Ode to the 1895 Morgan Silver Dollar (King of the Morgans)

There is a mystery surrounding the King of the Morgan Silver Dollar series. Few people know that according to mint records, 12,000 Morgan Dollars were struck for circulation in 1895, however, to date, no business strike 1895 Morgan has ever been certified. The only Morgans that have been certified have come out of the 880 Proof specimens struck in 1895.

Morgan experts are divided in their theories as to why the supposed 12,000 1895 business strike Morgans disappeared. The prevailing theory is that the coins were never minted in the first place, and that this notation in the accounting ledger is in error. A few believe that the coins were minted as noted, but they were melted down at some point. It's a bit disturbing to conjecture twelve 1000-coin mint sealed canvas bags (the entire business strike production of the 1895 Dollar) going to the melting pot under the provisions of the Pittman Act of 1918.

One piece of evidence against the business strikes being made is almost immediately after minting, the 1895 dollar was recognized as a Proof-only issue. In the December 1898 issue of The Curio, dealer Charles Steigerwalt noted "Dollars of 1895 from the Philadelphia Mint are only found in the Proof sets." Similarly, the June 1898 issue of The Numismatist noted: "In 1895, Proofs only, numbering less than 1,000, were struck". So the prevailing information as few as 3 years after minting, was that no business strikes of the 1895 dollar were made. Presumably, this information must have come from the Mint itself.

Shown below is the PCGS Population of the entire 1895 Morgan Dollar run (only 525 PCGS slabbed and certified examples known!). It's interesting that apparently (according to PCGS at least) approximately 103 of the 880 Proofs stuck made it into circulation (and wore down to varying degrees) -- making them look like regular business strikes. Can you imagine coming across a circulated rarity like this roll hunting in the 1950's?



Four 1895 Proof Morgans wore down as far as PROOF-8 (which shows only Very Good details) and six more wore down as far as PROOF-12 (Fine Details). One of these PCGS certified PROOF-12 (PR12) Morgans is shown below. Amazing this was once a proof strike!



In any case, the highest PCGS-graded 1895 Morgan is PR68. While I could not find any photos in this high grade, I did find two PR67 Morgans.

The following coin is a non-cameo example, with some nice toning.



And this coin is a nice deep cameo example, which adds a $30,000 premium to the non-cameo above.

 

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Thank you for posting this. Wonderful story.

 

Great info! I think I'd probably take the toned 67 over the deep cameo.

 

I'm with you tho I'd be happy with the pr-8 even!!

 

Great Write-up!!!! I have often thought about getting a low level proof just to have it, but it is really rather exclusive.

 

Id go with the toned example too. Much more pleasing to behold

 

I'd probably take the DCAM example as I have a love for DMPL/Cameo Morgans. Although, I'd have to see the coins in hand to make the final decision.

 

Interesting how cheap these were as late as 1947 ... $35.
They did mess up though and listed Biz Strike 1895's as well as proofs.

 

The amazing thing about that is how cheap the 89 cc was!! A customer of mine him and his father bought 2 bags of 1000 Morgans during the government sell off in the early 60s both bags were 1903-o I think he sold most of his at $28 ea in the early 80s

 

So this is why grand pappy said this sack of dollars was worth more than gold

 

This was a cool coin. I guess someone thought it would fool someone.

 

It makes sense that whatever happened, happened to all of them. If the mint had gone so far as to strike and bag these, I think it’s likely a bag – or specimen – would have found its way out. I think zero were struck in 1895.

 

This is my thought as well. At the very least, more evidence would exist.