What do F 8 to F 20 coin grades mean ?

Question

I am not a coin collector but I recently got interested in purchasing some Morgan Silver Dollars on ebay. Up until today, I purchased 3 of these coins ( 1 for $ 9.50 + 2 for $ 12.50 each ). Today on ebay I bought a " lot " of 11 of these Morgan Silver Dollars for $ 12.50 for the whole " lot " of 11. The ebay coin dealer " ad " said these were mixed dates & were graded from F 8 to F 20. I can't imagine that I got " ripped of " at that price ?...but I was hoping that a true coin collector could enlighten me as to what I may have purchased with respect to these coins & also guide me as to what I should look for or seek if I purchase any more Morgan Silver Dollars ? Also, I ordered something called " Never Dull Polish " which I understand is okay to use to clean these coins ? I haven't received any of above 14 Morgan dollars or the polish yet; but it has also been suggested that I buy Black Ring Airtite Morgan Holders ? I would welcome any good advice or guidance ?

Answer 1

First of all you never clean coins for they lose their value. How someone could sell a lot of 11 real silver dollars for $12.50 is beyond me for he sure lost a lot of money just in the silver alone. You are playing a dangerous game and in the end will lose your money. The 11 silver dollars have to be fakes. Any coin dealer that tells a collector to clean his coins, may have done so for the coins he sells are cleaned. A $1000 coin harshly cleaned may only be worth a $100 or if an inexpensive coin will only be worth its silver value and loses its collector value. I would need to see the coins or at least scans. You need to learn about grading. Coins are graded on a scale of 1-70 these days but the old designations are still with us. An aver age coin in grade good is called good-4 the next step up is Very Good-8, then Fine- 12, then Very fine 20 and so on up the scale. Instead of writing fine-12 most collectors use F-12. I hate to see new collectors start out wrong and get screwed by so called dealers who are really crooks. If you wish, email me through Yahoo answers and I will send you an email address so we can go over this more. Don't buy any more coins on Ebay.

Answer 2

The F stands for Fine and the numbers are minor breakdowns within the grade of Fine. There is an old adage in coin collecting "buy the book before the coin". Please do yourself a favor and buy a couple of books about coin collecting in general and maybe one specifically about Morgan Dollars. Next join a local coin club and/or the ANA. Both would be well worth the time and money. The ANA has a very good monthly magazine that more than offsets the cost of membership.

You should never attempt to polish collectible coins. People usually end up ruining their coins by doing this. Having a truly valuable coin professionally conserved is probably okay.

For moderately circulated coins such as you are buying I would stick with safe-flips. These are inert plastic holders that are very inexpensive (100 for $5 or $6). I might use the Airtites with AU or mint state coins.

The prices for the first 3 coins may be reasonable. The lot price is low so I would double check the grade on the coins. If worse comes to worse you are ahead on the "lot" in terms of melt value.

In the mean time have fun.