Q. David Bowers
An Action Plan for Buyers
To summarize:
1. The first step to building a collection of Morgan dollars is read and study about them.
2. Formulate objectives as to grade and price levels for the various issues wanted.
3. Begin your collection with commoner dates, gradually progressing to the scarcer ones.
4. Be a connoisseur at every offering-auction or fixed price-whether you are buying an EF coin or an MS-65 coin, and pay attention to quality, strike, problems if any, and overall eye appeal. Some MS-63's and 64's have more eye appeal than some coins technically graded 65.
5. Be selective as to your buying sources, and don't be afraid to pay a premium if the quality is there. On the other hand, there is no sense paying a premium for a common date that is readily available in high grade.
6. At auctions, scrutinize each lot you're interested in before you bid-preferably with a high-intensity light and a strong magnifier. At fixed price offerings, ask for approval.
Going beyond the foregoing, if you are buying for investment, remember that very few coins can be bought today at market levels and sold tomorrow at a profit. Traditionally, the rewards of coin investment have gone to those who have carefully put together high-quality Morgan dollar sets over a period of years and have held them for the long term. Most likely the future will see the same result. Of course, the future is unknown, and no one can tell what the market will be five, 10 or 20 years from now. This situation applies to all areas of economics and investment. No one can predict now what a given stock, bond, parcel of land, barrel of crude oil, or painting will be worth then.
"Dollar Averaging"
The value of your collection of Morgan dollars upon resale will depend on several factors, including the quality of the set, the rarity of the pieces in it, and current market levels. Of course, not all Morgan dollars will be rare, in fact most of them are not. However, in a way, putting together a set of Morgan dollars is dollar-averaging (no pun intended), as they say in the stock market. The expenditure of a lot of money for a rare date such as 1879-CC will balance your "portfolio" against multiple examples of the commoner dates, so on balance most of your funds will be invested in scarcer or rarer issues.
Thus, as most of your funds will be invested in coins that are scarce and rare, the best investment return will be made if the following things occur:
1. The coins you purchased are of high quality.
2. The price you paid was reasonable to begin with (considering the quality).
3. The market for Morgan dollars rises.
If all three come together, you will be a winner. If anyone of them doesn't occur, then you may not show a profit. However, there is no taking away from the situation that the acquisition of a fine set of Morgan dollars can bring many hours of numismatic pleasure, from reading about them and studying them.
Forgeries of Morgan Dollars Forgeries exist of certain issues, made by adding or removing mintmarks or altering dates. Such varieties as the 1889-CC, 1892-S, 1893-S, 1894, and 1895 should always be checked, but alterations exist with other issues as well. The American Numismatic Association Authentication Bureau, Colorado Springs, Colorado, offers publications showing the characteristics of known counterfeits.
An excellent protection against counterfeits is to buy from a dealer who guarantees his or her merchandise. Dealer members of the Professional Numismatists Guild, among others, make this guarantee. Further, PCGS, NGC, and ANACS offer guarantees of authenticity.(Guarantees of dealers, certification services, etc. are apt to contain special provisions and may change from time to time. Guarantees in force at any given time can be ascertained by contacting the individuals or organizations in question.)An expanded commentary is given below.
J.P. Martin on Counterfeits
J.P. Martin, head of the American Numismatic Association Authentication Bureau, contributed the following commentary to this book:
Like many different types of U.S. coins, there is a wide variety of counterfeiting techniques affecting the silver dollar series. Many of these techniques are deceptive, but all can be detected if you become aware of them. The following are descriptions of the processes and products of counterfeits and alterations of U.S. silver dollars:
Transfer Dies
Sometimes dies are created by transferring the details of a "host" coin to the die. The most common method-as well as the most accurate and sophisticated-is the "one-to-one" transfer method, a procedure much like that used by the Mint to produce genuine dies.
In this case, a genuine coin is mounted into an adaptation of the Janvier reduction engraving lathe. This device consists primarily of a rigid arm on a fulcrum. On one end of the arm is a point for tracing an image, while the other end carries acutter for engraving. The host coin is rotated clockwise under the tracer; a blank die is set into motion at the same speed under the cutter. As the tracer moves from the center of the host coin outward in tight spirals, the cutter engraves an accurate image, resulting in a one-to-one negative image on the die. The process is repeated on a second die for the other side of the coin.
The transfer dies, although very good copies, lack the fine detail of the host coin. The strength of strike and detail depends largely on the quality of the host coin and the efficiency of the transfer process. Details such as fine cracks and die polish may show intermittently or not at all on the die. It is important to note that any defect on the host coin will be transferred to the counterfeit die.
Diagnostics frequently encountered on counterfeit coins struck from transfer dies include lack of fine detail; lack of strong strike; odd color and texture; tool marks; and depressions.
Spark Erosion Dies
Spark erosion is another method by which counterfeit dies can be produced from a genuine coin. The process begins by setting the host coin and a blank steel die directly facing each other. An electric current is applied to the host Coin, causing electricity to arc or spark between the coin and the die. The sparks tend to vaporize the metal of the die at the points of contact.
As the spark erodes the die, it moves to the point that is the shortest distance between the coin and the die. This point shifts as the metal is eaten away, and eventually the entire surface of the die is eroded, resulting in a negative image in the die.
However, the process is not exact and the image tends to be a little rough. The die has the appearance of having been sandblasted and lacks the fine detail of the host coin. Most of the time, the counterfeiter polishes the granular fields of the die, producing a counterfeit coin with granular devices and a slightly lower relief.
Counterfeiters who employ spark erosiondies tend to favor smooth-edged coins, as the collars are easier to produce than are those for coins with reeded edges.
The diagnostics of counterfeit coins struck from spark erosion dies include granular or prooflike fields, with granular devices; slightly lower relief; lack of fine detail; and prooflike edges.