Have it Your Way
Perhaps the greatest numismatist of our time, Q. David Bowers, coined the term, “the joys of collecting.” This is a phrase that encompasses our need to collect, our need to be challenged, our need for recognition, our need to compete, and our need to have fun. Collecting low ball Morgan dollars is a testament to the many “joys of collecting.”
Low ball collector and co-author of The Cherrypickers’ Guide Bill Fivaz exclaimed, “This is a true form of collecting, and having fun is the appropriate idea. While out there hunting for rare die varieties, I can also hunt for rare, low ball Morgan Dollars in dealers’ junk boxes and have fun while not breaking the bank.”
The Target Low Ball Grade
According to PCGS Grading Standards, the holy grail for low ball collectors is the example grading Poor-1, although a Fair-2 or About Good-3 may be acceptable as a filler until a lower-grading specimen is found. Coins are graded on a Sheldon Scale from 1 (the lowest grade discernible) to 70 (a supposedly “perfect” grade).
Low ball collectors will avoid ungradable coins, as no date or mintmark may be detectable. A Morgan Dollar graded About Good-3 will show rims worn into the tops of peripheral field lettering, but most remaining lettering will remain visible. A Fair-2 Morgan Dollar will show even more wear than an About Good-3, with only traces of the peripheral lettering visible. The Poor-1 Morgan Dollar, the holy grail, will just be barely identifiable as to type, date, and mintmark.
The Challenge
At this point, you may be saying to yourself, “I can do that!” However, according to Michael Hoyman, who is considered to be the “king” of collecting low ball Morgan Dollars, “Collecting low ball Morgan Dollars is every bit as challenging as collecting the finest gem-graded Morgan Dollar set. In some cases, there are fewer known Poor-1 graded Morgan Dollars than the highest-graded coins. Try finding any of the key date low ball Morgan dollars like the 1880-CC Reverse of 1878, the 1894 (Philadelphia strike), or the 1898-O, each with only one coin certified by PCGS in Poor-1.”
If you decide to target Morgan Dollar varieties, the challenge gets much tougher. For an appreciation of just how rare low ball Morgan Dollars are, I would urge you to look at the PCGS Population Census, available on the PCGS website.
The Recognition
There are many more collectors out there collecting low ball Morgan Dollars than you might think. Low ball collector Chris Lane said, “If you collect low ball Morgan Dollars, chances are good you are also collecting other types of low ball coins, including type sets, date sets, mintmark sets, and variety sets.”
Indeed, many collectors are vying for the lowest registry score in order to be recognized as having the Finest PCGS Registry Set. In the low ball set, you are awarded points, from 1-70, for the PCGS grades of your coins. Instead of targeting the highest-grading score, you want to be as close as possible to the lowest score to garner Registry Set bragging rights.
Checking the PCGS website for the numbers of U.S. Low Ball Registry Sets, you can see that there are many different types of low ball sets. Morgan Dollar assemblages ranging from 12 sets for Top 100 VAMs to 1,081 sets for a Morgan Dollar Mint Mark Low Ball Set.
| Number of PCGS Registry Sets Per Category | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morgan Dollars Date Set, Low Ball (1878-1921) | 377 | ||||
| Morgan Dollars Basic Set, Low Ball (1878-1921) | 156 | ||||
| Morgan Dollars with Major Varieties, Low Ball (1878-1921) | 73 | ||||
| Morgan Dollar Mintmark Set, Low Ball (1878-1921) | 1,081 | ||||
| Morgan Dollar Top 100 Vam Set, Low Ball (1878-1921) | 12 | ||||
| Carson City Morgan Dollars, Low Ball (1878-1893) | 164 | ||||
| New Orleans Morgan Dollar, Low Ball (1879-1904) | 109 | ||||
| Philadelphia Morgan Dollars, Low Ball (1878-1921) | 111 | ||||
| San Francisco Morgan Dollars, Low Ball (1878-1921) | 95 | ||||
The Finest Basic Low Ball Morgan set of 97 coins listed on the PCGS website is the “End of the Trail,” with a PCGS Registry Score of 71.04 (as of June 2025), and was 100% complete. That set is listed in the PCGS Hall of Fame, having won each year from 2012 through 2016. The “Reel Coug” collection, with a PCGS Registry Set Score of 71.04, and 100% complete, has been the current number #1 set from 2022 through 2024. This means that these collectors nearly completed the entire collection in Poor-1. No one has yet completed the entire set in Poor-1 with a 70.0 score and 100% complete.
If there appears in the market a coin in Poor-1 that these collectors need for their set, do you think they would be eager to buy it? Next time you come across a low ball coin, you may think twice about acquiring it.
The Competition
It’s this competitive nature of building low ball Morgan Dollar sets that has pushed prices for many dates to stratospheric levels. A plethora of examples grading lower than About Good-3 have sold for multiples of what their Poor-1 counterparts would normally take.
For example, a 1903-O Morgan Dollar is worth around $435 according to the PCGS Price Guide. Yet, a PCGS-graded specimen grading Poor-1 hammered for an astounding $2,040 (with 20% buyer’s premium) in a May 2025 Heritage Auction event.
A key-date 1893-S Morgan Dollar in Good-4 is listed in the PCGS Price Guide for $3,900. However, one sold for $4,560 at a Heritage Auctions sale in November 2024.
An 1880-CC Morgan Dollar in Poor-1 realized $780 in August 2021, notching nearly three times more than its listed price of $270 in Good-4 in the PCGS Price Guide.
The Fun
Remarked Philadelphia coin dealer Andrew Edelman, who buys and sells coins every day, “It’s a nice break from the business and provides me with a lot of fun. Indeed, all the low ball collectors I’ve interviewed have expressed the same.” He continued, “[They] have expressed their imagination of just who may have touched these old cartwheels, had them in their pockets, and used them for the many financial transactions that lead to their excessive wear.”
Edelman concludes, “Collecting low ball Morgan Dollars is just plain fun to do.”