Q. David Bowers
The San Francisco Mint was a ready source of Uncirculated silver dollars for California coin dealers for many years. Tapping this resource began in a big way in the early 1940s, when the coin market began to rise, and S-Mint coins brought good prices. From this point until the supply was exhausted toward the mid-1950s, countless thousands of previously rare issues were paid out at face value.
The February 1942 issue of The Numismatist had an advertisement by A.A. Sigwart, of Oakland, California, offering San Francisco Mint dollars exclusively as listed below. Undoubtedly, Sigwart took these from mint-sealed bags.
The question is sometimes asked, "Didn't anyone care about buying gem quality back then?" The answer is that a few collectors did. Gem quality usually cost no more. If you had the patience, you could look through a dealer's stock in his shop or at a convention and pick out gem coins at the same price charged for regular quality.
1881-S Unc. $1.50.
1882-S Unc, $1.75.
1887-S Unc. $4.00.
1890-S Unc. $1.50.
1891-S Unc. $1.50.
1897-S Unc. $1.50.
1921-S Unc, $1.35.
In March 1942, the Franklin Coin Mart, Columbus, Ohio, was offering Uncirculated 1891-CC dollars for $2.50 each. A number of bags of these were paid out by the Federal Reserve in 1941 and 1942, probably from storage in the 'treasury Building in Washington, D.C.
Undoubtedly, the S-Mint coins were obtained by purchase or trade from someone in the San Francisco area, where such pieces were becoming increasingly common at the time. It is worth noting that just a few years earlier, the 1889-S was considered to be one of the great rarities in the Morgan series, and few collections contained an Uncirculated example.
The Franklin Coin Mart, managed by C.E:.Higgy, is almost forgotten by numismatic historians today. The firm was one of the largest silver dollar dealers in the 1940s.
1891-CC Unc. $2.50.
1887-S Unc. $4.00.
1889-S Unc. $8.00
1890-S Unc. $2.50.
1902-S Unc. $4.00.
Norman Shultz in The Numismatist, March 1942, offered for sale the following Uncirculated Morgan silver dollars. Shultz began business in King City, Missouri in 1919, but later moved to Utah, where he eventually settled in Salt Lake City, where lived during most of his long career.
It was Shultz's policy to buy rolls or bags of dollars from banks or other dealers and to break them up and offer coins singly. Undoubtedly, the issues listed below were stocked in quantity by him at the time. Nearly all San Francisco Mint dollars were available at face value from the mint, although the dates paid out varied from time to time. It is probably the case that those listed at $2.00 and $2.50 (as well as the 1921-S) below represented those currently on the market in quantity.
It is interesting to watch the changing panorama of offerings by Shultz, Franklin Coin Mart, and others, to see certain issues become available in quantity, then fade from view.
1879-S Unc. $2.00.
1880-S Unc. $2.00.
1881-S Unc. $2.00.
1882-S Unc. $2.50.
1883-S Unc. $2.50.
1887-S Unc. $4.00.
1888-S Unc. $6.00.
1889-S Unc, $10.00.
1890-S Unc. $2.50.
1891-CC Unc. $2.00.
1891-S Unc. $2.50.
1897-S Unc. $2.00.
1898-S Unc. $2.00.
1899-S Unc. $2.00.
1900-S Unc. $2.00.
1904-S Unc. $2.00.
1921-S Unc. $1.25.
C. E. Higgy, manager of Franklin Coin Mart, Columbus, must have had a direct connection with someone on the West Coast, for in the June 1942 issue of The Numismatist he offered brilliant Uncir-culated Morgan dollars of the San Francisco Mint exclusively, at the following prices. Note in particular the 1895-S, a date that would become highly prized in later years.
1878-S Unc. $2.00.
1879-S Unc. $2.00.
1880-S Unc. $2.00.
1881-S Unc. $2.00.
1882-S Unc. $2.25.
1886-S Unc. $4.00.
1887-S Unc. $3.00.
1888-S Unc. $5.00.
1889-S Unc, $7.00.
1890-S Unc. $2.00.
1891-S Unc. $2.50.
1895-S Unc. $2.50.
1897-S Unc. $2.00.
1899-S Unc, $2.00.
1902-S Unc. $4.00.
San Francisco Morgan dollars continued to pour out of Treasury stocks in 1942, and many issues be-came a drug on the market. Norman Shultz in July 1942 offered the following Uncirculated coins for sale. Curiously, at the same time most Philadelphia varieties were seldom seen in quantity.
Can you imagine the experience of walking into the San Francisco Mint in 1942 and for face value of the coins, walking out with sacks of the pieces listed below?
1878-S Unc. $2.00.
1879-S Unc. $2.00.
1880-S Unc. $2.00.
1881-S Unc. $2.00.
1882-S Unc. $2.50.
1883-S Unc. $2.50.
1886-S Unc, $4.00.
1887-S Unc. $3.00.
1888-S Unc, $5.00.
1889-S Unc. $7.50.
1890-S Unc. $2.50.
1891-S Unc. $2.50.
1897-S Unc. $2.00.
1898-S Unc. $2.00.
1899-S Unc. $2.00.
1900-S Unc. $2.00.
1904-S Unc. $2.50.