Q. David Bowers
Popularity Increases
In 1963 numismatists were confronted with a rather curious situation: A large, sparkling, hefty, and attractive silver dollar such as an 1885-CC was available for under $5 (many pieces by that time having reached dealers or investors), while a "lowly" Indian cent of the same date and in the same condition was apt to cost $20 or more.
Collectors collect what is available, and dealers make markets the same way. All of a sudden dozens of dealers became "silver dollar specialists." Everyone claimed to know this inside story or that. Rumors abounded. In the meantime, collectors and investors, their interest piqued, set about forming collections of as many date and mintmark varieties as' possible. No one knew which dates were rare in Uncirculated grade and which ones weren't. It took a number of years until market appearances straightened that out. In the meantime, there were many guesses.
Still More Dollars Melted
I mentioned earlier that the Pittman Act of 1918 was responsible for the melting of 270,232,722 examples of unsorted Morgan dollars as well as some earlier Liberty Seated coins, 'the implementation years later of the World War It Silver Act of December 18, 1942, was responsible for the melting of about 50 million additional silver dollars, Peace as well as Morgan types, Further, each year from the late nineteenth century onward, quantities of dollars were melted, in general amounting to a few thousand coins each year.
One of the greatest destructions of dollars took place in the late 1970's and 1980, when the price of silver bullion rose to' touch $50 per ounce at one point. Worn silver dollars of common, slightly scarce, and scarce dates found a more ready market as bullion than with collectors, and untold millions were melted. Once again, no records were kept of the dates melted.
The 1980s
By the early 1980s silver dollar collecting had come of age. Several excellent reference books had been published to aid-the buyer seeking specific knowledge.
The Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan and Peace Dollars, by Leroy C. Van Allen and A. George Mallis. published in 1971 and 1976 (2nd edition, published by First Coinvestors, Inc.), met with an enthusiastic reception. Eventually, over 20,000 copies were sold. The work described Morgan dollars by minute die varieties. Chapters were also devoted to the original legislation which created the pieces, how they were struck, problems and situations at the various mints, and so on. "All you ever wanted to, know about Morgan dollars but didn't know whom to ask" was answered by the Van Allen-Mallis book. At least, this book covered most of the technical points.
In 1982 Wayne Miller's magnum opus, The Morgan and Peace Dollar Textbook, was published, a lavishly printed (color photographs on most pages) successor to his 1976 work, An Analysis Of Morgan and Peace Dollars. This volume was a great addition to the library of any enthusiast, as it devoted much space to describing various issues from the viewpoint of collectors. Such questions as how often pieces occurred in Uncirculated grade, which examples are sharply or weakly struck, which have prooflike surfaces, and so on; were answered in detail. Personal reminiscences provided interesting reading.
Together, the Van Allen-Mallis and Miller books formed a nice "library" of silver dollar knowledge. Adding to these were numerous predictions by dealers and others. Les and Sue Fox's Silver Dollar 'Fortune Telling endeavored to predict future market prices and assign a rating of investment desirability to each. Conventions were held by silver dollar specialists banding together under the National Silver Dollar Roundtable, founded by John Highfill. Thousands of enthusiasts came to hear lectures on silver dollars and to survey the offerings of different vendors.
Due to the quantity of coins available, silver dollars attracted those outside of numismatic circles. By the 1970s and early 1980s it was not unusual to see large advertisements in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other publications, often noting in a misleading manner that a "government hoard" or "special find" of silver dollars had come to light. More often than not, prices charged were substantially more than what buyers would have paid by acquiring such, pieces on the numismatic market. Unquestionably, such advertising served to bring more enthusiasts into the fold.
In the "hard money" era of the late 1970s, when the American dollar was declining in valueoverseas and when the stability of the economy was severely questioned, it was popular for lecturers and seminar-holders to recommend silver dollars as investments. Had they recommended 1885 Uncirculated Indian cents, for example, the many thousands of people who followed such advice would have completely destroyed the market, for there aren't many 1885 Indian cents around. Silver dollars were a different story, and anyone recommending Uncirculated examples of 1881-S, 1885-CC, or anyone of dozens of other issues could be sure that his followers would have no trouble laying in a very nice supply, perhaps from himself (for many such lecturers also. possessed inventories). A number of numismatic firms, including Littleton Rare Coin Company, First Coinvestors, and my own company, Bowers and Merena Galleries, set up programs whereby collectors could build silver dollar collections by buying specimens on a monthly basis.
By the early 1980s, silver dollars stood alone among American coins popularly collected in Uncirculated grade by date and mintmark varieties. Other series-Liberty Seated silver issues, gold coins, and the like-mainly attracted type set collectors, for few could afford to assemble date runs. And even if they could have afforded them, specimens were not available. Morgan (and Peace) silver dollars were and are a different story