2023 by Coinzrfun

[Coinzrfun]

In the image I took of the obverse it makes it look like the cheek is all dinged up. It's really not. Those are rubs from contact but not scratches or anything like that. I am sure that many of you are familiar with what I am saying. These are so difficult to take pictures of.