Coins & Paper Money -> Coins: US -> Dollars
An 1896 silver dollar is one of the Morgan dollars that were minted from 1868 to 1904, and then later again in 1921. The image on these coins was designed by George T. Morgan, and while his dollar is a collector favorite today, easily found in online auctions, they were virtually ignored when they were created.
By 1873, the American collar coin was discontinued. Paper money was favored over coins. So when the large, Morgan dollar came onto the scene in 1878, few people were interested in using them. After the Comstock lode was discovered in Nevada, America’s richest silver strike to date, it was necessary to use that silver to keep Nevada’s economy from collapsing. Pressure was put on the government to make a silver dollar, so the US Treasury, despite the veto by President Rutherford B. Hayes, purchased a few million dollars worth of the silver for coinmaking. Some of that silver was used in the 1896 silver dollars, as well as other dollars from that era.
Morgan, a native of England, was brought over to be an engraver for the director of the Philadelphia Mint. Morgan’s design competed with the design by the normal designer and Chief Engraver, William Barger. Morgan’s coin was chosen, with its head of Lady Liberty on the front and a small eagle on the back. Soon after, Morgan became Chief Engraver and remained there for over 40 years, then became Chief Engraver for the United States Mint in his 70s. The 1896 silver dollar as well as all Morgan dollars produced, bear the distinction of being the only American coin Morgan ever designed.
Less than two weeks after Congress authorized the minting, the first Morgan dollars were struck, on March 11, 1878. Philadelphia produced most of the Morgan dollars, but a small mint in Carson City near the silver Comstock lode produced some dollars of that era. Though that mint closed in 1893, after the mine was essentially emptied of silver. The 1896 silver dollars was one of the 500 million Morgan dollars minted between 1878 and 1904. Despite their numbers, the coins weren’t popular with consumers. There were many used coins, in fact, that in 1918, over 270 million were melted to provide Great Britain with silver during the war. Morgan dollars were produced again in 1921, to the tune of 86 million, but stopped the following year so that the Peace dollar, which became popular, could be produced to commemorate the end of World War I.
Millions more Morgan dollars, including the 1896 silver dollar, were melted down for their silver content in the following years. In fact, it wasn’t until 1972, when the General Services Administration auctioned 2.9 million Morgan dollars, the rare ones produced by the Carson City mint that closed in 1893, that the Morgan dollar interested collectors at all. Then LaVere Redfield, a stock investor who had hoarded 400 bags of Morgan dollars, died in 1974 and his 11 tons of Morgan dollars were auctioned for $7.3 million dollars, giving the Morgan dollar real status in the coin world.
Originally posted 2008-10-14 14:00:58. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Related Posts -
Liberty Head Silver Dollars money -> Coins-US -> Dollars Liberty Head silver dollars have been referred to in many different ways over the years. First they were called Buzzard Dollars, because no one really liked the original design of the rather scrawny eagle on the back. The large, heavy coins were also referred...... -
Gold Eagle Coins Coins & Paper Money -> Gold -> American Eagle Gold Eagle coins are American currency, first released in 1986, that contains the stated amount of actual gold weight claimed in troy ounces, with a silver and copper alloy added to make the coins less soft and more wear resistant. The...... -
United States Commemorative Coins The United States Mint gains authorization from the United States Congress to produce what are known as commemorative coins, which are produced rather regularly throughout the years for a myriad of different purposes. These coins are produced to commemorate, to celebrate or to honor people, events, places and institutions for...... -
Introduction to Rare Coin Collecting Coin dealers, just like any other type of dealer or business, requires stock that they can sell to the public. Rather than obtaining or acquiring their stock from a factory or manufacturer however, they obtain their coins from the public instead. Classic types of rare coins have to be acquired...... -
Beginning Coin Collecting If there are people in your life who you think would enjoy beginning coin collecting, then there are some great resources that can help. Many websites assist parents and friends of those who are interested in beginning coin collecting to learn the basics about coins and what's available. Once a......
Related Websites -
Ponzi Scheme: Bernie Madoff and the $50 Billion Hoopla You're Hearing About The biggest non-news item to break last week was this Bernie Madoff fellow and his billion dollar Ponzi Scheme. I say it's non-news because the people that lost money here are admitting they didn't really know how the guy was able to consistently make money. If you invest in something...... - Useless post of the day about rich people not paying for things. Seems Paris Hilton "ditch and dines" like other people do...the difference here is that she is worth a gazillion dollars..and I wasn't in college when I knew "some people" that did it once or twice: Paris Hilton skips lunch bill in Sydney The staff at Sloanes Cafe in the trendy......
- Your Tax Dollars At Work - More Pork, Less Bridges. Flipping through Sunday's newspaper I came across a little blurb about how some of our tax dollars are being spent. While there had been some big talk lately in Congress about stopping the funding of "pork" projects in order to fix our nation's infrastructure due to the bridge collapse in......
-
New Million Dollar Coin In part as a marketing exercise, The Royal Canadian Mint has produced a $1 million face value coin containing 100kg of .99999 pure gold. With gold currently trading at $660 per ounce and each kilogram containing 31.1 ounces, the actual cost of the gold in the coin is worth...... - How To Reduce A Trillion Dollar Deficit Stanford professor John Taylor had an alarming op-ed piece in the Financial Times on the Trillion Dollar deficits "I believe the risk posed by this debt is systemic and could do more damage to the economy than the recent financial crisis. To understand the size of the risk, take a......
