Thoughts on a 1890 Morgan?

[Bruceswar]

I have been looking at the prices for 1890 Morgan Dollars, and I am a bit shocked at the high prices for MS65 coins. I understand that the pop between both NGC and PCGS is 11, which makes it a rare coin in its own right. Can anybody explain why this is so? Was this just a bad year for the mint? Whats the story on these coins? I am hoping some Morgan collectors can shed some light on this issue.

[SuperDave]

Almost 17 million 1890P's were minted, which makes it hardly uncommon by that estimate. In fact, that year saw the highest total mintage of Morgans of any pre-1921 issue, since the western mints had their appropriations increased starting in 1890. I think that the cause for the huge mintage was the Sherman Act's basically forcing the Treasury to buy 4.5 million ounces of silver for mintage each month until July 1891. That caused a huge surplus of dollars, which is why so few were minted through the mid-1890's.

 

But then came the Pittman Act. 270,000,000 Morgan Dollars (half the total mintage of all years combined) were melted and sold as bullion, much of it from government stores of silver dollars which never made it into circulation. No record was kept of what was melted, or what had been hoarded. However, I suspect that much of 1890 was lost in the melt.

 

That's why they're a conditional rarity.

 

One other thought - nobody is *absolutely sure* that the 1895P Morgans were melted.

[Bruceswar]

Thanks for the great information. I never knew that they had melted any.

[EZ_E]

Almost 17 million 1890P's were minted, which makes it hardly uncommon by that estimate. In fact, that year saw the highest total mintage of Morgans of any pre-1921 issue, since the western mints had their appropriations increased starting in 1890. I think that the cause for the huge mintage was the Sherman Act's basically forcing the Treasury to buy 4.5 million ounces of silver for mintage each month until July 1891. That caused a huge surplus of dollars, which is why so few were minted through the mid-1890's.

 

But then came the Pittman Act. 270,000,000 Morgan Dollars (half the total mintage of all years combined) were melted and sold as bullion, much of it from government stores of silver dollars which never made it into circulation. No record was kept of what was melted, or what had been hoarded. However, I suspect that much of 1890 was lost in the melt.

 

That's why they're a conditional rarity.

 

One other thought - nobody is *absolutely sure* that the 1895P Morgans were melted.

 

 

Outstanding post! Thanks for the info.

[HaydenTubbs]

Interesting read

[MAULEMALL]

Buy them raw

[MAULEMALL]

The rev.