Was at the coin shop, had just stopped in to see if there was anything new. It seems the summer months are slow and the pickings get slim, so I try to stretch out my visits further apart in hopes that something will have turned up. So I walk in, say hello to the owner and start browsing the case. A closed token medal case with a label from an old time dial a letter label maker is stuck to the outside that said Apollo Soyuz. I inquired, the owner told me it was some silver thing...1.7oz of bullion. I asked to see it, and opened it up. It didn't say Apollo or Soyuz or anything related. What I saw was this. I thought perhaps it was something older than apollo and I remembered Bryan in the election of 1896 going on about the silver standard and silverbugs, etc. I took a chance, asked for a price. The owner took it out, looked at it again, weighed it and upped the price, not significantly from the bullion price for what he figured was 53.3g. Once I got it home I started my research. turns out this is a So Called Dollar (HK-780) struck by Gorham Manufacturing Company, Silversmiths in 1896 for the William Jennings Bryan presidential campaign showing the difference in a silver dollar struck by the government and the gold dollar in use at the time. Pretty rare, and all the completed listing I can find on Heritage and others show that this commands well beyond bullion value. Obv. In nine lines, first and last curved, others straight, A Government Dollar Contains / 412 1/2 Grains / Coin Silver 900/1000 Fine / This Piece Contains / 823 Grains Coin Silver / In Value the Equivalent of / One Gold Dollar / Sept. 16th 1896. / Gorham Mfg. Co., Silversmiths. No rim. Rev. On rim of cartwheel, which springs from bottom edge, Size of Government Dollar Containing 412 1/2 Grains of Silver 900/1000 Fine; no rim. Silver. 52mm. Schornstein 6. R-5 Rating. It was a lucky day.
That's how I got mine too. Not as nice as yours but a lot better than the $52 I paid at the time. Congrats on a cool find.
That is a mighty fine piece you bought. One in the best condition I've seen in a long, long time. You might want to have it authenticated.
That thing looks huge...I wonder what would've happened had Bryan gotten his way. We'd have to have jumbo-size PCGS and NGC holders for silver dollars.
You got that for a little over BULLION value!! First, I hate you. Second, don't you love it when a "professional" has no clue what he has? I would have been struggling to hold off the heart attack while calmly and casually got out the money and paid him what he asked for it.
LOL - I think that's the most emotion I have seen in a post from you for as long as I've been here. You must realllly like it, that said, what's not to like!
I do love it. But I was feeling it that day so I worked a high grade 36d Washington quarter into the deal and a Hawaiian statehood token for my son.
The history behind the Bryan dollar is actually directly related to how we view silver and gold today. He was running against Roosevelt who was for the gold standard and Bryan was against and considered the silver standard more "of the people" as he put it. I still have yet to put one in my collection - but someday. Ultimately the gold standard did win. I have a propaganda coin/token from the other side of the fight. The token has a switch that takes it between the "gold" and "silver" standards. One shows the gold standard - Mack and Teddy (McKinley & Roosevelt) saying "I'm All Right" and the Eagle stands proud on the token (resembles coin). Flip the lever, the bird is "showing you it's rear" and it makes some derogatory statements about Bryan and his mate - and showing the theoretical devaluation of silver. I even found the original patent. I love to share this thing!
I have one in my hand. I saw it on the movie DEAR JOHN and he laid a silver dollar over it. I thought, “I have both those coins upstairs.” Sure enough I do. My grandfather gave them, and many other coins to me. Never realized what I had. Both are 1896.