Q. David Bowers
Business Strikes:
Enabling legislation: As earlier, plus Act of February 28, 1878
Designer: George T. Morgan
Weight and composition: 412.5 grains; .900 silver, .100 copper
Melt-down (silver value) in year minted: $0.87833
Dies prepared: Obverse: 56; Reverse: 58
Business strike mintage: 11,100,000
Estimated quantity melted: Unknown, but millions under the 1918 Pittman Act and later, including during the run-up in silver prices in the late 1970s.
Approximate population MS-65 or better: 3,500 to 5,000 (URS-13)
Approximate population MS-64: 30,000 to 50,000 (URS-16)
Approximate population MS-63: 75,000 to 110,000 (URS-18)
Approximate population MS-60 to 62: 150,000 to 250,000 (URS-19)
Approximate population G-4 to AU-58: 1,350,000 to 2,500,000 (URS-22)
Availability of prooflike coins: True prooflike coins are elusive, although semi-prooflike specimens are numerous. DMPL specimens are slightly scarcer than PL examples.
Characteristics of striking: Most seen are fairly well struck. However, flatly struck pieces exist as do average strikes.
Known hoards of Mint State coins: Large numbers were held by the Treasury and released in the 1950s and in 1962-1964 as well as in prior years.
Proofs:
Dies prepared: Obverse: 2; Reverse: 2 Proof mintage: 1,101 +
Approximate population Proof-65 or better: 136+/ - (URS-9)
Approximate population Proof-64: 166+/- (URS-9)
Approximate population Proof-63: 143+/- (URS-9)
Approximate population Proof-60 to 62: 210+/- (URS-9)
Commentary
1882 silver dollars are very common in circulated grades as well as lower Mint State levels, but in MS- 65 they are scarce.
Silver Dollar News Items
The Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, 1882, included several references to silver dollars and the various mints, among which were these items:
The average price paid during the year for silver bullion was $1.0215 per standard ounce (.900 fine). In New York the selling price of silver during the year was $1.13799 per fine ounce (.999 fine) or $1.02419 per standard ounce.
As of June 30, 1882 the following silver dollars were on hand at the various mints and the following numbers had been distributed during the last fiscal year: Philadelphia: In mint, 4,248,069; distributed, 8,053,808; San Francisco, in mint, 25,114,407; distributed, 1,826,728; Carson, in mint, 1,260,901; distributed, 563,090; New Orleans, in mint,4,742,295, distributed, 5,303,837.
Silver Coins in Circulation
The following is adapted and quoted from Neil Carothers, Fractional Money, pp. 268-269:
On July 1, 1882 there was about $28 million worth of subsidiary coins in Treasury vaults and about $50 million worth in circulation, the latter being approximately equal to the total of new coins produced and issued since 1875. The Treasury holdings are believed to have consisted almost entirely of coins that had "disappeared" in 1862 and came back into the United States in the late 1870s. These could have included Liberty Seated silver dollars, but records are silent on this point. The maximum was reached in 1885 when $30 million worth of coins accumulated in Treasury reserves.
It was estimated that $40 million worth of subsidiary silver coins had disappeared in the summer of 1862, and about $30 million worth had returned from Latin America in the late 1870s only to be stored in government vaults.
Carothers wrote: "Millions of these coins were so badly worn that the public would not want them. They needed to be melted, but recoinage meant a definite loss. Congress did not consider the matter until 1882, when it gave an appropriation of $25,000-which permitted a small fraction of theamount to be recoined. Secretary McCullough in his annual report for 1884 made an urgent plea for a sum sufficient to cover the cost of a general recoinage, and in subsequent years many other requests were made. Congress did not face the situation until 1891....
"For nearly a generation this great hoard lay in the Treasury. When applicants for new coins appeared at the Mint they were told to go to the Treasury office and buy from the idle stocks." Production of quarter dollars and half dollars remained low throughout the 1880s because of the oversupply.
Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman was so disturbed by the situation that he recommended in his annual report for 1890 that subsidiary coinage be suspended. This mass of earlier-dated coins caused a problem for many years, through about 1900.
In the meantime, unwanted Morgan dollars were produced by the tens of millions and continued to cause storage problems.
The Year 1882 in History
The Chinese Exclusion Act, passed by Congress in 1880, took effect in 1882 and remained in force for 10 years. Prejudice against the Chinese would continue for several decades, and immigrants from China would be referred to as "the yellow peril."
A congressional committee reported that adulteration of food had caused many deaths, and constituted a fraud upon the people. However, little was accomplished until the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Advertising for patent medicines and drugs was unregulated and was characterized by preposterous, unfounded claims. The situation did not completely fade away; for example, in the 1950s the patent medicine Hadacol was promoted by traveling shows, celebrity appearances, and far-fetched testimonials.
William H. Vanderbilt's comment, "The public be damned," made to a reporter for the Chicago Daily News, October 2, added fuel to the fire of widespread antagonism against the "robber barons" of industry. The Standard Oil Trust was incorporated by John D. Rockefeller and his associates and brought 95% of the American petroleum industry under a single management.
On September 4, 1882, electricity was used for the first time to illuminate large sections of New York City. Power was generated by the Edison Illuminating Company, financed by J.P. Morgan. However, conditions would remain primitive for years to come. In 1882, just 2% of the homes in New York were connected to a water main, and nearly all private houses had privies in the backyard. In Madison Square Garden, Jumbo, the elephant, appeared under the ownership of impresario P.T. Barnum, who had purchased the pachyderm, "the largest elephant in or out of captivity," from the Royal Zoological Gardens for $10,000, setting off a furor in England. The elephant was a star attraction in America until he met his untimely demise when hit by a freight train in Ontario in 1885. Jumbo's name entered the English language as an adjective for unusually large size.
Jesse James, the notorious outlaw who was then living under the name of Thomas Howard, was shot and killed by friend who sought to claim a large cash reward for James "dead or alive."