1893-S Morgan Silver Dollar. MS-62 (NGC).

Mint State 1893-S Silver Dollar Rarest Unequivocal Circulation Strike Issue in the Morgan Series 1893-S Morgan Silver Dollar. MS-62 (NGC). Needing no introduction, even among more casual collectors, the 1893-S is the lowest mintage and, in terms of total number of coins extant, also the rarest unequivocal circulation strike Morgan silver dollar. A number of factors explain the sharp reduction in silver dollar production at all U.S. coinage facilities in 1893. The most significant is the onset of a serious economic depression that would eventually be known as the Panic of 1893. This downturn would help keep yearly silver dollar mintages depressed through 1895. In 1893 the San Francisco Mint struck only 100,000 circulation strike Morgan silver dollars. The existence of several thousand worn survivors points to distribution into commercial channels for the 1893-S issue. Although traditional numismatic wisdom states that these coins entered circulation during the final years of the 19th century, the economic situation at that time, combined with the fact that most such examples grade Fine or Very Fine, argues for a later distribution. Q. David Bowers (1993) surmises that most examples may have circulated beginning in the mid 1920s, this theory based in part on a report from numismatist E.S. Thresher in 1925 which told of his inability to find an 1893-S in circulation despite searching since 1919. Regardless of when they entered circulation, many 1893-S dollars found their way back into government storage at some point, for as late as the 1950s and early 1960s mixed bags of circulated dollars released from Treasury Department stocks were apt to contain a few worn examples of the 1893-S. Today, circulated coins are all that keep the 1893-S from being a virtually noncollectible issue. In fact, Bowers states that the 1893-S is the rarest silver dollar of this design type in worn condition after only the 1885-CC, 1903-O and 1898-O, all of which are far more common than the 1893-S in Mint State. In Mint State the 1893-S is the rarest Morgan silver dollar, eclipsing even the famous 1892-S. Bowers states, "I have never personally seen a quantity of Mint State 1893-S dollars," and the author is silent on the subject of significant releases from government vaults as there were no such releases of 1893-S dollars. Given the great rarity of this issue in Mint State, it is easy to conclude that tens of thousands of examples - likely more than half of the mintage - was destroyed through melting under provision of the Pittman Act in 1918. "Significant" finds for Mint State 1893-S dollars that Bowers has been able to confirm are confined to 20 examples included in a bag of 1894-S dollars that surfaced in Great Falls, Montana in the early 1950s, and a single (!) BU roll handled by Aaron Stollman in the early 1970s (as reported to Maurice Rosen). Wayne Miller (1982) credits the Great Falls, Montana find with many of the Mint State coins on the market in the early 1980s, noting further that those coins had been "dispersed over a twenty year period, one or two at a time." The tremendous increase in price experienced by the 1893-S in Mint State from 1972 to 1980 brought no more than a dozen or so coins into the market. Miller also stated, "most of the mint state 1893-S dollars which have appeared in the past five years [leading up to 1982] have been unappealing specimens." There were exceptions, however, and Miller discusses at length the four finest examples of the 1893-S known to him when his Morgan and Peace Dollar Textbook was published in 1982. These were the Paramount Coin Corporation specimen acquired at the November 1973 Grand Central Show in New York, the coin sold to a New York collector by Colonial Coins, an example acquired by John Love and Joel Rettew at a Chicago coin show in 1974, and the Amon G. Carter, Jr. specimen obtained from famous Fort Worth, Texas dealer B. Max Mehl's Golden Jubilee Sale in 1950. One of only two Morgan dollar issues included in 100 Greatest U.S. Coins (Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth, 2019 edition), in which it is ranked #42, the 1893-S is a landmark rarity. Mint State examples at all levels are eagerly sought and have long featured as highlights in renowned Morgan dollar collections and major numismatic auction sales. That offered here is somewhat subdued beneath dusky, mottled sandy-silver and steel-blue patina to help explain the BU grade from NGC, but it is impressively well struck with razor sharp detail throughout the design. A significant coin that will surely be treasured by its next owner for years to come. Provenance: Property from an Alabama Family. NGC Census: 8; 15 finer (MS-66 finest). PCGS# 7226. NGC ID: 255U. Click here for certification details from NGC.

Utropspris:SEK 9.93

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