What kind of Morgan would be good?

I'm not really into modern coins, but I'd rather like one Morgan. Perhaps this year for my birthday I'll request that. The owner of the local coin chain is allegedly a relatively big deal in U.S. coins. We (mostly my dad) have exclusively bought ancients up to now, but given the recent paucity of the selection, why not try for a Morgan?

I don't really care about the year, and I don't want to break dad's bank. How much would one expect to pay for a toner common year Morgan, in decent shape? An entombed one. While this is not optimal for ancient coins, I suppose I could put up with a slab for U.S. coins. I guess I'd have to.

I never paid much attention to the U.S. side the rare times I've been down there, but he has raw ones as well.

 

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You can get very nice Morgans under fifty bucks. I can't speak to the toning aspect. That may have an affect. I am more of a blast white guy myself.

 

The Fairchild kind. The cost of a Morgan Fairchild these days? Too much.

 

That would have been more fun with hilarious double entendre, if posted after my Post....

 

Any common year in EF or AU condition won't break the bank. Slabbed could be anywhere from around $45 to $60. Depending on the TPG (Third Party Grader). Good luck.

 

That certainly sounds quite affordable, a good deal less costly than the decent ancients were.

Is the NGCX series any cheaper than the regular NGC?

 

Here's my tip: go to a local coin shop and search through the silver dollars. Many of them can be acquired for under $30, and if you're lucky, you can get a semi-prooflike (SPL) Morgan, usually 1921 or a common S. I snagged a 1921, roughly MS-63 SPL, Friday at one of my local LCS's for about $25 after a partial trade.

 

The only problem, it's 30 miles away and in downtown, which is very inconvenient to park at.

I can just suggest a Morgan to my dad. I briefly looked toward the pile of raw Morgans, when I was there in 2023, and I want to say they were priced at $60?

 

Let your dad decide on the right coin. I'm sure he will pick something nice.

 

Just be aware, they are like Lay's Potato Chips!

 

If you want a Morgan Dollar, that showcases the design, with really great eye appeal, that won't cost you an arm and a leg, the 1881-S is a good bet.

The price on them yoo-yoos up and down because it is a very common date. Right now it seems to be up. The Greysheet price in MS-65 is $155 without the CAC sticker and $225 with it. You should be able to get one graded MS-64, which can be almost as nice, if you are picky, for $100 or a little less without the CAC sticker.

I am not a big Morgan dollar collector. I like the 1896 because of its connection to the 1896 presidential election campaign when "free silver" was the big issue. I bought this one, which was in an MS-63 holder, for $90. I thought that it was really high end for the grade.

 

yes! @PlanoSteve Morgans probably the most addictive coin series I have ever run across.. have fun

 

Look at your Red Book if you have one. You can get a good idea of common dates and they will be less expensive.

 

Thanks for all the advice!

 

The average Morgan dollar is boring to me, I like one with prooflike or deep mirror prooflike fields. The 1880-S is a date that's often found with prooflike surfaces.

 

You mentioned toners. They can be all over the place depending on the colors, eye appeal, amount of coverage, etc. Depending on your budget you can get fairly nice coins reasonably, but full coverage in attractive rainbow toning will likely run at least a few hundred dollars.

 

I bought this 1879-S dollar as a part of an "All Mints" set that is housed in a Capital Plastics holder. This was before slabbing came along which shows you how long ago it was.

One guy posted "That is not a toner" on a blog when I posted pictures of it. If the the reverse is not "a toner," I don't know what one is.

 

It took 2,000 years to create this toner.

I'd be happy with some rainbow toning on the Morgan obverse, though.

I'm not familiar with the gentleman, but Bradley Karoleff is one of the partners in the store. According to the website, he was one of Coin World's Most Influential Numismatists, 1960-2020.

 

Yeah. And I don't play that game. You can tell some of the heavily psychedelic toning with purple, reds, blues and gold were artificially generated, especially the bullseye ones. I don't know their secret sauce, but that craziness just doesn't happen over time in most cases. It's really easy to tone coins, but not like I just described. To the original poster, I purchased a NGC graded MS 65 coin not long ago for 135 bucks. I think it was a 1887 P in a Redfield Hoard slab. Find a common date and mint and buy the nicest looking coin you can find. There are some really fine highly undergraded MS 63 coins for half that price.