Q. David Bowers
The Court of Public-Opinion
The American Journal of Numismatics, April 1878, quoted various outside publications on the subject of the new Morgan silver dollar:
"Opinions on the New Dollar: Public opinion on the taste and design of the new dollars, as represented bythe.newspapers, is divided, but with a large preponderance against them. We havenoticed no commendation of the eagle; the head of Liberty is more generally praised, especially the arrangement of the hair, and the wreath, which is novel. The Sunday Republic, of Philadelphia, greatly admires the obverse; it says:
" The head of Liberty is chaste and beautiful, and, in an artistic sense, is considered the best executed head that has ever appeared upon a United States coin. It is so well distributed as to be susceptible of easy work under the die, and altogether will certainly reflect credit upon both the designer and the government.... It was taken from life, and is a fair type of the beauty of one of, our Philadelphia ladies, the model having been a young lady who is a teacher in one of the public schools in the Fifteenth Section, and who naturally objects to having her name published.
"Whether this is true we know not, but 'the Boston Advertiser says, 'it has been well remarked that the great prominence on the cheek and chin of the goddess of Liberty is truly emblematic.
"The New York Evening Post suggests that if the emblem is to be perfect, the goddess should be represented as wearing a paper collar, that kind of a collar being typical of the advanced civilization of the day, as well as illustrative of the profound regard that the great majority of the silver party have for paper itself.
"Many other papers ridicule the coin severely. The eagle comes in for the most abuse; one sarcastically compares 'this design of the Bird 0' Freedom to a hen."
"The Philadelphia Record says:'Mr. Barber's eagle looks as if I was just recovering from a severe spell of sickness, or that it had been disturbed in its meditations by some unruly schoolboys.' Mr. Morgan has a good idea of America's proud bird of freedom, and his original design showed an eagle withwings that nearly enveloped the whole coin. Its wings were so large that Dr. Linderman, no doubt, feared it might get loose and fly off, so he ordered its wings clipped. In this position it will appear to the public. In its talons is a dart, containing only one feather at the tip of the barb. The director ordered more feathers, so that the barb would present a ship-shape appearance, and not be liable to fly off lopsided,
" The head of the Morgan eagle is very poor, and the wings are badly managed. The Barber design shows the eagle with wings as if just unfolding for flight. The motto furnishes the text for many quips, especially-from those papers which denounced the 'silver delusion."
The same journal also reproduced this piece of Verse, which, like many cartoons of the era, laments the fact that the new Morgan dollar did not contain 100 cents worth of silver:
"Now, Messrs. Congressmen, be just, "Throw off the veil of thin pretense; "Stamp on the lie, 'In God we trust "For the remaining seven cents"
The editor of the American Journal of Numismatics could not refrain from adding his own thoughts:
"The long line of monstrosities issued from the United States Mint, certainly receives its crown in the new dollar. The ugliness of thepiece adds another wrong to the original one of dishonesty. To ask the European bond-holder to take this! Why does not the 'Dollar of our Daddies' appear in the exact design of 1794-S? Before the question was half written, instinctively camethe answer; that shame naturally prevented the authorities from reproducing an honest dollar."
"Beautiful" and "Elegant"
Charles Steigerwalt, in The Coin Journal September 1880, commented favorably on the Morgan design: "In 1878 the demand for an increase of the circulating medium caused.Congress to pass a law authorizing the reissuing from the Mint of the standard dollar, and in consequence the Bland dollar with which our readers are familiar made its appearance from the Mint again in that year. Large numbers of this beautiful coin with its fine, classic head of Liberty have been issued since then and unless too large a quantity be coined and the coinage having to be suspended in consequence, collectors may look forward to a long continuance of this elegant piece."
Ordering Proof Coins (1878)
Concerning Proof dollars of 1878, a communication from the Philadelphia Mint dated April 11, 1878, in the archives of the author, states this, in part:
"Mint of the United States, Philadelphia, April 11, 1878. "All inquiries, orders and remittances must be sent to the Superintendent of the Mint at Philadelphia. The Medals and Coins will be in the responsible custody of one of his Clerks, who will also attend to the orders, reply to letters, and keep the accounts.
"RULES.
"1. The price of Medals, Proof Coins, Pattern Pieces, &c, shall be fixed by the Superintendent of the Mint, with the approval of the Director.
"2. No Coin or Pattern Piece shall be struck after the year of their date, or in any other metal or alloy than that in which the Coin was issued or intended to be issued, except experimental pieces in Copper or other soft metal to prove the dies, under the direction of the Superintendent. The dies shall be defaced at the end of each year, and such impressions as the Engraver may find necessary to take while preparing the dies, shall be destroyed in the presence of the Superintendent, when the dies are finished.
"3. When a Pattern Piece is adopted and used in the regular coinage in the same year, it shall then be issued as a Proof, at a price near its current value; or, if it comes out early in the year, it will be placed in the regular Proof Set. The Superintendent will furnish, without charge, on application therefor, a Pattern Piece to any incorporated Numismatic Society in the United States. In such cases if the pattern is in Gold or Silver, the value of the metal will be required.
"4. The price ofthe regular Proof Set of Gold Coins will be Forty-Three Dollars in Gold; the Proof Set of Silver and Minor Coins, Three Dollars and Twenty-Five Cents in Silver, or [the full equivalent in'] Currency.
"5 .. The Coins of the United States are .... James Pollock, Superintendent [The following is handwritten] "Proof specimens of the new silver dollar are $1.50 each. The Mint furnishes Proof sets of the current year only and not of former years."