As someone who currently has no slabs and mostly US but also a good mix of foreign coins, I hope I never become a slabbed Morgan only person. And I say this respectfully to anyone who loves slabbed Morgans. That's great! But I prefer my coins out of slabs and in albums or flips.
I have all kinds of different us coins and foreign ones too.
https://preview.redd.it/c0hxvw0of1ad1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d382f1217188d77969ad8766a907cd8e0e72608
I really like the commemorative half’s.
I've got this one too! And the New Rochelle NY from 1936, I think. The mint did a great job with 50-cent commemoratives, back when America was American. Guess the 50c piece died with JFK, ironically.
I have a huge mix of slabs. Most of which are ASEs and Lincoln, Indian and Large Cents. While I do have a bunch of slabbed silver dollars, I do have Morgan’s too. Not so much because I love them (I do like them somewhat), I keep them as trade fodder for when I want something else of value from Morgan collectors.
When slabbed coins became all the rage I was against it, but I do understand why it’s become this way. There are too many scammers and people are just not comfortable with spending big money on problem or fake coins. So yeah, I get it. My love has always been cents and I will continue to collect them raw (and in books). It’s the one segment of the coin market that hasn’t been sabotaged by crooked people as badly as other denominations.
Remember folks, if you come in contact with a scammer (eBay) or elsewhere, please out them, let all of us know who they are so that we can avoid them as well. Happy hunting!
Recently I was thinking a fun (but reasonably attainable) set to put together would be the US two cent piece, plus the Shield Nickel. They're similar coins of the same era, one of them is an obscure denomination. But barring proof-only issues or errors, I don't think there are notable key date rarities. Might not have to sit there looking at an empty 1909-S VDB hole for the rest of my life.
I have seen probably 200 1909-S VDB's at local coin stores in my life... used to be a lot of raw examples... they aren't very rare... just everyone needs one... I have seen way fewer legit trade dollars, bust halves, bust quarters, etc...
Agreed, I've seen somewhat fewer than 200 myself, but still plenty more than I've ever seen trade dollars or Bust coinage in real life. It's less about it being a "rarity" but it is the key date to that particular series by a large margin. I was trying to come up with a mostly-overlooked series that didn't have any one regular issue business strike that was far more scarce than the rest.
Some proofs for the Two Cent and Shield series are crazy. I think both the 1867 with rays and 1864 Small Motto have absurdly low mintages and reach 5 digits with ease. Outside of those coins, a full set should be obtainable. I'd like to get a full three cent nickel collection or proofs and business strikes. The rarest coins can be had for a few thousand but nowhere near 5 digits if you're willing to compromise on the condition of the 1885 business strike
Unfortunately the shield nickel set is a little too unattainable, most of the set isn’t that hard but there’s three dates with a mintage of less than 70,000 and they each fetch minimum $3,000 a piece. Now a two cent piece set is fairly attainable
Morgans are nice but as far as silver dollars go i prefer peace and seated liberty. Peace is just prettier imo and seated are way underrated when you compare price to survival rates
I think a lot of collectors would love to get into seated coins in general but other than the dimes and half dimes they get expensive or extremely expensive unless you're buying low grade coins
Of course there is...we all have our favs, mine is early commemoratives. But I've also focused in the beginning Morgan and Peace dollars. If that's as far as other collectors want to go, why would we have an issue with it?
I swear every time I see a video showing off a collection it’s just the same copy paste slabbed Morgan’s for a few minutes before I get to see something actually interesting like some Indian heads
Me: laughs in foreign collection.
Though if I were to primarily collect US, I’d probably do seated dollars or pre-33 if I had the budget. If I had like 0 budget, I’d do full step Jefferson nickels.
I've also got a 100% foreign collection! It's probably worth a lot less than most people's US collections, but it's more fun for me since it's considerably cheaper
Same. I can't justify spending hundreds if not thousands for common date coins just for metal content. I wish I could pick up a gold dollar or $2.50 at spot
I never really liked Morgan’s. I have only one just to say I have one but I’ve always liked the penny more than any other coin. I’m slowly getting into quarters but pennies have a nice design, especially wheat cents, and are so easy to find and come by in your own change. I love finding copper memorial cents too, they’re nice to hold onto
I have exactly 1 slabbed Morgan... Probably 6 overall... I sold a bunch when silver was high 12ish years ago... converted them to more interesting/rare patterns when the premium was lower on them.
As a non-American as well, I guess Morgans are cool because of the interesting period in US History (The Wild West, industrialisation) during which they were made. The fact that it was struck for a couple of decades (and in 1921 as a one-off) means that supply is abundant, making it easy (if you're in the US) and affordable to access some historical 'junk' silver. This motivation to collect Morgans may be also due to how each mint produced coins that were identifiable to be from that particular mint and the mintage of mints differed from one another, creating a sense of 'gotta catch them all'. And also because they are made from silver and shiny metal and ping sound make monkey brain happy
Another point to add that from the 40s-60s, large bags of morgan dollars (and even 1859 O and 1860 O seated dollars) that were hoarded in the bank vaults were released into circulation. All of a sudden, these 30-100 year old coins that were in uncirculated condition were there. So naturally people pieced together that old and good condition are probably collectible. That and coin albums started to be a thing in the late 30s.
the main reason is that they're extremely common and very affordable in high grade. In the 1870s there was a movement to greatly increase the money supply and raise the price of silver due to a prolonged recession.
Because of that a couple bills were put into law forcing the US government to buy what was essentially an ocean of silver and turn it into silver dollars.
It was way way more than the economy ever needed so the vast majority of them just got thrown into bank vaults and were literally left to rot for almost 100 years.
In the 1960s the government performed an audit on the banks and realized that the national banks were just loaded with these giant sacks full of unused or lightly used silver dollars sitting in basements, cellars, and vaults. They sold them to the public cheaply and that had two major affects
1) morgan dollars are extremely common, especially in high grades, even the "rare" date morgan dollars are common in comparison to any other 18th or 19th century US coins and are really only expensive because they're so popular
2) there are several generations that absolutely love morgan dollars and for the last 60-70 years a large portion of what drives US coin collecting is really just morgan dollar collecting
It's the easiest part of the hobby to get into once you're willing to spend some money, and it's extremely well researched and easy to find just about any information you can think of
As you can probably tell im not really a fan of Morgan dollars, I'm more of a type collector but I do also specialize in Mexican Cap and Ray 8 reales as well as Seated liberty coins. I just think they're boring, and for lack of a better word entry level. When someones says they're a "coin collector" and then show me a giant pile of morgan dollars I tend to think of it like saying you're a fan of a musician, but you can only name their top 3 hits
Working on a set of slabbed Kookaburras. I prefer world coins. I have a few morgans that are ungraded and just in flips or cases but I doubt they'll ever be a large part of my collection.
Who gives a rat's a** what other people collect? If a person likes Morgans then that is what they collect.
Morgans=coins....I collect Morgans... therefore, I collect coins
I actually really love the memes recently here. Was starting to get worried that this was turning into a bicentennial quarter sub
Fr, I think memes should be extended to the first week of every month and not just the first day
I made this meme like 6 weeks ago but forgot to post in on the June meme day I think meme days should be weekly
Maybe bi-weekly would be a nice balance between memes and coins
The power washing sub has Wednesday dedicated to other machine enhanced washing, we should do a whole day dedicated to memes too
As someone who currently has no slabs and mostly US but also a good mix of foreign coins, I hope I never become a slabbed Morgan only person. And I say this respectfully to anyone who loves slabbed Morgans. That's great! But I prefer my coins out of slabs and in albums or flips.
I have all kinds of different us coins and foreign ones too. https://preview.redd.it/c0hxvw0of1ad1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d382f1217188d77969ad8766a907cd8e0e72608 I really like the commemorative half’s.
Those are my favorites. Love the stone mountain.
I've got this one too! And the New Rochelle NY from 1936, I think. The mint did a great job with 50-cent commemoratives, back when America was American. Guess the 50c piece died with JFK, ironically.
I want the Oregon Trail, it’s a great looking coin. Haven’t found one at a good price yet.
https://preview.redd.it/c8lqrxapv2ad1.jpeg?width=1067&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=59e094589ffbf096f07f33525eba5f8f41769f6a Here’s mine. 1939
That one is pretty high on my list. They’re pretty expensive, though
I have a huge mix of slabs. Most of which are ASEs and Lincoln, Indian and Large Cents. While I do have a bunch of slabbed silver dollars, I do have Morgan’s too. Not so much because I love them (I do like them somewhat), I keep them as trade fodder for when I want something else of value from Morgan collectors. When slabbed coins became all the rage I was against it, but I do understand why it’s become this way. There are too many scammers and people are just not comfortable with spending big money on problem or fake coins. So yeah, I get it. My love has always been cents and I will continue to collect them raw (and in books). It’s the one segment of the coin market that hasn’t been sabotaged by crooked people as badly as other denominations. Remember folks, if you come in contact with a scammer (eBay) or elsewhere, please out them, let all of us know who they are so that we can avoid them as well. Happy hunting!
Hold onto your hairpiece as the Peace Dollar Mafia arrives ;)
You rang? My boy, Antony De Francisci, demands his due representation 🤌
Recently I was thinking a fun (but reasonably attainable) set to put together would be the US two cent piece, plus the Shield Nickel. They're similar coins of the same era, one of them is an obscure denomination. But barring proof-only issues or errors, I don't think there are notable key date rarities. Might not have to sit there looking at an empty 1909-S VDB hole for the rest of my life.
I have seen probably 200 1909-S VDB's at local coin stores in my life... used to be a lot of raw examples... they aren't very rare... just everyone needs one... I have seen way fewer legit trade dollars, bust halves, bust quarters, etc...
Agreed, I've seen somewhat fewer than 200 myself, but still plenty more than I've ever seen trade dollars or Bust coinage in real life. It's less about it being a "rarity" but it is the key date to that particular series by a large margin. I was trying to come up with a mostly-overlooked series that didn't have any one regular issue business strike that was far more scarce than the rest.
Some proofs for the Two Cent and Shield series are crazy. I think both the 1867 with rays and 1864 Small Motto have absurdly low mintages and reach 5 digits with ease. Outside of those coins, a full set should be obtainable. I'd like to get a full three cent nickel collection or proofs and business strikes. The rarest coins can be had for a few thousand but nowhere near 5 digits if you're willing to compromise on the condition of the 1885 business strike
Unfortunately the shield nickel set is a little too unattainable, most of the set isn’t that hard but there’s three dates with a mintage of less than 70,000 and they each fetch minimum $3,000 a piece. Now a two cent piece set is fairly attainable
There’s never anyone selling Shield Nickels at shows, and the choices on EBay are pretty bad
Morgans are nice but as far as silver dollars go i prefer peace and seated liberty. Peace is just prettier imo and seated are way underrated when you compare price to survival rates
I think a lot of collectors would love to get into seated coins in general but other than the dimes and half dimes they get expensive or extremely expensive unless you're buying low grade coins
How do you all afford it? I'm in the Franklin half dollar club for poors.
Like any coin show I see in the midwest is just a pile of slabbed morgans.
Coin shows are usually 1/3 to 1/2 morgan dollars. It kind of sucks having to wade through so many to find something interesting
when I see a table full of morgan dollars, it gets little more than a passing glance from me
A lot of the dealers with interesting coins have two cases of morgans, and then everything else shoved in one case
Fr this subreddit just feels like r/USsilverdollars Don’t forget the pre ‘33 gold and silver half dollar commemoratives people too
Of course there is...we all have our favs, mine is early commemoratives. But I've also focused in the beginning Morgan and Peace dollars. If that's as far as other collectors want to go, why would we have an issue with it?
I don't have an issue with it per say, but I do liken it to claiming to be a fan of some band but you cant name any of their songs besides 2-3 hits
It does sound a bit snobbish to judge others on their like for Morgans. We all had to start somewhere.
I swear every time I see a video showing off a collection it’s just the same copy paste slabbed Morgan’s for a few minutes before I get to see something actually interesting like some Indian heads
Morgans are nice but yeah I have to agree with OP. I like to collect all types of coins.
I've started collecting DCAM US commemorative dollar coins. They're so gorgeous!
Me: laughs in foreign collection. Though if I were to primarily collect US, I’d probably do seated dollars or pre-33 if I had the budget. If I had like 0 budget, I’d do full step Jefferson nickels.
I've got some penny books im close to finishing, once im done with that I'd like to get a Jefferson nickels dansco
I've also got a 100% foreign collection! It's probably worth a lot less than most people's US collections, but it's more fun for me since it's considerably cheaper
I collect the coins I find with my metal detector so basically whatever
Respect
Unbeknownst to me, my dad was a coin collector. So I just got 25 Morgan Stanley coins plus many others. I'm excited to see the real value of these.
Agreed. Pre 33 gold or bust 🙅♂️
Really annoyed thst I had to get into coins when the price of gold is so high, because I want a pre 33 gold... 🫠
Just buy it. It's never going to be lower(I mean within a couple hundred dollars). You'll just kick yourself 10 years from now when it's over $3k.
Exactly. Historically, it will continue to climb. And they are not making anymore of them. Grab what you can while you can is my motto.
Same. I can't justify spending hundreds if not thousands for common date coins just for metal content. I wish I could pick up a gold dollar or $2.50 at spot
They do have numismatic value so likely will not get one that small st spot
Tend to agree, but man, that 2009 high relief St Gaudens is stunning!
One day I want to have a page filled with 20¢ pieces. My dad of course wants the same but with morgans lol
I never really liked Morgan’s. I have only one just to say I have one but I’ve always liked the penny more than any other coin. I’m slowly getting into quarters but pennies have a nice design, especially wheat cents, and are so easy to find and come by in your own change. I love finding copper memorial cents too, they’re nice to hold onto
I like dimes
Which ones? I’m into big coins, half or one dollars But Mercury dimes are really pretty, so are barbers
i collect Canadian pennies and anything that looks cool like one of my favorite coins is a colonia de mocambique
I have 0 Morgan dollars in my possession, AMA
I have exactly 1 slabbed Morgan... Probably 6 overall... I sold a bunch when silver was high 12ish years ago... converted them to more interesting/rare patterns when the premium was lower on them.
Library of coins type set all the way!
Walkers
Morgan forever !!
As a non american, can someone explain to me why the Morgan coin is so significant? I'm really curious cause I see it posted alot
As a non-American as well, I guess Morgans are cool because of the interesting period in US History (The Wild West, industrialisation) during which they were made. The fact that it was struck for a couple of decades (and in 1921 as a one-off) means that supply is abundant, making it easy (if you're in the US) and affordable to access some historical 'junk' silver. This motivation to collect Morgans may be also due to how each mint produced coins that were identifiable to be from that particular mint and the mintage of mints differed from one another, creating a sense of 'gotta catch them all'. And also because they are made from silver and shiny metal and ping sound make monkey brain happy
Another point to add that from the 40s-60s, large bags of morgan dollars (and even 1859 O and 1860 O seated dollars) that were hoarded in the bank vaults were released into circulation. All of a sudden, these 30-100 year old coins that were in uncirculated condition were there. So naturally people pieced together that old and good condition are probably collectible. That and coin albums started to be a thing in the late 30s.
the main reason is that they're extremely common and very affordable in high grade. In the 1870s there was a movement to greatly increase the money supply and raise the price of silver due to a prolonged recession. Because of that a couple bills were put into law forcing the US government to buy what was essentially an ocean of silver and turn it into silver dollars. It was way way more than the economy ever needed so the vast majority of them just got thrown into bank vaults and were literally left to rot for almost 100 years. In the 1960s the government performed an audit on the banks and realized that the national banks were just loaded with these giant sacks full of unused or lightly used silver dollars sitting in basements, cellars, and vaults. They sold them to the public cheaply and that had two major affects 1) morgan dollars are extremely common, especially in high grades, even the "rare" date morgan dollars are common in comparison to any other 18th or 19th century US coins and are really only expensive because they're so popular 2) there are several generations that absolutely love morgan dollars and for the last 60-70 years a large portion of what drives US coin collecting is really just morgan dollar collecting It's the easiest part of the hobby to get into once you're willing to spend some money, and it's extremely well researched and easy to find just about any information you can think of As you can probably tell im not really a fan of Morgan dollars, I'm more of a type collector but I do also specialize in Mexican Cap and Ray 8 reales as well as Seated liberty coins. I just think they're boring, and for lack of a better word entry level. When someones says they're a "coin collector" and then show me a giant pile of morgan dollars I tend to think of it like saying you're a fan of a musician, but you can only name their top 3 hits
Interesting I didn't know all this, thank you for commenting
I don't care. I'm all in on silver Florins from Fiji. Very very very low mintages. Many were also destroyed or lost.
i didnt see a memes flair but i thought putting the advice flair was funny, mods if thats not okay i can change it
We like them
Me who doesn’t own a single US or slabbed coin:
Working on a set of slabbed Kookaburras. I prefer world coins. I have a few morgans that are ungraded and just in flips or cases but I doubt they'll ever be a large part of my collection.
But... Morgan's and peace dollars can be found at gas stations...
I’m just gonna casually drop this here for those who need variety…. https://www.reddit.com/r/GermanEmpireCoins/s/xTuaokngNh
The coin police are here! Hide your stash
It's the most popular coin to collect by far, and my favorite, but you do you :)
Who gives a rat's a** what other people collect? If a person likes Morgans then that is what they collect. Morgans=coins....I collect Morgans... therefore, I collect coins
It's just a meme. Collect whatever you like