Q. David Bowers
What to Sell: Prooflike and Deep Mirror Prooflike Morgans.
Once upon a time there was a market in prooflike Morgan dollars. In fact, between 1965 and 1985 they were one of the most visible parts of the top quality end of the rare coin market. There were even people trying to put together complete sets of prooflike Morgans. All of this has completely changed.
As a long-time silver dollar specialist, I know most of the people working on complete sets. To a man (or woman) the prooflike status of a dollar is not an issue with them. They arelooking for the highest possible grade. In fact, I do not know of a single collector working on a complete set of prooflikes.
Prooflike status used to be held in awe by the dollar collecting community, as if it was some kind of higher grade. But, the grading services have really changed that focus. Now, some collectors view prooflike as a negative (it doesn't match the rest of their set).
Prooflike and Deep Mirror Prooflike Morgans still command a premium price, but I'm convinced that this premium will continue to shrink. Sell your prooflikes now while you can still get the premium or trade them for other non-prooflikes ....
My own feeling is that if a PL or DMPL coin has excellent aesthetic value (which most do not), and if the price of a PL or DMPL coin is close to that of a Mint State coin in the same grade, the PL or DMPL will be preferred. In general, a PL or DMPL coin has to be MS-65 PL or MS-65 DMPL, or finer, in order to be a candidate for having excellent eye appeal, and even at that level there are numerous coins that will not qualify.
Further, a high-grade PL or DMPL coin of a basically very rare issue, such as 1886-O, 1889-CC, 1896-O, etc., is desirable to own. However, I believe that paying a large premium for prooflike coins that are not attractive is not a good expenditure of your money. If the premium for an attractive PL or DMPL coin is multiples of the price of an equivalent regular Mint State coin, also be careful.
As a guide to PL and DMPL coins that have been certified by NGC and PCGS as of September 1992, I give the following listings. In each instance, the total number of PL and DMPL pieces in all Mint State grades is given, followed by the total of MS-65 or better coins in parentheses. Certified coins represent just a tiny percentage of the PL and DMPL pieces in existence, especially for the less valuable issues.
Certified PL Population
The following listing in date order gives the total number of prooflike (PL) coins, MS-60 PL through MS-68 PL, certified by NGC and PCGS as of Septem-ber 1992. No coins were certified higher than MS-68 PL.
In parentheses will be found the number of PL coins certified in MS-65 PL or better condition, a part of the total. For example, for 1878 8 TF there were 387 coins certified as PL, of which 10 were MS- 65 PL or better.
1878 8 TF: 387 (65+: 10)
1878 7/0ther TF: 231 (65+: 9)
1878 7 TF Rev. of '78: 541 (65+: 23)
1878 7 TF Rev. of '79: 107 (65+: 2)
1878-CC: 722 (65+: 49)
1878-S: 1,135 (65+: 107)
1879: 190 (65+: 7)
1879-CC: 136 (65+: 0)
1879-CC Large CC over Small CC: 25 (65+: 0)
1879-O: 153 (65+: 1)
1879-S Second Rev. (78): 69 (65+: 0)
1879-S Third Rev. (79): 4,025 (65+: 994)
1880: 163 (65+: 18)
1880-CC: 525 (65+: 64)
1880-CC Rev. of '78: 41 (65+: 5)
1880-O: 116 (65+: 1)
1880-S: 9,404 (65+: 2,772)
1881: 172 (65+: 4)
1881-CC: 561 (65+: 67)
1881-O: 243(65+: 2)
1881-S: 7,855 (65+: 2,327)
1882: 201 (65+: 12)
1882-CC: 1,252 (65+: 167)
1882-O :340(65+:9)
1882-O/S: 0(65+:0)
1882-S: 2,462 (65+: 662)
1883:336 (65+:25)
1883-CC: 1,964 (65+: 290)
1883-O: 1,539 (65+: 92)
1883-S: 37 (65+: 0)
1884:240(65+:26)
1884-CC: 1,706 (65+: 227)
1884-O: 1,268 (65+: 121)
1884-S: 6 (65+: 0)
1885: 904(65+: 104)
1885-CC: 601 (65+: 75)
1885-O: 1,317 (65+: 113)
1885-S: 179 (65+: 10)
1886: 467(65+: 67)
1886: 7 (65+: 0)
1886-S: 240 (65+: 19)
1887/6: 32 (65+: 0)
1887/6-0: 0 (65+: 0)
1887: 1,128 (65+: 199)
1887-O: 170 (65+: 7)
1887-8: 76 (65+: 3)
1888: 181 (65+: 26)
1888-O: 355 (65+: 27)
1888-S: U8 (65+: 3)
1889: 173 (65+: 7)
1889-CC: 37 (65+: 0)
1889-O: 79(65+: 12)
1889-S: 181 (65+: 6)
1890: 125 (65+: 2)
1890-CC: 140 (65+: 2)
1890-O: 282 (65+: 10)
1890-S: 133 (65+: 10)
1891: 47 (65+: 0)
1891-CC: 261 (65+: 8)
1891-O: 28 (65+: 0)
1891-S: 230 (65+: 7)
1892: 44 (65+: 3)
1892-CC: 236 (65+: 11)
1892-O: 8 (65+: 0)
1892-S: 5 (65+: 0)
1893: 2 (65+: 0)
1893-CC: 133 (65+: 0)
1893-O: 22 (65+: )1