Q. David Bowers
Business Strikes:
Enabling legislation: Act of February 28, 1878, plus the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of July 14, 1890
Designer: George T. Morgan
Weight and composition: 412.5 grains; .900 silver, .100 copper
Melt-down (silver value) in year minted: $0.46745
Dies prepared: Obverse: 13; Reverse: 12
Business strike mintage: 2,822,000; Delivery figures by month: January: 772,000; February-May: none; June: 600,000; July: none; August: none; September: 100,000; October: 100,000; November: 450,000; December: 800,000.
Estimated quantity melted: Probably 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 under the 1918 Pittman Act.
Approximate population MS-65 or better: 5,000 to 10,000 (URS-14)
Approximate population MS-64: 25,000 to 50,000 (URS-16)
Approximate population MS-63: 50,000 to 90,000 (URS-17)
Approximate population MS-60 to 62: 250,000 to 500,000 (URS-20)
Approximate population G-4 to AU-58: 150,000 to 300,000, mostly in higher grades. (URS-19). This estimate may be on the low side.
Availability of prooflike coins: Readily available in prooflike condition, but usually with low contrast and unattractive surfaces. DMPL coins are scarcer.
Characteristics of striking: Usually well struck. Known hoards of Mint State coins: Many bags were released by the Treasury in the 1950s and in 1962-1964; the Redfield estate distributed in the late 1970s had 16 to 18 bags.
Proofs:
Dies prepared: Obverse: At least 2; Reverse: At least 1.
Proof mintage: 731; Delivery figures by month:
January: none; February: none; March: 250; April: none; May: none; June: 101;1 July: none; August: none; September: 50; October: none; November: none; December: 330.
Approximate population Proof-65 or better: 82+/- (URS-8)
Approximate population Proof-64: 66+/- (URS-8)
Approximate population Proof-63: 53+/- (URS-7)
Approximate population Proof-60 to 62: 240+/- (URS-9)
Commentary
The 1897 Morgan dollar is common in all business strike grade levels.
Dollar Distribution
The Annual Report of the Director of the Mint for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1897 told of distribution of silver dollars by the Philadelphia Mint:
Philadelphia: In mint July 1, 1896,54,522,267; transferred from the Treasury for storage, 1,000,000; Coinage, fiscal year 1897, 6,848,701; total, 62,370,968; in mint July 1, 1897, 61,943,104; distributed from mint, 427,864.
The Year 1897 in History
The 1896 Klondike gold discovery was publicized in the United States, and early in 1897 thousands of gold seekers headed north through Chilkoot Pass to Dawson and other outposts. By year's end an estimated $22 million worth of gold had been recovered. Optimism from the Klondike and Cripple Creek gold strikes and normal cyclical effects combined to ease the economic depression which had been in effect since 1893. Prosperity was in the offing, and good times would continue until the Panic of 1907.
On March 22, the Supreme Court ruled that railroads were subject to the provisions of the 1890 Sherman AntiTrust Act. The Dingley Tariff Act, passed by Congress on July 24, raised import duties an average of 57%. In Washington, the Library of Congress was completed across the street from the Capitol Building, which had served as the repository for volumes since 1851. In Harrisburg, the State Capitol burned on February 2, providing the opportunity for Pennsylvania politicians to loot the state treasury during the rebuilding of its replacement, graft that would have made "Boss" Tweed envious.
The mosquito was found to be the host for malaria, a scourge of mankind for centuries. The American Osteopathic Association was founded. In Chicago, the Yerkes Observatory was opened and soon was making contributions to spectroscopy and studies of the Milky Way, among other disciplines in astronomy.
In response to a letter from an eight-year-old, Francis Church, editor of The New York Sun, wrote, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." John Philip Sousa, America's March King, performed for the first time the rousing Stars and Stripes Forever, which he composed in 1896. Books published during the year included Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous and Richard Harding Davis' Soldiers of Fortune. The composer Johannes Brahms died. Perhaps best known for his "Lullaby" and Hungarian Dances, he was a perfectionist working in the tradition of Beethoven; he left us four powerful symphonies and over 100 works in other forms.
The world heavyweight boxing title was won by Robert Fitzsimmons in a Carson City bout against James J. ("Gentleman Jim") Corbett, on March 17th. The match was the first to be filmed by a motion picture camera. During the next several years, various motion picture companies would jockey for the rights to film such contests. The losers would sometimes re-enact the bout by using actors. Audiences were not told differently. Most movies (as they came to be called) were shown in connection with vaudeville shows or in arcades. The era of the motion picture theatre had not yet arrived. The Orpheum Circuit of theatres was established by Gustav Walter, who had opened his first Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco in 1887. Later, the Orpheum, Keith, Albee, Hippodrome, and other chains would own theatres in many large cities and railroad stops, and book traveling troupes in sequence throughout the "circuit." At Coney Island, New York, George C. Tilyou opened Steeplechase Parle Eventually, Steeplechase, Dreamland, and Luna Park would constitute the three main sections of America's largest and most famous amusement park.