Q.David Bowers
In 1834 the Department of State desired to send specimen Proof sets of American coinage to the Sultan of Muscat and the King of Siam. The Mint director wanted to illustrate one example each of all authorized denominations. At the time the $1 and $10 values were not being struck, their coinage having been suspended in 1804. A search was probably made for 1804-dated dies in order to illustrate the most recent examples of these denominations, but no dies came to light. So, new dies for the 1804 $1 and $10 were created and coins were struck from them.
At the time it is probable that Mint officials did not realize that the 19,570 dollars listed in the Mint report were not dated 1804. Thus, inadvertently they created the first 1804 dollar three decades later!
The desirability of this coin was soon recognized, and additional specimens were struck on several occasions. In 1843 one was traded to collector Matthew A. Stickney of Salem, Massachusetts, in exchange for a 1785 Immune Columbia cent in gold.
More articles, commentaries, and column inches of print have been devoted to the 1804 silver dollar than to any other single United States coin issue. In 1962 an entire book was devoted to this coin, The Fantastic 1804 Dollar, by Eric P. Newman and Kenneth E. Bressett.
During the early 20th century, Texas dealer B. Max Mehl, who. extensively promoted the 1913 Liberty head nickel, considered the 1804 silver dollar to be what he styled the King of American Coins. On the infrequent occasions when an 1804 dollar appeared in an auction sale, the catalogues of Mehl and others were devoted to fascinating multiple-page descriptions. Today the fame of the 1804 silver dollar is unsurpassed by any coin in the American silver series.
In 1835 and 1836 Christian Gobrecht prepared new silver dollar designs at the Philadelphia Mint. In December 1836 his Liberty seated obverse design in combination with a reverse depicting an eagle in flight was used to strike patterns. The first issues had Gobrecht's signature displayed prominently in the field of the coin above the date. In response to local newspaper criticism, the engraver removed his name from that location and replaced- it in an inconspicuous spot on the base of Liberty. Additional patterns of various designs were struck in 1838 and 1839.
Despite the acclaim given to Gobrecht's work, when silver dollar coinage in quantity was resumed in 1840 the flying eagle reverse was not used. In its place a more conservative eagle perched on an olive branch and clutching three arrows was employed. Liberty seated dollars were produced steadily from 1840 onward. In addition to those made for the channels of commerce, each year several dozen were struck in Proof condition. During this time silver dollars were rarely seen by the public. Most were kept in bank vaults, were exported, or were melted.
In 1866 the motto IN GOD WE TRUST was added to the reverse of the Liberty seated dollar. Coinage remained continuous until 1873, when the legislation of that year made no provision for continued production.
Among rare issues in the Liberty seated dollar series are to be found the 1851 (two varieties, originals and restrikes), 1852, 1858, 1870-S, and the Carson City issues 1871 to 1873.
In 1876 and 1877 several pattern dollars were made.
The following year, 1878, saw the resumption of silver dollar coinage. The Bland-Allison Act, adopted on February 28th of that year, and subsequent legislation eventually provided for the coinage of over a half billion silver dollars. Produced as the result of pressure from western mining interests, the dollars were not needed by the public nor wanted by the Treasury. As a result, the vast majority of them piled up in Treasury vaults in Mint-sealed bags of 1,000 pieces.
The silver dollar design produced from 1878 to 1921 was the work of George T. Morgan. Modelled after Miss Anna Williams, a girl of 19, the portrait first appeared on a pattern half dollar of 1877.
Morgan, born in Birmingham, England, in 1845, attended the South Kensington Art School. Later he became a student at the Royal Mint under Wyon. In 1876, Director Henry R. Linderman brought Morgan to the United States and employed him as an assistant to William and Charles Barber. His initial appointment was for six months, but it later turned out that he stayed at the Mint for 48 years.
By the end of 1904 over 570,000,000 silver dollars of the Morgan design had been struck. What was to be done with all of these dollars? Clearly, there was no need for them in commerce. Silver dollars had never been popular with the public. The only place they circulated to any extent was in the western states, and this was mostly as the result of a determined effort to make the public conscious of silver metal. Relatively few were needed for normal channels of commerce. As a result, most went to the Treasury vaults for long-term storage.
The Pittman Act of April 23, 1918, resulted in 270,232,722 silver dollars of earlier dates being melted down, slightly less than half the total minted earlier. Interestingly, three years later in 1921 another 86 million Morgan dollars were struck, despite the wholesale destruction of hundreds of millions of pieces under the Pittman Act earlier. A poignant commentary on the situation is given by silver dollar specialists Leroy C. Van Allen and A. George Mallis in the book. The Comprehensive Catalogue and Encyclopedia of United States Morgan and Peace Dollars, "As is obvious, the Morgan and Peace silver dollars were made a political football throughout their unsettled existence like no other coins in American history!"
For years the Treasury Department released quantities of earlier-dated dollars whenever the public called for them, especially around the Christmas season when they were popular as gifts. In 1962 the pre-holiday release included several dates which were considered scarce by collectors; 1898-O, 1903-O, and 1904-O. 1903-O, which catalogued $1,500 Uncirculated in the current edition of the Guide Book of United States Coins, was considered a major rarity. It was estimated that only a half dozen or so Uncirculated pieces were known to be in collectors' hands. As Mint-sealed bags of 1,000 pieces turned up in several areas, the price dropped to the $35 level per coin, and then as low as $17. The silver dollar treasure hunt was on! During the next two years hundreds of millions of silver dollars came forth from the Treasury vaults. Toward the end of the free for-all distribution, the Treasury Department decided that it should save some profit for itself, so about three million coins, consisting primarily of Carson City Morgan dollars, were held back. Subsequently these were offered for sale in a series of mail bid auctions.
Today collectors recognize a number of rarities in the Morgan dollar series. The 1895 Philadelphia Mint issue has a mintage figure of 12,880 coins, divided into 12,000 business strikes intended for circulation plus 880 Proofs sold to collectors. While Proofs exist today and are quite elusive, no Uncirculated coin from the 12,000 business strikes has ever come to light. Presumably, all were melted under the Pittman Act in 1918. Among branch mint issues the 1893-S is considered to be the most desirable. Specimens are rare in all grades. In the Morgan dollar series, among issues originally intended for circulation, mintage is not necessarily a guide to present-day rarity, for when vast numbers were melted under the Pittman Act no record was kept of the specific issues involved. For example, of the 1885-CC issue 228,000 pieces were coined, but in 1973 the United States Government announced that it had available 130,807 pieces-from those held back during the great 1962 Treasury release. In other words, well over half of all the 228,000 1885-CC dollars originally coined still exist today and are in Uncirculated grade. On the other hand, of the 100,000 1893-S silver dollars coined, few if any Uncirculated examples came to light during the great Treasury release. While the number of mint state 1893-S dollars is not known today, it is probably less than 100 specimens.