Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States - A Complete Encyclopedia
Q. David Bowers
1885-S Morgan: Market Values
1885-S Morgan: Summary of Characteristics
Business Strikes:
Enabling legislation: As earlier, plus Act of Febru-ary 28, 1878
Designer: George T. Morgan
Weight and composition: 412.5 grains; .900' silver, .100 copper
Melt-down (silver value) in year minted: $0.823 Dies prepared: Obverse: 20; Reverse: 20
Business strike mintage: 1,497,000; Delivery figures by month: January: 500,000; February: 500,000; March: 200,000; April: 100,000; May: 100,000; June: 50,000; July: none; August: 47,000; September-December: none.
Estimated quantity melted: Hundreds of thousands, probably under the 1918 Pittman Act.
Approximate population MS-65 or better: 1,000 to 2,000 (URS-12)
Approximate population MS-64: 4,000 to 8,000 (URS-14)
Approximate population MS-63: 20,000 to 30,000 (URS-16)
Approximate population MS-63: 20,000 to 30,000 (URS-16)
Approximate population G-4 to AU-58: 50,000 to 100,000 (URS-17)
Availability of prooflike coins: Semi-prooflike and prooflike coins exist and have low contrast and are mainly in lower grades. DMPL coins with cameo contrast and in high grades are known and are very desirable. In contrast to the typical New Orleans dollar represented in hoards, relatively few DMPLs exist in relation to PLs.
Characteristics of striking: Usually lightly struck, especially at the center of the reverse, but there are exceptions.
Known hoards of Mint State coins: The Treasury released quantities of coins from about 1946 through the early 1960s, but bags were not gen-erally available on the market after the late 1950s.
Proofs:
None
Commentary
This is a scarce San Francisco Mint issue, especially in higher grades and sharply struck.
Additional Information
This year the San Francisco Mint struck 43,690 dimes, which went into circulation and later vanished, creating a rarity. No explanation is at hand for this small mintage; possibly the coins were paid out to silver depositors for the "breakage" (fractions of a dollar) due them for their deposits.
1886 Morgan Dollar
Coinage Context
Record breaking: The coinage of 19,963,000 business strike silver dollars at the Philadelphia Mint in 1886 broke all previous production records for the denomination. However, in the following year, 1887, the Philadelphia Mint would go on to still another high.
President no fan of dollars: President Grover Cleveland stated the following.(As quoted by Chester West in "Chester West Tells It As It Is-Of Federal and State Government Regulations," in The Comprehensive U. S. Silver Dollar Encyclopedia.)
Last year we spent 23 million dollars plus labor and storage for silver dollars that no one wants. Now we have 247 million of them. This gamble on a silver price increase is a bust. In the beginning, when we bought the silver, the dollar content was 94.5 cents. On the 31st day of July 1886, silver dropped to its lowest price. Now these things are only worth 78 cents.
Numismatic Information
Hoard coins: Quantities of 1886 dollars were re-leased by the Treasury over a long period of years, with a large number coming out in 1951, 1952, and, especially, December 1954. Within the memory of any numismatists living today, the 1886 Philadelphia issue has been one of the most common issues in just about any grade from well worn to MS-65. In 1962-1964 more bags were set free by the Treasury, some of which ended up in the coffers of the Conti-nental-Illinois Bank.