Q. David Bowers
"In the meantime, the true investment feature of coin collecting has been disregarded. When the coin buyer realizes that the best investment is buy the single coin he needs and to put together a fine collection, the sooner he will discontinue gambling in the guise of investment, and the sooner the coin business will get back to normal.
"Normal activity means a continuous increase in the number of collectors, in collector interest and a slow, steady increase in values. If the Crystal Ball will tell us that the gambler is out, then the coin business has regained its health."
In February 1966, an auction by Numismatic Enterprises was held in conjunction with the Numismatic Association of Southern California convention. The work was done by Steve Kosoff and Mike Kliman, with Abe Kosoff lending an occasional piece of advice.
In the mid-1960s Abe Kosoff became enmeshed, in the silver dollar Treasury hoard situation. I deed, the matter of silver dollars obsessed all numismatics. The situation had its beginning years earlier...
In 1878, due to the pressure of silver mining and other western interests, the Bland-Allison A mandated that the mints coin millions of dollars worth of unneeded and unwanted silver dollars each month-in order to soak up the excess supply of silver on the market and create a demand for it. By the end of 1878, the Philadelphia Mint alone had produced over 10 million of the new dollar designed by George T. Morgan, Carson City he struck over two million, and San Francisco nearly 10 million! Coinage continued at record high levels. In 1879 the various mints emitted 27 million coins, a figure which was to be achieved annually through 1883, after which it increased to over 28 million for 1884 and 1885, 31 million in 188 and 33 million in 1887. In the year 1890 a peak production of 38 million silver dollars was obtained! Over a span of years, the Bland-Allison Act saw the production of 378,166,793 silver dollars! As if this was not enough, the Sherman
"In the meantime, the true investment feature of coin collecting has been disregarded. When the coin buyer realizes that the best investment is buy the single coin he needs and to put together a fine collection, the sooner he will discontinue gambling in the guise of investment, and the sooner the coin business will get back to normal.
"Normal activity means a continuous increase in the number of collectors, in collector interest and a slow, steady increase in values. If the Crystal Ball will tell us that the gambler is out, then the coin business has regained its health."
In February 1966, an auction by Numismatic Enterprises was held in conjunction with the Numismatic Association of Southern California convention. The work was done by Steve Kosoff and Mike Kliman, with Abe Kosoff lending an occasional piece of advice.
In the mid-1960s Abe Kosoff became enmeshed, in the silver dollar Treasury hoard situation. I deed, the matter of silver dollars obsessed all numismatics. The situation had its beginning years earlier...
In 1878, due to the pressure of silver mining and other western interests, the Bland-Allison A mandated that the mints coin millions of dollars worth of unneeded and unwanted silver dollars each month-in order to soak up the excess supply of silver on the market and create a demand for it. By the end of 1878, the Philadelphia Mint alone had produced over 10 million of the new dollar designed by George T. Morgan, Carson City he struck over two million, and San Francisco nearly 10 million! Coinage continued at record high levels. In 1879 the various mints emitted 27 million coins, a figure which was to be achieved annually through 1883, after which it increased to over 28 million for 1884 and 1885, 31 million in 188 and 33 million in 1887. In the year 1890 a peak production of 38 million silver dollars was Obtained! Over a span of years, the Bland-Allison Act saw the production of 378,166,793 silver dollars! As if this was not enough, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, another political maneuver caused a further 187,027,234 dollars to be produced. Thus, over 565,000 silver dollars we produced as a result of these two pieces of legislation. In addition, about 5 million silver dollars were struck using bullion from other sources.
This vast treasure trove of dollars caused all sorts of complications for the government. Many were stored in an old Philadelphia Post Office facility, where they became wet and the cloth bags holding them rotted. Others were stored at the New Orleans Mint after it closed in 1909, at various Assay Office facilities, and elsewhere. In 1918, the Pittman Act resulted in 270,232,722 silver dollars of earlier dates being melted down, slightly less than half of the total just mentioned. Under terms of the World War II Silver Act of December 18, 1942, it was provided that approximately 50 million silver dollars be melted to obtain metal for wartime uses, including the Manhattan Project which eventually produced the atomic bomb. Other silver dollars met other fates.
No tally was kept of the dates melted under the Pittman Act or otherwise destroyed. Certain issues became rare. For example, New Orleans issues such as 1898-O, 1903-O, and 1904-O were considered to be among the greatest rarities of the series, particularly in Uncirculated grade. Although 12,000 1895 business strike silver dollars were produced at the Philadelphia Mint, no one lad ever seen an Uncirculated example. The only 1895 dollars known to numismatists were either proofs or impaired Proofs, from the 880 Proofs coined.
Occasionally there were some surprises. In 1946 he 1885-CC silver dollar, a Carson City issue of which 228,000 were minted, was considered to be rare and catalogued for $12.50, at a time when many other dollars could be obtained for face value. Then some were released through the Federal Reserve system, and the price plummeted o the point at which Aubrey Bebee, who maintained an active market in dollars, was offering them for just a few dollars apiece.
By November 1962, silver dollars were available in virtually unlimited quantity through banks and in special order from the Federal Reserve, but few had any particular interest in them. The Morgan and Peace dollars were moderately popular with collectors, but they certainly were not in the mainstream of activity. For one thing, their face value was considerable, and back then a dollar was worth considerably more than it was to become in later years. Interest was growing in silver metal, and speculators were buying up quantities. Some thought that silver dollars provided an ideal way to invest, for each dollar contained a generous amount of silver and, at the same time, would never be worth less than its face value-sort of an insurance policy. The demand for silver dollars gradually increased, and the Federal Reserve dug deeper and deeper into its storage vaults. In November 1962 numismatists were startled to find that 1898-O dollars, which catalogued $300 in the Guide Book, 1904-O dollars at $350, and the famous 1903-O at $1,500 were becoming available. A few 1903-O dollars were rumored, then some were actually seen. Amazing! Prior to 1962, experienced dealers had handled only a few, and a survey of experts such as Abe Kosoff probably would have furnished an estimate that only a dozen or so Mint state examples of the 1903-O survived. What none knew at the time was that vast quantities had been squirreled away at the time of mintage and were still in existence!