Coin Collecting

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

• Coin Collecting 101 Coin collecting is an industry that has grown to encompass billions of dollars in sales. The earliest hobby of coin collecting is capable of being traced as far back as 1300 AD, which is when an Italian scholar known by the name of Fracesco Petrarca began to save coins and......
• Wheat Penny Money -> Small-Cents -> Lincoln-Wheat-1909-1958 Probably one of the easiest coins to acquire for a coin collection is the wheat penny. This coin was a United States penny minted from 1909 to 1958. The coin goes by many names, including the Lincoln Wheat Cent and Wheatie, and was worth 1......
• 1971 Canadian Fifty-Cent Piece Money -> Coins-Canada -> Fifty-Cents If you're a coin collector, specifically a Canadian coin collector, you might enjoy looking for a 1971 Canadian fifty cent piece to add to your collection. The trick to this is finding the right fifty cent piece to know whether the coin is worth merely......
• Collecting Coins of the World Start with your pocket change Start out by studying coins you pull from your pockets, or failing that, some old coins from your attic, on your floor, or out in public. As a novice coin collector, it makes no sense to spend a lot of your money on coins if......
• World Coins Money -> Coins: World Collecting world coins is a rewarding and fascinating hobby. The first official coins were struck around the 6th century BC in Lydia, though metals used as a type of currency far pre-dates that, to Mesopotamia somewhere between 1500 and 2000 BC. Ancient coinage is fascinating, with......

• Big 12 Football Notes From Week 5 North Kansas----The 4-0 start is only the second for Kansas since the 1995 season, though the 2007 squad also accomplished the feat while starting 11-0 and climbing to No. 2 in the polls. The 4-0 start is the eighth in Kansas history. The Jayhawks have won six straight. Missouri---Senior WR......
• 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......
• Finally, a market for the new dollar coins One of my colleagues at work asked if he could buy one of the Presidential $1 coins off of me. His daughter lost a tooth, and she had requested that he ask the Tooth Fairy for "one of the new gold dollars." My colleague, not 100% sure he could get......
• How the US Dollar Index shows the strength of the dollar A friend at work has mentioned the US Dollar Index a few times in conversation -- mainly with reference to how low it is getting recently. Within the past two months it's touched below 71, which is as low as it's been since its inception in March 1973. What does......
• When Is A Silver Dollar Worth $2.3 Million? Last week, an 1804 Adams-Carter Silver dollar sold at auction for a whopping $2.3 million.  That's a pretty good amount for  1 ounce of silver worth about $12! There are only 15 such coins known to exist and they're quite popular. The buyer was New Jersey dealer John Albanese, who......

• 1885-93 Morgan 1878-1921 Dollars Coins US Coins Paper Money
• Early Dollars 1794-1804 Dollars Coins US Coins Paper Money
• Presidential 2007-Now Dollars Coins US Coins Paper Money
• Silver Eagle Proof 1986-Now Dollars Coins US Coins Paper Money
• 2007 Presidential 2007-Now Dollars Coins US Coins Paper Money