Was reading an article about the status of the bald eagle in the most recent Smithsonian magazine. Nice that they’re doing great. Then there was a curious statement that the bald eagle on the national seal “still adorned the 1885 U.S. silver dollar. Today, a rare variant of the coin fetches up to $3,000.” OK. But of course, the bald eagle on the national seal is on 2022 silver dollars. So, where did the 1885 date come from, and what is the rare variant? Branch mint, VAM or what? I started think about a beginning reference for U.S. coins, and of course, the Red Book came to mind. So, I whipped out my 2022 edition and turned the Morgan dollar section. Ah ha! All proofs except 1878-79, 1883O and 1895 are listed on the right side of each page as $3,000 in PF-63. So, the “rare variant” is the proof. The Morgan dollar represents “the U.S. silver dollar” to the author of the article. He opened the Red Book, picked a Morgan more or less in the middle of the listings, and spotted the most expensive price, which was for the proof. PF-63 is not even the most common grade for 1885 Morgan proofs; PF-64 is. A PF-63 is still a gorgeous coin! A PF-69 has sold for just over $100k … a tad more than $3k. A picture of this amazing coin is below. Cal
Thanks for reminding me. The J-1747 was in silver. There was a J-1748 in copper and a J-1749 in aluminum. The latter two are rarer than the silver version. A picture of the aluminum version is below. To get the lettered edge, mint employees invented a 3-part collar. Apparently, the equipment and documentation for the 3-part collar were soon discarded. This "wheel" had to be re-invented for the 1907 St. Gaudens double eagle. Cal
You see that a lot with people who don't know coins. They get a coin, find a Redbook, find the right type, go down the left side of the page to find the date and mint.....then go all the way over to ther rightmost column and that MUST be what their coin is worth. I don't know what they must think all those other numbers in the middle of the page are for.
