SSLong Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 Just wondering as far as altered surfaces or authenticity if there are any suggestions on what to avoid when purchasing a Morgan. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBC Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 This topic does not belong in the Marketplace forum, which is ONLY for selling and buying coins. Your question belongs in the Newbie Coin Collecting Questions forum. My rule for Morgans (and any other coin) is, if it looks suspicious, avoid it. Even common date Morgans are being counterfeited by the thousands in China and are being sold at flea markets and on eBay every day. Genuine Morgans with altered surfaces or other impairments are easy to get and impossible to get rid of. Coinbuf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coinbuf Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 How much do you know or have studied the Morgan dollar series? Have you ever bought a Morgan dollar before or is this (or coins in general) a new area of interest for you? I'm asking these questions because your question is rather vague and suggests that you may not know very much about coins or at least Morgan dollars. There is a saying that goes; Buy the book before you buy the coin. The best way to avoid buying a counterfeit or altered coin of any series is to do your homework and know what you are buying before you buy. There are tons of unprincipled sellers, we currently have one here on this board that is trying to rip off buyers with his ebay sales. It is not uncommon for these types of slimy sellers to be deceitful with what they have, I have seen many sellers that purposely buy details (cleaned or altered coins) and advertise those coins for sale without disclosing the issues or problems. Your best defense is knoweledge, other than that be sure to only purchase a coin in a reputable TPG (third party grader like NGC) holder, I would only recommend you consider coins graded and holdered by NGC, CAC, and PCGS. The only other bit of advice I can offer is to remember there is no Santa in numismatics, if it's too good to be true it probably isn't. rrantique and The Neophyte Numismatist 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSLong Posted June 20 Author Share Posted June 20 On 6/18/2024 at 3:01 PM, Coinbuf said: How much do you know or have studied the Morgan dollar series? Have you ever bought a Morgan dollar before or is this (or coins in general) a new area of interest for you? I'm asking these questions because your question is rather vague and suggests that you may not know very much about coins or at least Morgan dollars. There is a saying that goes; Buy the book before you buy the coin. The best way to avoid buying a counterfeit or altered coin of any series is to do your homework and know what you are buying before you buy. There are tons of unprincipled sellers, we currently have one here on this board that is trying to rip off buyers with his ebay sales. It is not uncommon for these types of slimy sellers to be deceitful with what they have, I have seen many sellers that purposely buy details (cleaned or altered coins) and advertise those coins for sale without disclosing the issues or problems. Your best defense is knoweledge, other than that be sure to only purchase a coin in a reputable TPG (third party grader like NGC) holder, I would only recommend you consider coins graded and holdered by NGC, CAC, and PCGS. The only other bit of advice I can offer is to remember there is no Santa in numismatics, if it's too good to be true it probably isn't. Yes I have been trying to study Morgans. I recently bought a coin from who I belueved was a reputable seller on ebay but NGC said it was an altered surface. It was a huge disappointment. I was wondering more about the term "altered" ..... for future reference so as to avoid purchasing altered coins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSLong Posted June 20 Author Share Posted June 20 On 6/18/2024 at 3:01 PM, Coinbuf said: How much do you know or have studied the Morgan dollar series? Have you ever bought a Morgan dollar before or is this (or coins in general) a new area of interest for you? I'm asking these questions because your question is rather vague and suggests that you may not know very much about coins or at least Morgan dollars. There is a saying that goes; Buy the book before you buy the coin. The best way to avoid buying a counterfeit or altered coin of any series is to do your homework and know what you are buying before you buy. There are tons of unprincipled sellers, we currently have one here on this board that is trying to rip off buyers with his ebay sales. It is not uncommon for these types of slimy sellers to be deceitful with what they have, I have seen many sellers that purposely buy details (cleaned or altered coins) and advertise those coins for sale without disclosing the issues or problems. Your best defense is knoweledge, other than that be sure to only purchase a coin in a reputable TPG (third party grader like NGC) holder, I would only recommend you consider coins graded and holdered by NGC, CAC, and PCGS. The only other bit of advice I can offer is to remember there is no Santa in numismatics, if it's too good to be true it probably isn't. Yes I have realized I am probably better off purchasing previously graded coins. The Neophyte Numismatist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coinbuf Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 On 6/20/2024 at 5:53 AM, SSLong said: Yes I have been trying to study Morgans. I recently bought a coin from who I belueved was a reputable seller on ebay but NGC said it was an altered surface. It was a huge disappointment. I was wondering more about the term "altered" ..... for future reference so as to avoid purchasing altered coins. Well that term as used by the TPG's encompasses a lot of issues, here is a link to the kinds of problems that NGC lumps under altered surfaces. From the NGC main page As you have not posted an image of your coin it is impossible to say what the graders saw, and some problems are not always obvious in a photo anyway. One very common issue with Morgan dollars is thumbing. This was done by dealers (and collectors) to hide or minimize bag marks, especially those on the cheek. The dealer would wipe his thumb on his nose to collect some of the oils that are present there, then wipe across the cheek to blur and hide some of the smaller bag marks that are so common on Morgan dollars. This will be seen as a dull area on the cheek and when rotated you can see the hairlines that this process imparts to the surface of the coin. This is just one of the many types of surface manipulations that coins are subjected to in an attempt to increase the coins value and desirability. The Neophyte Numismatist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
