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 packaging used for these earlier coins, it almost seems a miracle that any high quality cameos from the 1950 to 1970 era exist at all! The finest cameos, being early strikes off proof dies, are quite simply "the best of the best", for they are not only struck from proof dies, the finest possible dies, but are struck from those dies when they are in their most pristine, unworn state! There could not be a more striking difference between one of these first cameo strikes, and between a coin struck much later off the die - a brilliant proof. If one did not know better, one would think that the two coins were struck from two completely different dies! In a sense, they were. More correctly, they were collectcoin both struck from the same die, but one coin was struck before that die had experienced the wearing effect of 100''s of tons of pressure of metal on metal, and one coin was struck after that die had experienced those wearing effects. The opportunity of owning scarce, attractive coins that also are the ultimate in quality for their era has a very special appeal to collectors. It also gives these coins tremendous "upside" potential, as it very hard to pay too much for coins that offer the collector the of BU Franklins I acquired, 100 rolls of 1963-D''s, a total of 2,000 coins, resulted in financial disaster for me and my partner. Oh, the bag quantity was original all right. All the rolls were in their original bank-wrappings, and had obviously never been unwrapped. The coins in these rolls were beautiful, bright blazers. We submitted the 125+ nicest coins to PCGS and NGC for grading, figuring if we got 40 or 50 MS 65''s we''d make a profit. The result? 5 MS 65''s!! The rest graded either MS 64 or MS 63. Why? The majority had a couple too many bag marks (a common problem with BU Franklins), or had a bit too much pitting on the high-points of the devices (another common problem with BU Franklins), or were too softly struck to grade MS 65 (another common problem with BU Franklins, or finally, had some very light hairline scratches, the result of having passed through a coin counter! By comparison, a single roll of late date Walking Liberty half dollars would likely have more gems among the 20 coins than the 1963-D Franklins did among the 2,000. Despite having populations a fraction of the Walking Liberty halves in gem collectcoin condition, gem Franklins are currently priced well below the levels Walkers are currently selling at. Additionally, if one wishes to compare the populations of untoned, brilliant MS 65 Walkers to untoned, brilliant MS 65 Franklins, the population differences are even more striking in favor of the Franklins! this market was virtually ignored 30 years ago. What brought it to prominence? Quite simply, information was made available that resonated with the collecting public. At that time, high grade Morgan dollars were not even considered worth collecting by many numismatists, because they were thought to be so plentiful. In other words, though they ranked high in categories 1. Beauty, 2.Quality, and 4. Price, in collectors'' minds they ranked extremely low in category 3. - Rarity. Therefore, their desirability as a collectible was thought to be limited. However, several landmark books were published on Morgan dollars in the 1970''s and early 1980''s which educated the collecting public on many aspects of the Morgan dollar series they were not aware of. Probably the most significant of these books, Wayne Miller''s "The Morgan and Peace Dollar Textbook", was the first book that provided an in-depth date-by-date analysis of this series along with photographs. Significantly, Miller was one of the first authors to estimate a date''s rarity not only in uncirculated condition, but also in gem MS 65 uncirculated condition, collectcoin and gem MS 65 prooflike condition. This new information was a tremendous boon to the Click HERE for access to the Internet's most reputable source for rare coins and proofs, along with other numismatic advice. We have extensive collections of both domestic and international coin currencies, and all the latest market information to keep you on top of the game.
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