What coin was that... with the Morgan design... 50 cents?

[BodyBag]

I recall seeing a coin in here somewhere, and in a few other places, that has the Morgan Miss Liberty design on a 50 cent coin. What is that?

[gmarguli]

It is a pattern. The Morgan design was suggested for use on not only the dollar, but also the half dollar, quarter, and dime. It may have even been suggested for the nickel and cent and multi-dollar denominations, but I'm not positive about that.

[BodyBag]

Thanks Greg. What's that avitar supposed to be. Scares the pee out of me.

 

At any rate, forgive my lack o' knowledge, but do patterns like this exist only at ANA or museums, or do they exist in enough quantity to collect? If so, how much is the pattern in question worth? (not that it would matter - still saving up for my 1964 XF40 Dime!)

 

Anybody got a picture of that pattern?

[BodyBag]

OH, and Greg, what's the Kool Aid reference all about?

[gmarguli]

My avatar is that of the average Accugrade dealer. They'll suck the blood right out of you.

 

The patterns are available in the marketplace. I'm not sure of the specific pattern you are referring to. Is this it:

 

 

If so, it is available from fellow forum member Rick Kay at Pattern Coins for $29,500.

 

There are several with the Morgan-style obverse. Check out the site US Patterns to see many different patterns.

 

You can frequently pick up patterns for $1000+, but these nicer patterns usually run a lot more.

 

 

[gmarguli]

If this was the coin you were interested in, it's a little cheaper at $17,750.

 

 

[gmarguli]

OH, and Greg, what's the Kool Aid reference all about?

 

It's a reference coined by someone else. It refers to the Jonestown, Guyana incident where a bunch of people drank poisoned Kool-Aid committing mass suicide because of their leader. 900+ people died there.

 

It's a jab at people over on the PCGS forums where they feel that PCGS can do not wrong and the other services can do no right. Basically the average registry set participate over there.

 

I guess it is a way to say "think for your self".

[Tradedollarnut]

Do a search for Boiler78 and look at his icon. That's the pattern in question.

[BodyBag]

THAT'S the one, yeah. Thanks so much for the education and beautiful pictures. I'll never own anything like that. I have a strict rule about NOT buying coins that cost more than a new BMW K1200RS. But I can admire from afar.

 

Avatar, not avitar... go it.

 

 

[BodyBag]

The Kool Aid thing is right on! Love it. Would have NEVER guessed.

 

A few weeks back, I joined the Collector's Society so that I could submit coins to NGC myself. (Most dealers around here, when you ask them to submit a coin, they look at you like you have two heads). I had sent coins in to ANACS and PCI (not gold label) and was reasonably pleased with the cost vs. end result, but I was revolted by the resell value of the coins. I sell low end stuff (well, low end to most of you big dawgs) on eBay on a fairly regular basis, but when it came time to turn over one of my "personal collection" coins (in order to upgrade), I'd loose my butt on the PCI stuff, and the ANACS stuff wasn't bringing real money either. (I guess I'm lucky in that I've stayed away from new PCI, NTC, ACG, etc). A year or so ago, I decided to start submitting my coins to either PCGS or NGC religiously - wherther a cheap modern or a nice old classic - just so I'd have more liquidity. The decision to go with NGC/PCGS had less to do with quality than with economics (which in the end, one begets the other). Which, after WAY to many parentheses, brings me to my point.

My decision to go with NGC over PCGS stemmed from two things: 1) customer service was first rate at NGC (on the phone) and B) The uneasy feeling I get from coin dealers who deal mostly in PCGS and swear the other guys are loony. Anytime something is so skewed in one direction, I'll go the other, because there's always one thing doing the skewing - POLITICS. Looks like, from reading posts here AND accross the street, I made a good choice. 6 coins in QC right now!

 

[BOILER78]

Here is another one of my favorites

[Tradedollarnut]

Mark: that's the one I was thinking of - did you switch recently?

[BOILER78]

TDN- I have been using the same icon since I joined here (J-1512 reverse) I have been using the attached J1514 reverse across the street and some of the other members have been using my J1510 that you referred to

[Tradedollarnut]

I'm........so.........confused!

[BOILER78]

Here is the Morgan design on a quarter. Thanks for the image lesson Greg!

[lclugza]

The Mint considered putting the Morgan design on all the silver coins. But a sudden lack of demand for silver coins in 1878 caused the Mint to scrap those plans. As very few dimes, quarters, and halves were now being minted (due to low demand), it must have seemed a waste of time to change those coins' designs, although the Morgan design remained on the dollar. The lack of demand was mainly because a great many old U.S silver coins, which had been hoarded in foreign countries, were suddenly finding their way back to the U.S. (the price of silver was dropping; perhaps the holders of these hoards found they would rather exchange the silver for gold or "greenbacks" before the price dropped further). The dime, quarter, and half dollar were not redesigned until mintages for all three got back to "normal" in 1892.

[BodyBag]

This stuff is very interesting. Thanks for all the responses. If I were a big dawg, patterns would be my thang!

[Beijim]

Anytime something is so skewed in one direction, I'll go the other, because there's always one thing doing the skewing - POLITICS.

 

Amen, brother.

 

My decision to go with NGC for grading and encapsulation went pretty much along the same lines as yours. If the coin is superb, I'll buy it in a PCGS holder as long as there's no gross premium over a comparable NGC coin simply because it says PCGS on the label. Unfortunately, the Kool-Aid® is evidently so tasty these days that this seems infrequently the case.

 

Regards,

Beijim