U.S. Capitol Visitor Center Commemorative Coin

Celebrate the first gathering of Congress in the U.S. Capitol and be part of history in the making by selection encourage the first ever Visitor Center for the U.S. Capitol. Congress has authorized three commemorative coins to celebrate the bicentennial of the first encounter of Congress at the U.S. Capitol structure in Washington, D.C. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each coin -- $35 for gold, $10 for silver, $3 for dressed -- is authorized to be salaried to the Capitol Preservation Fund for the tenacity of aiding the construction, maintenance, and preservation of a new Capitol Visitor Center. The Visitor Centered will deal advanced facilities, limitless educational movies and exhibits, and will eliminate long waits slight.

The gold five-cash coin is the pattern of Elizabeth Jones, the only lady to storage the view of U.S. Mint Chief Sculptor/Engraver. The face of this coin includes a difficult monument of a record Corinthian line, the mode found on the Capitol structure. The coin’s repeal is adorned with a view of the earliest construct, beautifully portraying the edifice where the first congressional sitting was seized in the U.S. Capitol.

The silver money faced is a creation of comedian Marika Somogy. The obverse portrays the first U.S. Capitol superimposed on the persona of nowadays’s Capitol building. The contrasting imagery illustrated how we have mature as the residents. The back is the draft of Mint sculptor/engraver John Mercanti and portrays a frank eagle covered in a banner adorned “U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.”

Dean McMullen designed the dressed half-money obverse. It features the previous U.S. Capitol building within an outline of the portray day Capitol. The invert is a combination of designs by artists Marcel Jovine and Alex Shagin. It portrays 16 stars and the inscription “32 SENATORS; 106 HOUSE MEMBERS”. The stars epitomize the number of states and the inscriptions reflects number of members in the 6th Congress-the first Congress to assemble in the new Capitol in 1800.

Metal composition of the coins is as follow:

Gold five-buck; 90% gold and 10% alloy, diameter is 0.850 (±0.003) inches or 21.59 (±0.08) mm and the emphasis is 8.359 (±0.042) grams. Silver one-cash; 90% silver and 10% alloy, diameter is 1.500 (±0.003) inches or 38.10 (±0.08) mm and the emphasis is 26.730 (±0.400) grams. Clothing half-money; 92% copper and 8% nickel, diameter is 1.205 (±0.003) inches or 30.61 (±0.08) mm and the heaviness is 11.340 (±0.454) grams. The coins were untaken by the United States Mint with diverse packaging options and at different prices. Each choice has its own formal Certificate of Authenticity.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy The United States Mint.

Black Revolutionary War Patriots Silver Dollar Coin

The Tribute

The Black Revolutionary War Patriots Silver Dollar commemorates Black Revolutionary Patriots and the 275th anniversary of the birth of Crispus Attucks, the first loyalist killed in the infamous Boston Massacre in 1770. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the coins will back the construction of the Black Patriots Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. near the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

About the Coin

The obverse of the silver dough, planned by Mint Sculptor/Engraver John Mercanti, is a sketch of Crispus Attucks. The quash intention, by performer Ed Dwight, depicting a Black Patriot family, is also the design of the statuette for the Black Patriots Memorial, reverence not only the black soldiers who fought for candor, but also the families who supported them.

Previously open are the Proof Silver Dollar, the Uncirculated Silver Dollar, and the Two-Coin Proof and Uncirculated Set. The Young Collector's Edition, partial to only 20,000 sets, includes the Uncirculated Silver Dollar in an entertaining, informative container. The Black Patriots Coin & Stamp Set, skin the Proof Silver Dollar and four commemorative stamps reverence abolitionist Frederick Douglas, inventor Benjamin Banneker, soldier Salem Poor, and Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy The United States Mint.

Flying Eagle Cents 1856-1858 Coin

By the mid-1850s it was evident to Mint officials that the large copper cents struck since 1793 were too cumbersome and unpopular, as well as increasingly uneconomical to make. The idea of fiduciary change, based on the trustworthiness of the issuing firmness, not on the coin's intrinsic speed, launch to grab on as well. Sooner or later the "big coppers" would have deceased the way of the relic, but it was the large records of small Spanish colonial silver coins in use throughout the United States that lastly made it imperative the slighter cents had to be struck, and not necessarily of unsullied copper.

It Mint Director James R. Snowden's covet to see all unknown coins obsessed out of the channels of buying in the United States. The penny law accepted by Congress on February 21, 1857 gave him the means to do so. Besides abolishing the the cent, the law also specific that the new cents would weigh 72 grains and be poised of 88% copper and 12% nickel. Furthermore, they were redeemable for the old copper cents and half cents. Nevertheless the most important provision as far as Snowden was troubled was the one that allowed the Mint and the Treasury Department to exchange Spanish bend-reales, reales and medios at the toll of 25, 12-1/2, and 6-1/4 cents, respectively, for the new cents. All other government offices would only convince these three denominations at the rate of 20, 10, and 5 cents. With such an able profit motive, banks were very desirous of exchanging as many of the external silver coins as viable for the new "nicks," as the Flying Eagle cents were called.

When the Flying Eagle cents were first free on May 25, 1857, more than a thousand people wound around the mint edifice to convert their old Spanish coins and large coppers. Within the mint's square was erected a brief, wood structure with two banker windows. Above each porthole was a marker sense, respectively, "cents for cents" and "cents for silver." The Philadelphia Bulletin described the setting: "Every man and boy in the crowd had his state of coin with him. Some had their rouleaux of Spanish coin has done up in bits of newspaper or wrapped in handerchiefs, while others had carpet bags, baskets and other shipping contrivances, packed with coppers-'very inferior and inside,' like boarding house fare."

A minor sell for the small cents urban immediately, some people even paying a premium right on the reason of the mint house itself. Soon enough, although, the "nicks" became commonplace and. By 1859 when the Indian cent point was introduced, the Mint had struck an entire of 42,050,000 cents with the Flying Eagle plan, more than enough for somebody who wished to have numerous examples. Snowden was successful in lashing out the now-demonitized Spanish coins, and by 1859 it was estimated that some $2 million meaning of the foreign silver pieces had been recoined into U.S. subsidiary currency.

Designing by James B. Longacre, the Flying Eagle image was actually an adaptation of the purpose worn on mold silver dollars twenty existence before. The eagle cost had originally been drained by Titian Peale and sculpted by Christian Gobrecht. The setback headdress was also adapted from the copy Longacre had made for the 1854 one and three cash gold pieces.

As with several other Longacre designs, the relief was too high. The caused harms on effusive struck coins-they would not stack correctly-and on excluding than entirely formed pieces it created evils associated with die opposition, that is, each the eagle's move and tail did not beat up smarmy on the face or the garland was ill-clear on the transpose. On coins square 1857, weak reorder definition is especially prevalent.

Flying Eagle cents have proven enormously common over the decades, creation with the derive spring of 1856. It is unclear just how many 1856 cents were struck, but the best estimates drop in the extend of 800 to as many as 1,500 pieces. Both proofs and company strikes were made, as well as originals and restrikes. All are dear and have been extensively hoarded over the being, the most prominent stockpile of which came from the estate of Colonel John A. Beck, who at one time owned 531 pieces.

The 1856 Flying Eagle cent is one of the few American coins whose assess is better than its scarcity. Worth more than $2,000 in Good order, the 1856 cent has an amount and concern to collectors of U.S. currency that goes far afar the more narrow scope of "penny" collectors. Why? The only reasonable answer seems to be: because they forever have been valuable. Even in the recent 1850s, 1856 cents value a dollar or two depending on form.

Collectors of Flying Eagle cents have numerous habits to collect these coins. An absolute year and selection set is likely and consists of only five issues: 1856, 1857, 1858 Small Letters, 1858 Large Letters and 1858/7. These coins are regularly unruffled with the Indian Head cycle. Type collectors normally fuse to the 1857 or one of the two 1858 issues. More superior numismatists regularly assemble sets of the pattern money of this fabricate. Proofs are really underdone, excepting for the 1856, and doubtless less than a equal of 100 proofs subsist of the three issues from 1857 and 1858.

Grading Flying Eagles can be somewhat tricky due to the above-mentioned weakness of assail encountered on many examples. The points of the outline to show friction first are the eagle's breast and wingtips on the face and the bow on the undo. With mint assert coins that are dimly struck on the control or tail of the eagle or on the opposite circlet, it is imperative that mint gleam be present on all areas of the target.

Flying Eagle cents have been extensively counterfeited. Fakes have been made by changing digits in the date, deceitful dies have been shaped to smack phonies and ignite erosion dies have been used. When in mistrust or, when purchasing a high priced Flying Eagle cent, it is always best to have the coin's authenticity expertly verified.

It was Longacre's failure to score dies properly that led to the early demise of the string. A new construct was desirable where die opposition would not be a setback as it had been between the eagle on the frontage and the wreath on the reverse. It was this need that led Longacre to restore the small cent for 1859, replacing the rapid eagle construct with an Indian rule. The primary small cent design, however, gave collectors of 19th century U.S. coins a quick, yet challenging sequence that continues to stratagem numismatists more than a century later.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 19 millimeters. Weight: 4.67 grams Composition: .880 copper.120 nickel Edge: Plain

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bowers, Q. David, A Buyer's and Enthusiast's Guide to Fly Eagle and Indian Cents, Bowers & Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1996. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Proof Coins 1722-1977, F.C.I. Press, Albertson, NY, 1977. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U. S. And Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Carothers, Neil, Fractional Money, A History of the Small Coins and Fractional Paper Currency of the United States, John Wiley & Sons, London, 1930. Snow, Richard, Flying Eagle and Indian Cents, Eagle Eye Press, 1992. Steve, Larry R. & Flynn, Kevin J. Flying Eagle and Indian Cent Die Varieties, Nuvista Press, Jarrettsville, MD, 1995. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing, New York, 1966.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Mercury Dimes 1916-1945 Coin

Despite its tiny amount, the "Mercury" dime may very well be the most exquisite coin ever created by the United States Mint. It is extremely remarkable that a coin this small could have such an elaborate and aesthetically lovely target.

One thing its objective does not describe, however, is Mercury, the courier of the gods in Roman mythology. The study on its facade is actually that of Liberty irksome a winged cap symbolizing abandon of thought. Thus, the coin more correctly is known as the Winged Head Liberty dime. Nevertheless the misnomer "Mercury" was applied to it early on and, after the existence of communal custom, has stuck.

Whatever it's called, this dime represented an embrace change of tempo when it made its first appearance in 1916. Indeed, it implied more than excellent of thought: it also was an image of America's new character, exuberance reflected in the novelty and vitality of the new U.S. penny as a total in the early 1900s. The coin it replaced, the starchy Barber dime, was rooted in the 19th century, a time when American life was more rigid and prim. In an artistic sense this new coin was a breath of cool air, even however its inspiration went all the way back to the primeval Greeks and Romans.

Clearly, the Mint and Treasury supposed it time for a change. Under an 1890 law, they couldn't restore a coin motif more frequently than every 25 existence. The Barber dime, lodge and half money, first produced in 1892, reached the part-century smear in 1916, and the Mint wasted no time in replacing all three. Actually, his misinterpretation of the 1890 law led Mint Director Robert W. Woolley to judge that he must reinstate the presented designs when they reached 25 being of production.

The Mint began laying the groundwork in the last days of 1915, when it set the rostrum for an unusual competition to gain new designs for the coins. Director Woolley invited three imminent sculptors-Hermon A. MacNeil, Albin Polasek and Adolph A. Weinman, all New York City-to make designs for the three silver coins, evidently to awarding a different coin to each artiste.

Whatever the Mint's intention may have been, Weinman broken up receiving two of the three coins-the dime and half cash-with MacNeil getting the lodge dough and Polasek being shut out. Nevertheless few would quibble with the selections, for all three of the new coins-the Mercury dime, the Standing Liberty house money and the Walking Liberty half dough-inevitably happen on most collectors' lists of the finest U.S. coins ever made.

The German-natural Weinman had come to the United States in 1880 at the age of 10 and had willful under the infamous Augustus Saint-Gaudens. By 1915 he had gained a reputation as one of the populace's leading babyish sculptors. Weinman solidified this permanent with his artwork for the dime.

Its generally thought that the Winged Liberty portrait is based on a bust that Weinman did in 1913 of Elsie Kachel Stevens, wife of well-known versifier Wallace Stevens. She and her husband were tenants at the time in a New York City residence house owned by the sculptor. The transpose of the coin depicts the fasces, an ancient figure of persuade, with a crusade-ax atop it to epitomize preparedness and a lime separate beside it to denote the covet for harmony. With World War I powerful in Europe, these were emotional themes in 1916.

Release of the very first Mercury dimes was delayed pending recent in the year, as the dies were not yet swift. Coins of the old Barber point were hurriedly coined to gather the demand. The Denver Minted made only 264,000 examples of the new dimes, and 1916-D has been the great key of the chain ever since-the only coin with a mintage below one million. The mintmark appears on the inverse, below and left of the fasces. Other scarce coins enter 1921, 1921-D and the 1942/1 overdates from both Philadelphia and Denver. Brilliant proofs were made from 1936 through 1942, and there exists at slightest one 1916 dull resilient.

Collectors with a weakness for perfection entreat Mercury dimes with "filled split bands," completely obvious ranks in the bands around the fasces. For most dates these order significantly elevated premiums than coins lacking such describe. Lack of filled bands doesn't mean a coin mint-position; often, it plainly denotes a weak punch. The bands do wait as a checkpoint for corrosion, however, since they're so high and exposed. Other spots to confirm are Liberty's coat and the area in front of her ear.

For most of the string, production at the fork mints in Denver and San Francisco was minus than ten million pieces a year. Outputs were advanced at the focal mint in Philadelphia but exceeded 100 million only five epoch. Large facts of Mercury dimes subsist in grades up to Mint State-65, and they're quickly untaken even in MS-66 and 67, at least for the later dates. This, joint with their beauty, makes them very promotable. Facing 77 time-and-mint combinations, not counting the overdates, many collectors pleased themselves with just a distinct lettering coin. Others assemble "sharply sets" from 1934 through 1945 or 1941 through `45.

The Mercury dime served Americans well during one of this land's most violent eras. Born on the eve of our nation's note into World War I, it remained a central part of America's money place right through the end of World War II, bowing out in 1945. Along the way, it took pivot theater during the Great Depression as the claim coin in the down-and-outers' anthem, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" The desire of Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross to switch the Mercury dime with portraying Benjamin Franklin in 1938 was delayed awaiting after the war, Franklin eventually finding a home on the half buck ten being later.

In 1946, following the casualty of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a new devise with a portrait of the former President was issued. It was proper that this denomination was chosen to perpetuate his recall, as during his lifetime he was a significant influence in the March of Dimes battle against polio.

Even in its finishing years, this was a coin with authentic buying right. Armed with a Mercury dime, youngsters in the1940s had their choice of a 52-page comic book, a double-dip ice cream funnel, two Hershey bars or two bottles of Coca-Cola. Remaining in circulation right awaiting the end of silver coinage, Mercury dimes were a known glimpse as behind as the 1960s.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 17.9 millimeters Weight: 2.50 grams Composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: .07234 degree unmixed silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Lange, David W. The Complete Guide to Mercury Dimes, DLRC Press, Virginia Beach, VA, 1993. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing Co., New York, 1966. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins, 47th Edition. Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1993.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Seated Liberty n With Motto Silver Dollars 1866-1873 Coin

As war clouds gathered and the residents raced impulsive near civil war, known sentiment became increasingly philosophical. In 1861, reflecting this communal mood, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase detained leading a suggestion from a Pennsylvania minister that the Mint ought to incorporate recognition of the deity on our coins. In a letter to James Pollock, Director of the Mint, Chase wrote: "The hope of our people in God should be stated on our general coins. You will produce a crest to be ready lacking unnecessary falter with a motto expressing in the fewest and tersest terms promising this free recognition."

Almost immediately, Pollock struck a few patterns and forwarded them to Chase. In his accompanying letter, Pollock asserted that the first suggestion for this spiritual motto, "Our Trust is in God," had too many characters to fit comfortably. The Mint Director recommended "God Our Trust" since he felt it accepted the same idea and was more concise. He also chosen the motto to be placed on the back above the eagle, within a scroll or ribbon machine as artistic scenery.

Pattern half dollars and eagles square 1861 and 1862 have the lexis GOD OUR TRUST. From 1863 through 1865, additional patterns were made with GOD OUR TRUST, GOD AND OUR COUNTRY, and IN GOD WE TRUST.

It was IN GOD WE TRUST that Secretary Chase finally usual in 1864. It first appeared on the two-cent part in that year and then later the Shield nickel in 1866. Patterns dated 1865 with IN GOD WE TRUST were made of the twofold eagle, eagle, the eagle and the silver house, half buck and buck. Ultimately, the Mint Act of March 3, 1865 provided the authorization for use of the motto on the usual silver and gold issues.

The Seated Liberty bucked of 1866, alike to earlier issues except for the addition of the motto, was based on the creative devise by Christian Gobrecht, the past Chief Engraver of the Mint. First used on usual announce coins with the 1837 dime, it was practical to the buck in 1840.

The intend depicts Liberty seated on a boulder. She is property a post in her left hand topped with a liberty cap. With her right hand she supports the shelter of the union adorned with the word LIBERTY. Thirteen stars surround the cost. The converse skin an eagle with outstretched wings and the Union armor on its breast. The eagle is covetous an olive stem and three arrows. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA appears in a semicircle around the eagle, and the denomination ONE DOL. Appears below. If a particular coin has a mintmark, it is soon under the eagle.

The conceive has athletic symbolism. With the use of the liberty cap, it declares autonomy. The union shielded is symbolic of the unity of the homeland. In the throes of the nastiest conflagration this country ever experienced, it was physical for the people of the mid-19th century to point to the deity for help and guidance. Placing a religious sentiment on something as intimate as a coin was the equivalent of a national prayer.

The motto has become very much a part of the American mind. This was evident when the double eagle and eagle were issued without the motto in 1907. It caused a burning public controversy, and Congress planned the motto restored in 1908.

Although "With Motto" buck mintages were small, the coins were well used by the public. The accounts for the small number of uncirculated pieces that live. Only about 3.6 million pieces were minted for circulation. The womanhood was made at the Philadelphia Mint with only two domain mints producing the With Motto variety.

Of the Carson City Mint issues of 1870, '71, '72 and '73, the 1870-CC is the easiest to locate. There are also three San Francisco issues. The 1870-S is a foremost scarcity, and the 1873-S, with a reported mintage of 700, is strange in any collection. That foliage the 1872-S as the only collectable With Motto buck from that mint. The Philadelphia issues of 1871 and 1872 are the dates most regularly seen and are popularly composed as mode examples.

There are 15 customary and eight resistant issues of the Seated Liberty With Motto Dollar. An absolute of 6,060 proofs were coined, and these hang over each meeting from 1866 through 1873.

When grading mint pomp pieces, footnote that this coin regularly comes with some parts of the outline softly struck and may have many "bag" letters and abrasions. Check the high points of Liberty's right leg and breast and the pelt above her eye for signs of erode. Seating Liberty dollars may be seen with a great glaze that can array from lightly spotty to black. Heavily toned specimens should be warily evaluated to affect whether evidence of circulation is buried underneath.

Numismatists usually collect this coin as a "form," because it is obstinate to find affordable examples of many dates in this chain. A crucial collection would have an example of the No Motto and With Motto types. One could also enter an exclusive, but obtainable, Gobrecht sample or circulation flow of 1836-1839. Nevertheless no subject which type, grade or date you own, any Seated Liberty cash is a numismatic treasure.

In February, 1873 Congress passed the Coinage Act later known as "The Crime of '73," which effectively demonetized silver and put the populace on a gold ensign. It would fuel intense meditate for the next district century. While the Act created a new trade dough for use in import with the Far East, it abolished the even issue silver dollar, along with the two-cent example, the silver trime and the the dime. The standard silvered dollar would not gain awaiting 1878, when it reappeared with a new design named for its initiator, Chief Engraver George T. Morgan.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 38.1 millimeters Weight: 26.73 grams Composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: .77344 oz pure silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY: American Numismatic Association, Selections from The Numismatist: United States Paper Money, Tokens, Medals and Miscellaneous, Whitman Publishing Company, Racine, WI, 1960. Bowers, Q. David, Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States, A Complete Encyclopedia, Bowers and Merena, Wolfeboro, NH, 1993. Judd, J. Hewitt M.D., United States Pattern, Experimental and Trial Pieces, 7th Edition, A. Kosoff, Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1982. White, Weimar W. The Liberty Seated Dollar 1840-1873, Sanford J. Durst, Long Island City, 1985. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins, 47th Edition, Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1993.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Draped Bust n Small Eagle Silver Dollars 1795-1798 Coin Guide

A precocious country during its shaping being, the United States grew swiftly in volume and eminence throughout its first the century as an independent populace. It didn't access adulthood almost as cleansing, however, as the image of Miss Liberty on U. S. Silver change.

When Liberty first appeared on the land's silver coins in 1794 she was childish and chirpy, with her curls flowing freely behind her. Focusing on that mark, collectors submit to these coins as the Flowing Hair class. Nevertheless it didn't take long for this ingenious- looking maiden to make the bursting flower of adulthood: The very next year a new sketch showed her, in the language of currency critic Cornelius Vermeule, as "a buxom Roman matron" having long, elegant fleece neatly together back with a ribbon and a bow and ample cleavage obvious above a fold of drapery.

This rotund-figured portrayal has come to be known as the Draped Bust invent, and it holds a significant distinction: It appears on the facade of the 1804 silver dough, one of the most notorious and most important U.S. coin rarities.

For a time, the Draped Bust likeness graced all five silver coins then being issued: the dough, half cash, quarter, dime and the dime. The money got the spring on all the others, however, receiving this fabricate partway through production in 1795. It didn't make its debut on the other four coins pending 1796.

Selection of the cash as the new originate's first cabinet underscored the dominance of that coin. The dough was the cornerstone of the financial routine devised by the Founding Fathers, and the one-money coin was not only the prime silver number but, in the survey of officials overseeing the Mint, the most prestigious as well as most important. They had made that earn in 1794 when they chose to have dollars struck before something also at the outset of silver penny, only then giving the go-onward for the minor silver pieces.

Replacement of the midstream-lived Flowing Hair project coincided with a change in leadership at the Mint. David Rittenhouse resigned as the Mint's first director at the end of June 1795, and his successor, Henry William DeSaussure, set out at once to recover the designs of all the denominations, particularly those struck in silver.

Possibly at the urging of President George Washington, DeSaussure engaged portraitist Gilbert Stuart to devise a new target for the silver coins. Stuart organized a diagram of the Draped Bust celebrity, reportedly basing the likeness on Philadelphia socialite Ann Willing Bingham, said to be the most stunning lady of her time. This sketch was translated to plaster by dancer John Eckstein of Providence, Rhode Island, and mint executed the dies Chief Engraver Robert Scot.

Though the Flowing Hair picture of Liberty was retired, the Mint kept the back essentially the same. It skinned a small, naturalistic eagle encircled by a wreath, with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA adorned around the border. On the Draped Bust penny, this "Small Eagle" reversal does bare fine refinements: The eagle seems more lissom, for example, and it's balanced ahead a cloud instead of an astound (as had been the instance on the Flowing Hair money). In addition, the wreath has been adapted: The before laurel brushwood have given way to kindling of palm and emerald. LIBERTY and the court are the only inscriptions on the face. Lettering on the perimeter proclaims the receipt of cost: HUNDRED CENTS ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT, with decorations separating the words.

The intact first-year production of Draped Bust silver dollars took place in the last two weeks of October, 1795 and totaled a modest 42,738 pieces. That's barely one-fourth the mintage of 1795 Flowing Hair dollars; some 160,000 of those had been struck formerly. Nonetheless, both types historically have commanded comparable premiums. The Flowing Hair money profited from it's varied grab as a mode coin: That sequence was made for only two being, and the 1794 is a chief find, so the 1795 is the only realistic decision for most buyers.

The Draped Bust/Small Eagle dough didn't last much longer. It remained in production for only four being, from 1795 to 1798, before the small eagle was replaced by a large, heraldic eagle. The Draped Bust studied retained its blackhead on the facade awaiting production of dollars was perched in 1804 because of onerous melting. When dollar coinage resumed in 1836, the facade weary a new Seated Liberty portrait.

Only about 450,000 Draped Bust/Small Eagle dollars were issued in the four living mutual, virtually three fourths of them in 1798. Noting scholar Walter Breen estimated that just 3 percent survive. The low crux came in 1797, when a meager 7,776 were bent. The rarest array is the 1797 dollar with 9 stars to Liberty's left, 7 to her right and small script in the quash legend. The low production facts are understandable, given the truth that during the 1790s a dollar represented a full day's pay for some Americans-and a living wage, at that.

Although the string is small, Draped Bust/Small Eagle dollars come in more than a dozen foremost varieties. Some of these distinctions are based on the dimension of the date and the inscriptions. Most of the varieties, however, are fixed to the number of stars on the frontage and the way they are agreed. There were 15 stars in the first two years, representing the number of states in the Union at the time. With Tennessee's admission, the number rose to 16 in 1797. Then, in 1798, it dropped back to 15 (apparently because old dies were being used) before finish up at 13 for the 13 primary colonies.

The collecting of this string by varieties took a major leap forward with the publication in 1950 of a citation book by Milford H. Bolender. Using his own specialized collection of these coins as a foundation, Bolender described and illustrated each category known to him. After vacant through some editions, his book was extensively revised by Jules Reiver in 1998. Another note by Q. David Bowers, with the assistance of Mark Borckardt, was published in 1993, correcting and updating the Bolender book and assigning a new numbering structure. Thus, the varieties of these dollars are identified by both Bolender (B) figures or Bowers/ Borckardt (BB) facts.

Dollars of this capture are scarce and vastly collectible even in lesser circulated grades and are atypical in mint proviso. Points to buttress for grind are the hair above Liberty's temple and the emblem of the eagle's breast.

Although the series is abruptly, it is commonly serene by brand only because each component is so scarce. Proofs of these coins weren't struck, but a few presentation pieces spectacle prooflike surfaces.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 39-40 millimeters Weight: 26.96 grams Composition: .8924 silver.1076 copper Edge: Lettered Net Weight: .77344 ounce downright silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bowers, Q. David, Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States, A Complete Encyclopedia, Bowers & Merena, Wolfeboro, NH, 1993. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Reiver, Jules, The United States Early Silver Dollars 1794 to 1804, Krause Publications, Iola, WI, 1998. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing Co. Inc., New York, 1966. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins, 47th Edition, Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1993.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Peace Silver Dollars 1921-1935 Coin

The "war to end all wars" destroy far abrupt of that good aspiration. What chronicle now terms World War I, which ravished Europe from 1914 to 1918, did stir worldwide yearning, however, for harmony. One directly product of that zealous dream was the League of Nations. Trice, fewer ambitious but regularly sincere, was the Peace dough. America shunned the League, but favorably embraced the coin.

Following the war, there was widespread sentiment for issuance of a coin that would celebrate and commemorate the restoration of peace. The American Numismatic Association played a key function in fostering this offer. At the same time, the U. S. Mint found itself facing the ought to fright producing millions of silver dollars. That poverty grew out of the Pittman Act, a law enacted in 1918 at the urging of-and plainly benefiting-silver-mining happiness. Under this calculate, the government was empowered to melt as many as 350 million silver dollars, move the silver into gold and then moreover advertise the metal or use it to products subsidiary silver penny. It also was essential to beat replacement dollars for all that were melted.

Aside from serving silver producers, the law also aided Great Britain, a wartime ally at the time. During economic living 1918 and 1919, the U. S. Government melted a whole of more than 270 million silver dollars, and most of these-259,121,554-finished up being sold in bullion form to the British, who desired the silver to covenant with an economic calamity in India. During that same interlude, the United States melted 11,111,168 silver dollars to attain new raw relevant for subsidiary coins of its own.

The coins that were melted under the language of the Pittman Act represented virtually half the entire production of stock silver dollars (as distinguished from Trade dollars) made by the U. S. Mint up to that court. Even so, the pasting was no particular blow to the country's export. Silver dollars were since only partial use, and lasting inventories were more than sufficient to function commercial wishes. Demand for the coins was so token, in verity, that nothing had been shaped for more than a dozen time-since 1904.

Against this scene, the Mint had no logic to smack new silver dollars as replacements for the ones that had been melted-but the Pittman Act necessary it to do so. Accordingly, in 1921, after the price of silver had fallen from postwar highs, it ongoing cranking out the long-perched Morgan silver dollars once again. It did so, in truth, in profile figures: During that sole year, the various mints fashioned a whole of more than 86 million examples-simply the peak one-year character in the sequence.

By interesting coincidence, Morgan money production resumed on the very same day-May 9, 1921-that legislation was introduced in Congress work for the issuance of a new silver money marking the postwar peace. As described by its sponsors in a general resolution, the new coin would generate "an appropriate strategy commemorative of the termination of the war between the Imperial German Government and the Government of the people of the United States."

Congress adjourned lacking taking action on the compute. It twisted out, however, that congressional authorization wasn't genuinely needed, since the Morgan buck-having been shaped for more than the official least of 25 days-was topic to replacement without detailed legislative penalize.

To find designs for the coin, the national Commission of Fine Arts agreed a competition involving a small group of the people's finest medalists. The nine invitees included such imminent artists as Victor D. Brenner, Adolph A. Weinman and Hermon A. MacNeil, all whom had intended earlier U. S. Coins. Nevertheless the winner bowed out to be an infantile Italian immigrant named Anthony de Francisci, whose keenly chiseled portrait of Liberty was modeled after his infantile wife Teresa. The back of the coin shows an eagle in lounge atop a cliff, peering regarding the sun through a string of heat, with the word PEACE superimposed on the swing. No other U. S. Coin shaped for circulation has ever borne that motto.

Production of 1921 Peace dollars didn't get under way pending the decisive week of December, and just over a million examples were fashioned. It rapidly became obvious that the coin's relief was too high, making it hard to arrange and causing undue die fissure. The Mint corrected the crisis in 1922 by tumbling the relief-but in the process, it fairly lowered the coin's aesthetic request, as well.

By 1928, the Mint had produced enough Peace dollars to gratify the Pittman Act's requirements. It so halted production. The lid on silver dollars was clamped down even tighter with the arrival of the Depression the next year. The target returned for a two-year curtain call in 1934, mostly because more cartwheels were needed as grant for silver certificates. The 1934-S proved to be one of the key coins in the sequence, along with the 1921 and the 1928. The mintmark is below the word ONE on the change. A handful of matte proofs exist, but only for 1921 and 1922.

Silver dollars-of both designs-were basically unseen by collectors pending the early 1960s, when silver certificate redemptions and the exposure surrounding the Treasury's sales of $1,000 bags of dollars to all comers shaped new relevance in the large silver coins. Ironically, Peace dollars had been swiftly offered at banks for decades, and following Treasury Department policy, were paid out before Morgan dollars were disbursed. Nevertheless few collectors were interested in completing sets of these relatively dear coins, judgment it more handy to assemble collections of the lesser denominations: A silver dollar represented a considerable sum in the 1930s and '40s-enough to buy five dozen eggs or ten boxes of Wheaties. It wasn't until the very early 1960s, when the Treasury had almost emptied its vaults of Peace dollars, that the more required after Morgans started to pour forwards, fueling collector enthusiasm for both sequence in the process.

The entire run of Peace dollars consists of just 24 coins, none of them great rarities. Thus, many collectors strive for finished year-and-mint sets. Pristine, high-grade pieces are elusive, however; weak strikes were common, and the broad, open plan made the coins vulnerable to dress and dent. Points to restrain for clothing are Liberty's face, neckline and the hair over her ear and above her temple. On the reorder, scuff will first show on the eagle's wing, leg and skull.

The Peace dollar's early demise was ominously symbolic. Four years later, in 1939, World War II erupted in Europe. The plan came very close to reappear once more in 1964, when Congress authorized production of 45 million new silver dollars, apparently in a strength to fulfil the wants of Nevada gambling casinos. With the slighter silver coins rapidly disappearing from circulation, this was viewed as a gift to exclusive good. After the Denver Mint produced 316,076 Peace dollars (square 1964) in May of 1965, order rescinded the authorization of President Johnson. Although all pieces were to be recalled and melted, rumors persist of several coins extant.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 38.1 millimeters Weight: 26.73 grams Composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: .77344 little genuine silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bowers, Q. David, Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States, A Complete Encyclopedia, Bowers and Merena, Wolfeboro, NH, 1993. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Miller, Wayne, The Morgan and Peace Dollar Textbook, Adam Smith Publishing Co., Metairie, LA, 1982. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing Co. Inc., New York, 1966. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins, 47th Edition, Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1993.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Trade Dollar 1875

Federal officials faced a dilemma in the being after the Civil War. The Comstock Lode and other Western mines were producing large quantities of silver, but the government could use only limited amounts of it in currency. This seems puzzling in retrospect, for silver coins were infrequent in circulation (a lingering legacy of wartime billboard), and Americans presumably would have welcomed main infusions of silver coins. Nevertheless Mint officials feared that new silver coins would be subjected to notice as well, since the marketplace was sopping with paper money, with fractional currency natural of wartime basic. People would have been only too glad to replace these notes, which brought minus than plump face help, for precious-metal currency.

For a time, the miners found outlets for their silver, regularly in change form, in exotic markets. Canada, Latin America and Europe all absorbed significant quantities during the 1860s. Nevertheless then, for many reasons these markets became glutted. In Europe, for example, Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck established a gold model for Germany after unifying the country in 1871 and speedily dumped gigantic amounts of silver on the international promote.

For the miners and their potent allies in Washington these developments were doubly disturbing: Not only was it hard to sell their silver, but the promote treasure was steadily declining. Initially, change did suggest one outflow valve: Under a long- ranking law, silver could be deposited with the Mint for conversion into silver coins, for which it could then be exchanged. Having no other equipped conduit, miners took lead of this one. Invariably, they chose silver dollars, the one denomination that hadn't been changed when silver coins were condensed in mass (and precious-metal subject) in 1853. As a manage significance, silver money mintages soared above one million in both 1871 and 1872.

Nevertheless with the Coinage Act of 1873, Congress stopped this loophole by suspending expand production of silver dollars. And that's where the trade buck came in: Flexing their muscle, the mining benefit won liking for this new silver coin-one that would, in scheme at slightest, not only offer an opening for the metal, but also open a full new souk for it in a corner that was already receiving Congressional awareness.

The market in doubt was Asia, particularly China. Some U.S. silver had found its way to that territory previously, but now a plump-fledged violent was planned. The Chinese had shown an absolute preference for silver coins, and up to then the volume of American trade with China had been carried out with Spanish and Mexican dollars. The trade dough's architects set out to replace those rivals by bountiful the new coin a senior silver content. They even had it decorated on the coin: "420 GRAINS, 900 FINE."

At first glance, the trade dough looks much like a recurring silver money. It's the same diameter and about the same mass as its predecessor, the Seated Liberty dough, and its portraiture is similar: a seated female chart representing Liberty on the frontage and a naturalistic eagle on the reversal-designs organized by Mint Chief Engraver William Barber.

In compare to the new trade dough, the uniform U.S. silver dough weighed just 412.5 grains, and the Mexican buck weighed only 416. Nevertheless the architects had miscalculated; still it weighed vaguely less, the Mexican coin had a senior sheerness and therefore enclosed somewhat more innocent silver. The sharp Chinese recognized this and, in many provinces, gave the U.S. coin sharply shrift, favoring the Mexican coin.

That's not to say the trade buck wasn't used. On the opposing, over 27 million went overseas and found their way into Asian retail, many later being sent onto India in trade for opium. Numerous pieces show chop signs-distinctive Chinese symbols-located on them by merchants to attest to their authenticity. Nevertheless treatment of the coins never approached Americans' expectations.

The trade money's prevalent problems occurred not in China but at home. In a last-detailed contract, Congress had made the coin an official tender for domestic payments up to five dollars. In 1876, millions were dumped into circulation in the United States when silver prices plummeted, making them worth substantially more as money than, as metal.

Congress swiftly revoked their official-tender status (the only time this has been done with any U.S. coin), but the seeds of momentous worry had been sown. In the postponed 1870s, employers bought up huge facts of the coins at slightly more than gold meaning (80 to 83 cents apiece) and then put them in pay envelops at face value. Merchants and banks accepted them only at gold value or unwanted them altogether, so the workforce effectively mislaid one sixth to one-fifth of their pay when that pay often amounted to less than $10 a week.

Spurning abroad and despised by many at home, the trade dough rapidly pale into stupor. After 1878, production was hanging excepting for proofs-and even those dwindled to just ten in 1884 and five in 1885.

Like many other "fantasy" coins before them, the 1884 and 1885 pieces were clandestinely struck for Mint chum William Idler and were nameless to the numismatic village pending six pieces from Dealer John sold idler's estate Haseltine in 1908. Notwithstanding their questionable cause, these two dates are viewed as great rarities nowadays.

In all, fewer than 36 million trade dollars were struck during the coin's 13-year existence, plus about 11,000 proofs. Production took place at Philadelphia, Carson City and San Francisco. The rarest sphere smacked is the 1878-CC with a mintage of 97,000, many of which develop to have been melted. All high-grade business strikes of the trade cash are scarce to non-current, leaving proofs to charge most of the order from typeface collectors.

The extraordinary beauty of originally-toned proofs entices many collectors to shot complete evidence runs (without the almost unavailable 1884 and 1885, of course). Indeed, any trade dollar is amply cherished and required in untouched train. Points to rein for show compose Liberty's ear, left knee and breast and the eagle's supervise and left wing.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Designer: William Barber
Weight: 27.22 grams
Net weight: 0.7874 oz wholesome silver
Composition: 0 .900 silver, 0.100 copper
Diameter: 38.1 mm
Edge: reeded
Minted at: Philadelphia, Carson City, San Francisco
Years Minted: 1873 to 1885
Mint blotch: On reversal below eagle and above the 'D' in the word 'dollar.'
Notes: Key meeting 1878CC due to numerous coins being melted and low mintage. Proofs are uncommon too. Many trade dollars have been counterstamped with Chinese 'chop lettering'. These marks typically lessen the coin.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bowers, Q. David, Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States, A Complete Encyclopedia, Bowers and Merena, Wolfeboro, NH, 1993. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Willem, John M. The United States Trade Dollar, Whitman Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1965. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins, 48th Edition, Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1994.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Continental dollar 1776 Coin

In July, 1776 the American Revolution had entered its following, vital year. The shooting at Lexington and Concord and George Washington's appointment as chief in chief of the Continental Army were a year previous. The British had unexpectedly evacuated occupied Boston, and the commander and crowd were enjoying an all-too-update time of victory.

Sitting since May 1775, the Second Continental Congress had stirred from attempted conciliation with the British Crown to a forthright vote for Independence on July 2, 1776. On July 4 the first lasting delegates signed the vital record which affirmed that the 13 past colonies "were and by right ought to be liberated and independent states."

Loosely united even in the base of war, the new states had no unity anything in penny and currency. Each began printing its own paper currency valued both in British-approach pounds, shillings and pence and in the universally friendly Spanish Milled buck. The states valued the Spanish money at wildly different toll ranging from eight shillings in New York to 32 shillings sixpence in South Carolina. In the first flush of independence, Congress apparently decisive to fast America's sovereignty by launching a distinctive new money, known to numismatists as the Continental Dollar. Sometime in July 1776, most maybe in New York City, these coins were struck in silver, brass and pewter. More than 60 outlast nowadays, of which the superior number are pewter.

The coins' distinctively American designs are attributed to philosopher, directory poet and statesman Benjamin Franklin. The facade bears a sundial with the Franklin-esque Latin motto FUGIO, "I (Time) Fly," coupled with an English admonition MIND YOUR BUSINESS below. The legend CONTINENTAL CURRENCY and bold meeting 1776 begin within the outer beaded border. The problem presents 13 continual relations, each influence a disarray name or abbreviation from N'HAMP'S to VIRGINIA. At the center, AMERICAN CONGRESS surrounds the hopeful motto WE ARE ONE.

Noted numismatic scholar Eric P. Newman published a definitive review of the Continental coins in 1952, noting the chief frontage types with their charming mixture of spellings, CURENCY, CURRENCY and CURRENCEY. All show FUGIO between two sound concentric lines, but the most fascinating coins have an added engraver's "signature," EG FECIT.

Numismatists usually settle that "EG" was Elisha Gallaudet, an experienced line message engraver of Freehold, New Jersey. Gallaudet was very known with the Continental Dollar invent, since he had carved the same cipher on the One Sixth Dollar Continental Currency comments of Feb. 17, 1776, plus sun dial, FUGIO and links. FECIT, Latin for MADE IT, was a widely worn identification usual to collectors of contemporary European coins and medals. Researchers think that Gallaudet only adapted his paper money shape to the designed new coins at the invitation of Congress, probably during the rash living of July 1776 when heavy French loans were projected to offer the vital silver for a new native money.

The July 1776 through September 1778 cycle of Continental Currency written by Franklin's old definite of Hall & Sellers stumped the one-dollar receipt, and New York State's August 1776 currency cycle also skips over this then-clever denomination. This plain slotted was almost sure to have been crammed by the future new silver coin. Study of 1776 New York and Philadelphia newspaper hearsay leads researchers to suppose that the brass coins were future to circulate not as dollars but as pence, to expand and reinstate the spacious category of assorted coppers then in use.

The silver and brass piece may have been planned as dollars and pennies, but the reason of the pewter coins is less clear. They may have been struck as a crisis appraise after the want of gold barred a silver change. With the need for brass in cannon-making eliminating that alloy, pewter would have been the next plausible change facts. Pewter was used everywhere for household tools including dishes. Less perilous for weapon-making, tin-based pewter would have made an acceptable emergency money. Virtually any metal would have made an enviable alternative for unsecured Continental paper, which promptly lost its profit with the start of the bind of navy disasters that virtually swamped Washing-ton's forces later in 1776.

American defeat in the contend of Long British occupation followed island of New York City. Continuing American retreats led ultimately to the deficit of New Jersey, the fall of Philadelphia and the dreadful coldness at Valley Forge. By dead 1777, the cachet of Congress and the merit of its paper currency were nearly vanished, and the idea of a metallic Continental penny receded like a vision.

A beloved with collectors of Early American change, Continental dollars are sometimes included in superior sort collections for example of the first U.S. dollar coin. Obviously since some use in exchange, existing pewter and brass specimens vary in grade from Very Fine to Uncirculated, while the silver pieces also show anecdotal degrees of circulation. High points on both sides of the coin are the rings, which show the first traces of dress.

An assortment of restrikes live, the first being made for the 1876 Centennial celebration, with additional strikings charming place over the years. Porous cast counterfeits abound, making practiced authentication a need, particularly for slash grade pieces. All the issues do not conform to any genuine ensign, varying both in authority and diameter.

Ultimately the new United States won the protracted war, but the first federally authorized coinage was not to occur until 1787. This took the form of copper cents direction (of all stuff!) a healthy sun over a sun dial with the mottos FUGIO and MIND YOUR BUSINESS, and with 13 links and WE ARE ONE on the inverse. After 11 years, Gallaudet's designs at last came into their own.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 37.7-40.7 millimeters (varies) Weight: 15.03-18.51 grams (varies) Composition: Pewter (.950+ tin and start.050 sketch elements) Edge: Twin folio ornamentation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Alexander, David T. and DeLorey, Thomas K. Coin World Comprehensive Catalog & Encyclopedia of United States Coins, World Almanac-Pharos Books, New York, 1990. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, Doubleday/FCI, New York, 1988. Hodder, Michael J. "The Continental Currency Coinage of 1776, a Trial Die and Metallic Emission Sequence," The American Numismatic Association Centennial Anthology, Colorado Springs, CO. 1991. Mossman, Philip L. Money of the American Colonies and Confederation, a Numismatic, Economic & Historical Correlation, American Numismatic Society, New York, 1993. Newman, Eric P. The 1776 Continental Currency Coinage Varieties of the Fugio Cent, Wayte Raymond Inc., New York, 1952.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC
Photo courtesy the US Mint

Flowing Hair Silver Dollars 1794-1795

The money was the cornerstone of the fiscal practice devised by the Founding Fathers for the fledgling United States. More than two existence approved, however, between the time Congress authorized cash currency and the actual production of the first such coin, the Flowing Hair silver dough.

Congress itself was responsible for the break. As part of the vital Mint Act of April 2, 1792, the House and Senate specific that two key Mint officers-the chief coiner and assayer-would have to publish bonding of $10,000 each before they could work with precious metal. The requirement was onerous: It represented more than six period the annual salary of $1,500 each provided for these two officers. Understandably, they had effort gathering it-and, awaiting they did, only copper penny could proceed.

Frustrating by this roadblock in his labors to begin detailed-range money, Mint Director David Rittenhouse appealed for help to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, the Cabinet executive then in custody of the Mint. Jefferson got Congress to decrease the bonds to $5,000 for Chief Coiner Henry Voigt and $1,000 for Assayer Albion Cox; they then put up the money and the Mint was limitless at last to produce the lasting denominations. By then it March of 1794, and the red record had price the Mint a whole production year of precious-metal change: The only coins issued in 1793 had been copper cents and half cents. (Although the Mint was established in 1792 and it struck some coins that year, all are viewed as patterns very than endorsed federal issues.)

Silver coinage started in 1794 with two denominations-the buck and half dough; both were alike in sketch (half dimes of this meeting were coined the next year). The money was deemed the most prestigious, so Mint officials firm to punch that first. Actually, the Mint had gotten a running depart on the new coins: Engraver Robert Scot had been told to arrange designs for them months before the legal scowl was untangled.

Congress had specific that the new coins should hold a target "emblematic of Liberty," and Scot accomplished this with a right-facing likeness of a childish female consider whose beard flowed liberally behind her-thus the descriptive term "Flowing Hair." The word LIBERTY appears above her, with the year below and 15 stars along the sides, symbolizing the number of states in the Union at that time. Scot is said to have intended the flowing coat to imply looseness. A sample 25-cent instance of 1792 served as Scot's exemplary for the facade; this had been planned by Joseph Wright, who died of blonde fever in 1793 after helping quickly as Mint engraver. The money's quash depicts a small, swell-winged eagle floating on an astound and surrounded by laurel twigs. Encircling this, along the border, is the motto UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The dough's "third elevation," the side, carries the inscription HUNDRED CENTS ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT, with decorations separating the lexis.

The Flowing Hair dough is faintly larger and heavier than later U.S. cartwheels like the Morgan and Peace dollars. Its authorized sheerness differs, too, but its actual delicacy doesn't, because some probing events at the Mint. Congress had specific a curious alloy of 1485/1664 silver and 179/1664 copper, for thinness of .8924+. Nevertheless Assayer Cox complained that this was too trying to achieve and, what's more, that silver coins would deed black in normal use save they were at least .900 select. He prevailed on Rittenhouse to let him use that elevated pennant, even however Congress hadn't penalized it, creating an incredible municipal where the Mint was actually breech the law of the land. This led to substantial losses for people who deposited silver gold with the Mint and took silver dollars in return, for they were being mandatory to deliver more silver per coin than the law mandatory. Eventually, some sought and obtained reimbursement.

It's supposed that the Mint struck a overall of 2,000 silver dollars in 1794, all from a distinct couple of dies. Evidently, some were abandoned as being excessively weak and may have finished up being used as coin blanks the next year or just being melted. The accepted net mintage is 1,758, with estimates of about 120-130 survivors in all grades. The whole production occurred on an unmarried day, October 15, and Voight stored many of the coins in the Mint's vaults, generous them to Rittenhouse the following May. The Director existing a few of the dollars to VIPs as souvenirs and made a heart of spending some (or exchanging them for Spanish dollars) to get the coins before the free. Rittenhouse never distributed all the coins, however, resigning due to without shape in June of 1795. This set the step for a very interesting piece of numismatic memoirs,

Almost 170 being later, in 1964, a small box of "peculiar" coins was consigned to a Christies mart in London by the family of British nobleman Major Sir Roland Denys Guy Winn, M.C., Fourth Baron St. Oswald. The box enclosed about $10 in face help of new U.S. coins, square each 1794 or 1795. Most notable of these pieces were two uncirculated 1794 dollars which brought $11,400 each at the vending. When the coins returned to the United States, the excitement generated among American collectors began to take on a life of its own. A chronicle took burrow that had one of Lord St. Oswald's ancestors itinerant to Philadelphia in 1795 and receiving the coins soon from Henry DeSaussure, Rittenhouse's successor as Mint Director. While this account makes fascinating reading and has been accepted as fact for over thirty time, latest inquiries has naked that it's based fully on guess. No family minutes or accounts fund the proposition of a trip to the United States by a St. Oswald ancestor; in fact, they lean to refute it. We don't know for certain how the coins were obtained or by whom-only that they were in the St. Oswald family's possession in 1964. Perhaps an impending numismatic researcher will be able to loosen this mystery.

Farther buck production was floating awaiting a new lobby-competent of imparting fuller, stronger strikes-could be installed. It didn't resume awaiting early May of 1795, and from then through mid-October the new tackle cranked out more than 160,000 Flowing Hair dollars dated 1795. In October, the drawing gave way to a new Draped Bust cash, making the Flowing Hair dollar a two-year capture coin.

Despite its brevity, the Flowing Hair dollar cycle is broadly calm by form (most collectors selecting the 1795 spring, because it is so much more copious than 1794). Some of the 1795 dollars have two leaves below each wing of the eagle, while others have three. Both kinds are similarly free, however. There are no records of proofs for the year, but some 1795 dollars are professed to be "specimen" strikes. Mint state pieces of both dates are very unusual. Points to first show wear are the cheek, shoulder and tresses above Liberty's temple and the eagle's breast, proceed and wing-tops.

Flowing Hair dollars are coveted collectibles, not only because of their great curiosity but also because they possess such an athletic relation with the birth of both the realm and U.S. coinage. Silver dollars are enormously accepted, so this fleeting, small cycle indeed was the outset of something big.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 39-40 millimeters Weight: 26.96 grams Composition: .8924 silver.1076 copper Edge: Lettered Net Weight: .77344 degree authentic silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bowers, Q. David, Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States, A Complete Encyclopedia, Bowers and Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1993. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Hodder, Michael J. "Who was Major the Lord St. Oswald?," The Asylum, Fall, 1994. Reiver, Jules, The United States Early Silver Dollars 1794 to 1804, Krause Publications, Iola, WI, 1998. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing Co., New York, 1966. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins, 47th Edition, Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1993.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Walking Liberty Half Dollars 1916-1947

Thomas Woodrow Wilson barely won re-choice as 28th president of the United States, campaigning on the slogan, "He kept us out of war!" Within a few months, American troops would be route for Europe after all. Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops were making millions laugh in the state's film houses, while New York's Wally Pipp home-run ruler in baseball's American League.

The year was 1916, and America was a realm in ferment. It was a time of transition: from steed and pram to horseless carriage ... Farms to cities ... Domestic tranquility to alien entanglement ... Concord to war.

Major changes were taking place in United States money, too. Within the earlier decade, exciting new designs had debuted on six different U.S. coins, supplanting the quiet, dull 19th-century portraits that preceded them. And now, in 1916, three more old-smartness coins-the Barber silver coins-course for the sidelines as well.

Outside artists not on the wand of the U.S. Mint had furnished new designs for the six preceding changes, and Mint Director Robert W. Woolley showed his satisfaction by open scarce again. In 1915, he invited three noted sculptors-Hermon A. MacNeil, Albin Polasek and Adolph A. Weinman, all New York City-to prime designs for the three silver coins, apparently with the intention of awarding a different coin to each artist. The Mint may not have intended it this way, but Weinman useless up receiving two of the three coins, the dime and half cash, with MacNeil receiving the area and Polasek being closed out. It's hard to picture how Polasek or somebody moreover could have improved on the charming entries, although, for all three of the new coins-the Mercury dime, Standing Liberty area and Walking Liberty half money-are magnificent money artworks.

A.A. Weinman was born in Germany but came to the United States at the age of ten in 1880. He honed his skills as a student of the infamous Augustus Saint-Gaudens and, by 1915, he was commonly acclaimed as one of the homeland's finest sculptors.

For the frontage of his intention, Weinman chose a gorged-span numeral of Liberty striding near the dawning of a new day, clad in the Stars and Stripes and hauling twigs of laurel and oak symbolizing civil and military glory. The switch depicts an imposing eagle balanced on a mountain cliff, wings stretched in a pose suggesting right, with a sprout of mountain pine-symbolic of America springing from a schism in the swing. These brightly partisan themes resonated wholly across a state then preparing to record World War I, ironically against the land of Weinman's birth. Weinman placed his initials (AW) speedily under the eagle's tailfeathers.

Unlike the other two Barber coins, the Barber half buck wasn't bent in 1916. Even so, the Mint delayed release of the new Walking Liberty coin pending tardy November. It drew abrupt praise. The New York Sun, for example, pronounced it a "lively" coin, typifying "jostle," while the Boston Herald said it had a "brazen look on its face."

First-year coins from the turn mints in Denver and San Francisco take the "D" or "S" mintmark on the frontage, below IN GOD WE TRUST, as do some pieces minted the next year. Partway through production in 1917, the mintmarks' spot was motivated to the decrease left of the setback, just below the sapling, and that's where it remained pending the cycle defunct in 1947.

Over 485 million Walking Liberty halves were made between 1916 and 1947, but they were issued only sporadically during the 1920s and early '30s, nothing being minted in 1922, 1924-26 and 1930-32. These coins with substantial selling capacity, enough to buy a mooch of bread, a quart of milk and a dozen eggs in the early '30s, so it didn't take titanic quantities to stop Americans' wishes, especially after the Wall Street breakdown plunged the nation into the Great Depression.

Mintages were particularly low in 1921, and the P, D and S half dollars from that year all rank among the chief keys of the sequence. Other scarce issues contain the 1916, 1916-S, 1917-D and S (with the mintmarks on the facade) and 1938-D. Brilliant proofs were minted from 1936 to 1942, adding 74,400 pieces, and a very few satin-polish proofs were struck in 1916 and '17.

"Walkers," as they're frequently called, are large, precious-metal coins with a, much-admired goal. As a result, they presume great allure not only for traditional hobbyists but also for non-collectors. Many subsist in grades up to Mint State-65. Even above that reading, significant figures live for certain dates, particularly the later existence. Most dates, however, come weakly struck, particularly on Liberty's left hand and leg, supervise and skirt outline and on the eagle's breast and leg down. Sharply struck coins often mandate substantial premiums. In an effort to expand the salient characteristics of the figure, chief Engraver George made some lesser modifications T. Morgan in 1918 and again by Assistant Engraver John R. Sinnock in 1937 and 1938. None of the revisions seemed to help, as even later issues are often weak in the principal parts of the motif. Places to stop for carry compose Liberty's regulate, breast, arms and left leg and the breast, leg and forward wing of the eagle.

A stuffed set consists of 65 different time-and-mint combinations but is attempted and completed by many collectors. Although Walkers were not saved in any extent by the shared, particularly in the Depression living, professional numismatists like Wayte Raymond and others put away many early rolls during the '30s. Uncirculated specimens of certain dates in the 1910s and '20s are possibly only vacant today due to the insight of these astute dealers. Later-date Walkers also have a strong following: many collectors assemble "sharp sets" from 1934 to 1947 or 1941 to '47. Type collectors just obtain a distinct, high-grade example.

The Franklin the dollar succeeded the Walker in 1948. Nevertheless 38 years later, in 1986, Uncle Sam dusted off the Weinman create for the obverse of the one-degree American Eagle silver gold coin, which has been minted annually ever since.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 30.6 millimeters Weight: 12.50 grams Composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: .36169 little untainted silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Fox, Bruce, The Complete Guide To Walking Liberty Half Dollars, DLRC Press, Virginia Beach, VA, 1993. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing Co., New York, 1966. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins, 47th Edition. Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1993.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Seated Liberty/No Motto Silver Dollars 1840-1873

The year was 1840. Martin Van Buren was completing a Presidential word ruined by terrible financial depression. This era, called the Hard Times, resulted from time of reckless Western land speculation and the evolution of unregulated banks issuing a flood of unsecured paper money. The prolonged depression ravished America's agriculture and trade and saw hundreds of thousands starving and unemployed.

Inheriting from President Andrew Jackson was the Van Buren Administration's loyalty in "hard money"- silver and gold-as the only unfailing warehouse of assess in compare to shaky thanks and worthless paper money. Expressing this hard money outlook, the Mint strove from 1836 to start a new circulating silver cash. No cash coin had appeared for circulation since 1804, when the last of the 1803-square Draped Bust dollars were released.

Mint Director Robert Maskell Patterson viewed the new money as the pinnacle of America's silver penny. After all, it was a fortunate worker who made even four dollars for a workweek of 76 to 80 hours of unremitting slog in this harsh era. A silver bucked was indeed a keep of wealth to millions of impoverished running-classify Americans.

An admirer of the seated Britannia on British copper penny, Patterson supposed that a seated female character would be just as "emblematic of liberty" as the heads and busts adorning the residents's money. He engaged the great study musician Thomas Sully to make sketching for his seated Liberty. Sully floating her on a sway in Grecian robes, left arm supporting a Union guard with a scroll adorned LIBERTY. Her right arm was raised and detained a staff topped with a small Liberty Cap. The Mint's assistant engraver, Christian Gobrecht, adapted the Sully sketches to bas-relief art fitting for money. The effect was the Seated Liberty create worn at one time or another on half dimes, dimes, 20-cent pieces, quarters, half dollars and dollars from 1836 through 1891.

As reworked by Gobrecht and Robert Ball Hughes, Liberty emerged with a rounded president and her dangling right arm appearing immensely long, her left patently shorter. Pattern obverses of 1836 and 1839 showed no frontage stars but placed the musician's signature in the turf or on the base. Gobrecht's novel reverses of 1836-1839 open a magnificent snatched eagle in a shining or patent sky. Unfortunately, the "No Motto" silver money of 1840-1865 deleted the innovative flying eagle, substituting the unimaginative but relaxed "sandwich lodge" bird with dropped wings and a safeguard on its breast. Liberty had no artist's signature and sat coyly in a crowd of 13 stars with the court placed below. The coins of 1840-65 do not have the motto IN GOD WE TRUST on the converse.

Mintages were commonly small by recent standards, adding only 2,895,673 coins for the cycle. The Philadelphia Minted (no mintmark) struck all dates from 1840 to 1865 inclusive; New Orleans (O), struck dollars square 1846, 1850, 1859 and 1860; the San Francisco Mint (S), struck this category money only in 1859. Mintmarks are located under the lime sphere, between the eagle's feet on the rearrange.

Tiny figures of proofs were struck of most early Philadelphia dates, but they are of great shortage. Numbers struck are not known with certainty and are gone from general handbook books. Proofs were first made for public selling in 1858 when perhaps 80 pieces were struck; later resistant mintages never exceeded 1,000 excluding for 1860, when 1,330 pieces were coined. Proof restrikes were made of the 1851 and 1852 coins. The last No Motto meeting was 1865, with 46,500 company strikes and 500 proofs made. Two 1866-dated No Motto coins are known, but these "fantasy pieces" were made somewhat later for auction to wealthy collectors. In recent years, the reality of a sole resilient 1851-O specimen has come to light, however researchers postulate that this was accidentally made by the Philadelphia "Midnight Minters," (possibly engraver George Eckfeldt and his son, Mint night watchman Theodore). In their swiftness clandestinely to sell the popular 1851 arise, they overstruck a vacant New Orleans Mint cash, the crushed 'O' mintmark still being quietly visible.

Seated dollars never circulated to any great point in the East, although facts were in daily use west of the Mississippi. The Civil War advanced restricted their circulation as the numbers of subject strikes and proofs struck contracted sharply. Bullion buyers snapped up most new silver coins for export as firmly as they were made. These coins were shipped overseas for melting, and the only U.S. Mint result most citizens saw were the new figurine cents. Coin collectors derided the Mint as "Uncle Sam's copperhead factory."

These large silver coins had some odd striking characteristics. The actual view of Liberty's lead may basis feeble detail even on perfect specimens. The fluff on the eagle's leg and the claws may also show mark of weak beat. Wear first appears on Liberty's thigh, right breast and the top of her precede. The tops of the eagle's wings chart. Because of their size and mass, uncirculated coins stored in Mint bags will show scattered link symbols. Proofs regularly are hairlined from the careless conduct of early non-numismatic owners or will show evidence of cleaning by old-time collectors.

Seating Liberty dollars have gained popularity with the utter antenna kinship since the 1970's, when the great U.S. Treasury reserve of silver dollars was liquidated, though few of them early type were found. To collectors more easy with Morgan and Peace dollars issued in the tens of millions, these formerly coins may appear scarce and vague, and indeed they are. Only a small marginal of all Seated Liberty dollars struck remain in existence today. Researcher Weimar W. White estimated that just a division continue-even in low grades.

Assembling an extensive date and mint set in reduce circulated grades is within reason, given patience and perseverance. A total set in mint kingdom will be costly, especially for examples of the 1850-O, 1851, 1852 and 1859-S. A complete run of proofs is a theoretically viable goal but one which will be unrealistic for any but the best-financed antenna.

The Seated Liberty series endless from 1866 to 1873 with the transpose motto IN GOD WE TRUST. The coinage acted of Feb. 12, 1873 ended the silver buck and abolished the official tender condition of all silver dollars struck from 1794 to 1873. This is the law later savagely denounced by the vocal partisans of released and unlimited coinage of silver as the "Crime of '73." Legal tender category was restored to the colors silver dollar under the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, which prompted the coining of millions of Morgan Dollars.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 38.1 millimeters Weight: 26.73 grams Composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: .77344 oz untainted silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY Alexander, David T. DeLorey, Thomas K. And Reed, P. Bradley, Coin World Comprehensive Catalog & Encyclopedia of United States Coins, New York, World Almanac-Pharos Books, 1990. Bowers, Q. David, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States, Bowers & Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1993. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971. White, Weimar W. The Liberty Seated Dollar 1840-1873, New York, Sanford J. Durst, 1985.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Eisenhower Dollar 1973 Proof

When the Treasury Department prepare a halt to the paying out of silver dollars in March of 1964, it looked like the closing interval had been written for these historic coins. Surprisingly, Congress voted that same year to coin 45 million additional silver dollars. Coming in the midst of a spartan nationwide coin lack, this seemingly frivolous employment of the Mint's machinery and person power was ended after just 316,076 pieces had been struck, and these coins were never issued. The Coinage Acted of July 23, 1965 included a provision that no rank silver dollars were to be coined for a period of five being. The situation could then be re-evaluated at that time.

As the end of Congress' five-year ban on silver dollars approached, the idea was conceived for a circulating buck coin to credit war hero and two-tenure President Dwight David Eisenhower, who had freshly died. With silver long left from the citizens's dimes and quarters, and with ongoing dispute over its discontinuance in the half cash, there was never any profound consideration of with the precious metal in circulation strikes of the new Eisenhower money. There were those, however, who argued for a silver collectors' style to be sold at a premium over face treasure.

Congressman Bob Casey of Texas introduced a charge into the House on October 29, 1969 work for a circulating commemorative money to reverence both Eisenhower and the Apollo XI liberty flight, mankind's first hall on the moon. More than a year of next wrangling was to track before this statement was lastly official in a modified form. Along the way, the U.S. Mint prepared an alternative reversal propose featuring a heraldic eagle that looked, in the terms of imminent numismatic writer Q. David Bowers, like something one would find on a Mint prototype of the 1870s. Reportedly, one of the two proposed reversal designs (doubtless the Apollo XI image, given its implications for the world's coming) originally featured an eagle whose expression the U.S. State Department feared other nations would translate as hostile. Whether the eagle which ultimately did grow on the coin's reorder is a "open" bird is testing to establish from its neutral expression.

Becoming law on December 31, 1970, the schedule that shaped the Eisenhower cash providing for a circulating coin made from the copper-nickel sandwich or "dressed" composition then being worn for dimes and quarters (and for half dollars start in 1971). It also tolerable the coining of up to 150 million silver-clothed coins for retailing to collectors. These would be coined in the same composition lately worn for halves square 1965-70, two outer layers that were 80% silver and 20% copper bonded to an inside extract that was about 21% silver and 79% copper. This bent a whole mix that was 40% silver, with the equalize being copper. A controversial amendment to this document if a portion of the profits from the vending of these antenna coins would be donated to Eisenhower College, a reserved institution in Seneca Falls, New York which ultimately folded though receiving some $9 million dollars from this spring.

As Mint Director Mary Brooks wanted the coins bent rapidly, there was no time for a shared propose competition. Chief Engraver Franked Gasparro was directed to arrange the models in as little time as vital. Expecting this currency, Gasparro had already begun work; his galvano for the facade bore the year 1970, even though the first Ike dollars were square 1971. His devise portrays on the obverse a bare-headed, left-facing profile bust of the recent leader. Arranging in an arc above him is the legend LIBERTY, while the motto IN GOD WE TRUST appears in two outline below Eisenhower's cheek. The date is at base, with the mintmark (if any) above it and to the right. Gasparro's initials FG are on the truncation of the bust. The problem depicts the American eagle, a lime diverge of stillness in its talons, descending onto the moon. The hazy Earth is in the handle above and to the left. The motto E PLURIBUS UNUM is centered above the eagle, and the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is given in an arc around the high fringe. The price ONE DOLLAR is superimposed on the moon's surface along the lessen border. An arc of small stars surrounds the eagle, Earth and the motto. The initials FG occur below the eagle's tail.

Why the coins were not ready to be issued until November 1, 1971 isn't certain, although it was supposed the abundant tribunal strikes were abandoned because of goal deficiencies. Collectors snapped up a good portion of the dollars free that day and for some months afterward. Still, enough were coined that they ultimately reached the channels of buying. It was only then that the fundamental flaw in Congressional belief was naked: the American open minimally had no desire to use these large and gloomy coins. True, betting casinos welcomed the revenue of truthful cash coins to succeed the cash-sized tokens that had been used since 1965, but even the casinos ultimately hackneyed of these coins. Too often, customers took them home as souvenirs, since they were seldom seen elsewhere and people imagined them to be underdone.

With a dropoff in ultimatum for new Ike dollars, the Mint opted to register only enough of the 1973 magazine to discharge tips for uncirculated coin sets from collectors. This left a net mintage of excluding than 2 million each for the Philadelphia and Denver Mints. From the outset, San Francisco had coined only the unusual aerial coins: the uncirculated copy of the silver-dressed composition (known from it's packaging as the "desolate Ike") and the evidence form of the same coin (known as the "coffee Ike"). Beginning in 1973, it also coined an evidence edition of the copper-nickel coin for inclusion in the expected resistant set.

The residents's impending Bicentennial resulted in a competition for commemorative designs to mercy the reverses of the section, half and dough, respectively. The pleasing point for the buck's undo was submitted by Dennis R. Williams, whose clever theory of the Liberty Bell superimposed on the moon provided a connect between previous and offering (his initials DRW are found to the right of the signal's clapper). The steady buck coinage square 1974 sustained until the middle of 1975, when production of the new Bicentennial designs dated 1776-1976 began. This left no dollar coins dated 1975. The Bicentennial pieces were first released in the plummet of 1975, and their mintage lasting through the following year. Silver-clothed coins were made at San Francisco, besides the circulating version coined at Philadelphia and Denver. The even motif returned in 1977 and 1978, when the Eisenhower series was ended in benefit of the ill-meant Susan B. Anthony "baby dollar." For these two years, however, no Ikes were coined in silver.

There are no bloody dates within the reliable coinage of Eisenhower dollars, although several issues, particularly 1971 and 1972 dollars from the Philadelphia Mint, were poorly made and are stubborn to locate array. Several teenager varieties resulted from refinements to the hubs during the first few years. The Bicentennial coins subsist with both the Variety 1 reverse (broad script) or the Variety 2 (narrow lettering). A small mass of silver-clothed dollars were made at the Denver Mint in mistake and may be found dated 1974-D, 1976-D or 1977-D. Proofs of the Bicentennial dollar were coined in 1974 at the Philadelphia Mint lacking a mintmark, but none are known to survive. A song silvered-dressed resilient of the jiffy category has been documented lacking a mintmark, its place of source strange.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 38.1 millimeters Weight: 24.59 grams (silver-clad) Composition: .800 silver.200 copper bonded to .209 silver.791 copper Net Weight: .3161 ounce complete silver Weight: 22.68 grams (CuNi-clad) Composition: .750 copper.250 nickel bonded to downright copper Edge: Reeded

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bowers, Q. David, Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States, A Complete Encyclopedia, Bowers and Merena, Wolfeboro, NH, 1993. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Wiles, James, Ph.D, CONECA Attribution Guide to Eisenhower Dollar Varieties, CONECA, Fort Worth, TX, 1997. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins, 48th Edition, Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1994.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

1904 Morgan Dollar, Brilliant Uncirculated

Political bulldoze, not civic petition, brought the Morgan cash into being. There was no unfeigned must for a new silver buck in the deceased 1870s; the last before "flip," the Liberty Seated dough, had been legislated out of reality in 1873, and barely anyone missed it.

Silver-mining happiness did neglect the buck, still, and lobbied Congress forcefully for its benefit. The Comstock Lode in Nevada was yielding giant quantities of silver, with ore appraise $36 million being extracted annually. After some futile attempts, the silver forces in Congress-led by Representative Richard ("Silver Dick") Bland of Missouri-finally disarmed authorization for a new silver money when Congress approved the Bland-Allison Act on February 28, 1878. This Acted essential the Treasury to obtain at market levels between two million and four million dollars of silver gold every month to be coined into dollars. This amounted to a small subsidy, arrival when the money's face penalty exceeded its intrinsic regard by only 0.07%.

In November 1877, virtually four months before passage of the Bland-Allison Act, the Treasury saw the handwriting on the roadblock and began making preparations for a new cash coin. Mint Director Henry P. Linderman designed Chief Engraver William Barber and one of his assistants, George T. Morgan, to make prototype dollars, with the best originate to be worn on the new coin. Actually, Linderman permanent this "contest" in Morgan's help; he had been dissatisfied with the work of the two Barbers-William and his son, Charles-and in 1876 had hired Morgan, a talented British engraver, with tactics to delegate him with new coin designs. At that time, resumption of silver dough penny was not yet planned, and Morgan began work on designs planned for the half money. Following Linderman's orders that a move of Liberty should return the thorough-notable depiction then in use, Morgan recruited Philadelphia drill coach Anna Willess Williams to pose for the new point.

Morgan's face features a left-facing portrait of Miss Liberty. The hitch depicts a rather skinny eagle which led some to vilify the coin as a "buzzard buck." The designer's early M appears on both sides-a first. It's on the truncation of Liberty's spit and on the ribbon's left round on the overturn. Mintmarks (O, S, D, and CC) are found below the circlet on the change. Points to confirm for carry on Morgans are the tresses above Liberty's eye and ear, the high upper fold of her cap and the crown of the eagle's breast.

Soon after production began, somebody advised the Mint that the eagle should have seven tail down, instead of the eight being exposed, and Linderman prepared this change. As an outcome, some 1878 Morgan dollars have eight feathers, some seven-and some show seven over eight. The seven-over-eight class is the scarcest, though all are somewhat customary.

More than half a billion Morgan dollars were struck from 1878 through 1904, with production taking place at the chief mint in Philadelphia and the branches in New Orleans, San Francisco and Carson City. Carson City production was normally much minor and defunct all together after that outlet was bunged in 1893. The coin came back for one closing curtain call in 1921, when more than 86 million examples were bent under the language of the Pittman Act at Philadelphia, San Francisco and Denver-but that was a bend-edged sword: Under the 1918 legislation, more than 270 million adult silver dollars, almost all Morgans, had been melted. The law necessary replacements for these, but most were of the Peace shape, which replaced the Morgan edition at the end of 1921.

In all, some 657 million Morgan dollars were formed in 96 different year-and-mint combinations. Hundreds of millions were melted over the time-by the government under the Pittman Act and the Silver Act of 1942, and by exclusive refiners since the delayed 1960s, when rising silver prices made this profitable. Despite all the melting, Americans had more than enough Morgans to pervade their daily wishes, since the dollars circulated often only in the West. As an outcome, colossal stockpiles remained in the Treasury's vaults, as well as reserve vaults nationwide. This explains why, so many Morgan dollars are so well preserved nowadays although their age; few saw actual use.

Even as the numismatic hobby underwent express lump beginning in the 1930s, hobby in other collecting areas far outpaced the mind paid to the large Morgan cartwheels. Most collectors favored the slash face-value coins (with their lower price) that were gladly available in circulation. Although it was viable to order silver dollars through banks or quickly from the Treasury, few noticed or cared. In the behind 1930s, however, some Washington dealers scholarly that the Treasury Department's Cash Room near the White House was paying out uncirculated Carson City money-coins having a market value of $5 or more at the time! More than a few dealers calmly exploited this discovery throughout the 1940s and '50s.

In the early 1960s, with silver rising in price, opportunists recognized the occasion to rotation securely profits by abiding silver certificates for money coins-mostly Morgans-at the Treasury. By the time the government clogged this rewarding glass in 1964, only 2.9 million cartwheels were left in its vaults, almost all of the scarce Carson City Morgans. The General isolated these Services Administration in a sequence of letters-bid sales from 1972 through 1980, earning big profits for the government and triggering great new notice in silver dollars.

Interest in Morgans was auxiliary heightened by the promotion surrounding the 400,000+ dollars found in the basement of Nevada eccentric LaVere Redfield's home. After word leaked out of the amazing store, some dealers got into the act, each jockeying for take in a crawl that ultimately wrecked with a Probate Court mart detained in January of 1976. At that auction, A-Mark Coins of Los Angeles captured the pile with a disarming bid of $7.3 million. The coins were cooperatively marketed by several dealers over a cycle of some days. Rather than depressing prices, the orderly spreading of these coins only fetched more collectors into the Morgan dollar fold. Similarly, the early 1980s witnessed the uniformly successful distribution of the 1.5 million silver dollars in the Continental Bank collect.

The Morgan dollar's scoop is a Cinderella tale: Until the 1960s, it was mostly unnoticed by the civic. Since then, it has gradually become among the most broadly pursued and preferred of all U. S. Coins. Although many collectors find the challenge of assembling an extreme court and mintmark set in Mint State compelling, others gratify themselves with collecting just one coin per year. Exceptional specimens are also wanted after by typeface collectors.

Major keys contain 1895, 1893-S, 1895-O, 1892-S, 1889-CC, 1884-S and 1879-CC. Mint minutes show that 12,000 dealing-smack dollars were made in Philadelphia in 1895, but only proofs are known; the mintage of these is 880. Proofs were made for every year in the series, but only a few brilliant proofs-variously reported at 15 to 24-are known for 1921. Prooflike Morgans also are well valued and are composed in both Prooflike (PL) and Deep-Mirror Prooflike (DPL or DMPL).

Few coins in U.S. account have been greeted with more indifference at the time of their release than this silver dollar. And few, if any, have then departed onto stimulate such passionate excitement among collectors.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 38.1 millimeters Weight: 26.73 grams Composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: .77344 ounce downright silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bowers, Q. David, Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States. A Complete Encyclopedia, Bowers and Merena, Wolfeboro, NH, 1993. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Fey, Dr. Michael S. And Oxman, Jeff, The Top 100 Morgan Dollar Varieties: The VAM Keys, RCI Publishing, Morris Plains, NJ, 1996. Miller, Wayne, The Morgan and Peace Dollar Textbook, Adam Smith Pub. Co., Metairie, LA, 1982. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing Co. Inc., New York, 1966. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins, 47th Edition, Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1993. Van Allen, Leroy C. & Mallis, A. George, Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan & Peace Dollars, 3rd Edition, DLRC Press, Virginia Beach, VA 1991.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.