A well worn 1895 Morgan Silver Dollar (King of the Morgans)

WingedLiberty1957

Sorry if someone posted this previously, but I found this remarkable. PCGS tweeted this out recently.

Back in 1895 only 880 Proof Morgan Dollars were minted. So the only way to get an 1895-P Morgan in your collection is to obtain one of the 880 proofs.

Does anyone know the backstory to this coin posted below? I am guessing at some point a collector that ordered this 1895 Proof from the mint must have spent it into circulation or maybe it was spent by one of his kids / heirs. Then it circulated for decades until someone must have found it in their pocket change or roll hunting. Can you imagine finding this? The PCGS price guide lists it at $35,000 in this condition. It's fantastic that nobody ever cleaned or dipped it. And how often do you see a slabbed PR06 ?

cheezhed

Unimaginable actually. Amazing journey and story for that coin.

vulcanize

I think it was featured in the PCGS Calendar for March 2023.

** Edited to add picture

DoubleEagle59

I can only imagine the very wealthy family back in 1895, received or purchased this pristine 1895 proof dollar and one day, the father's eight year old kid went into the old man's chest of drawers and took it to spend at the local five and dime (must have had a whale of a time!!). Passed through the hands of time and eventually wound up entombed in a Good 06 plastic coffin.

WingedLiberty1957

This is the PCGS Population Report for the 1895 Issue. Amazingly a number of the 1895 Proof Issue were spent into circulation! However this PR06 is tied for the lowest grade.

Glen2022

What did the proof $1 cost from the mint in 1895? Just curious.

BuffaloIronTail

Unbelievable. But here it is.

Pete

TomB

I likely have all the details wrong, but doesn't @braddick own a proof Trade dollar in something like PR03?

FlyingAl

It was common practice of the time to release unsold proofs into circulation. It was also practice to do the same with assay coins, after the Assay Commission got first dibs at face value.

It's also possible the coin was simply spent by an heir, as stated.

2windy2fish

West C

West coast coins owns this!
Unbelievably they have an 8 as well!

Higashiyama

I'd like to put a circulated 1895 Morgan in my Dansco album. I'm guessing it would solicit a few double takes.

WingedLiberty1957

@Glen2022 said:
What did the proof $1 cost from the mint in 1895? Just curious.

This excerpt below was gleaned from a number of CUForum members over the years ...

In the earliest days, the 1820s, proof coins were available to the public -- there was little interest, until the mid 1850s. The figures shown in the Red Book indicate the number of proof coins struck and it is safe to assume that the number sold to collectors was pretty close to that figure.

Sets were, on rare occasion, presented to dignitaries but this was the exception and not the rule. You could walk up to a counter at the Philadelphia mint and ask to acquire them. There wasn't much of a premium to boot, usually no more than a few pennies for smaller denominations and a dollar or two for gold.

Proof coins were usually sold in the following groups. The minor coins (cent, nickel and nickel three cent piece if there was one) were sold as the group. The silver coins (half dime, if there was one, dime, quarter, half dollar and silver dollar were another group. And the gold coins were sold as group. Some single coins were sold or given out, but these short sets were more the order of the day. Check out the mintages for Proof Barber coins. You will see the same or virtually the same mintages for the dime quarter and half dollar.

Prior to 1858 proof coins were normally sold individually though sometimes sets were assembled by request. In late 1857 Mint Director James Ross Snowden, realizing the time involved in selling individual coins, ordered that full sets be made available as soon as possible in a given year.

Prior to 1860 all proof coins, and sets, were sold at face value except when a case was involved (the 1840s under Franklin Peale as chief coiner). Beginning in 1860 a premium was charged on all proof coins. For 1860 and 1861 sets or individual coins could be ordered but in 1862 Mint Director Pollock ordered that only complete sets could be sold.

The “Silver” set always contained all of the silver coins plus any minor coins. The “Gold” set contained only gold. Separate minor sets were introduced in 1865 but these coins also remained part of a Silver proof set.

About 1880 the rules were relaxed for the gold sets, allowing either sets or individual coins.

On occasion, esp. when a new design was introduced, as in 1878 for the Morgan dollar or 1864 for the two cent piece, collectors were allowed to purchase individual coins for that new design.

As early as 1860, the Mint had no source vendor of specialized packaging for complete Proof sets. The individual coins would have been wrapped in tissue and placed in a 2 X 2 paper coin envelope, and mailed in a plain brown envelope. This changed in the 1950's when cello sealed proof sets became the norm.

WingedLiberty1957

I think it's interesting that Mint records show around 12,000 business strike 1895 Morgans were struck, However all were believed to have been later melted.

MFeld

@WingedLiberty1957 said:

@Glen2022 said:
What did the proof $1 cost from the mint in 1895? Just curious.

This excerpt below was gleaned from a number of CUForum members over the years ...

In the earliest days, the 1820s, proof coins were available to the public -- there was little interest, until the mid 1850s. The figures shown in the Red Book indicate the number of proof coins struck and it is safe to assume that the number sold to collectors was pretty close to that figure….

How could Proof coins have been made available to the public in the 1820’s, when hardly any were even produced and typically, there weren’t any official mintage figures? Was that, perhaps, a typo?

jmlanzaf

@FlyingAl said:
It was common practice of the time to release unsold proofs into circulation. It was also practice to do the same with assay coins, after the Assay Commission got first dibs at face value.

It's also possible the coin was simply spent by an heir, as stated.

All true. Also possible that the owner carried it as a pocket piece at one point.

jmlanzaf

@MFeld said:

@WingedLiberty1957 said:

@Glen2022 said:
What did the proof $1 cost from the mint in 1895? Just curious.

This excerpt below was gleaned from a number of CUForum members over the years ...

In the earliest days, the 1820s, proof coins were available to the public -- there was little interest, until the mid 1850s. The figures shown in the Red Book indicate the number of proof coins struck and it is safe to assume that the number sold to collectors was pretty close to that figure….

How could Proof coins have been made available to the public in the 1820’s, when hardly any were even produced and typically, there weren’t any official mintage figures? Was that, perhaps, a typo?

Maybe the author just meant that people could buy them at the Mint if they stopped by the old bank back door. To your point, I'm pretty sure there were no public offerings or advertised sales.

MFeld

@jmlanzaf said:

@MFeld said:

@WingedLiberty1957 said:

@Glen2022 said:
What did the proof $1 cost from the mint in 1895? Just curious.

This excerpt below was gleaned from a number of CUForum members over the years ...

In the earliest days, the 1820s, proof coins were available to the public -- there was little interest, until the mid 1850s. The figures shown in the Red Book indicate the number of proof coins struck and it is safe to assume that the number sold to collectors was pretty close to that figure….

How could Proof coins have been made available to the public in the 1820’s, when hardly any were even produced and typically, there weren’t any official mintage figures? Was that, perhaps, a typo?

Maybe the author just meant that people could buy them at the Mint if they stopped by the old bank back door. To your point, I'm pretty sure there were no public offerings or advertised sales.

Even that scenario sounds very far-fetched at that time, other than perhaps for a very small group of individuals. And that still wouldn't qualify as "the public".

Che_Grapes

That’s a nice coin but I’d rather have one of these 21 or 22 proof peace dollars that somehow have turned up in gem condition over the last two decades - some crazy stories about these coins

ricko

Would be nice to find one of these at a random show or yard sale of great grandpa's stuff in the attic.... Cheers, RickO

FlyingAl

@MFeld said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@MFeld said:

@WingedLiberty1957 said:

@Glen2022 said:
What did the proof $1 cost from the mint in 1895? Just curious.

This excerpt below was gleaned from a number of CUForum members over the years ...

In the earliest days, the 1820s, proof coins were available to the public -- there was little interest, until the mid 1850s. The figures shown in the Red Book indicate the number of proof coins struck and it is safe to assume that the number sold to collectors was pretty close to that figure….

How could Proof coins have been made available to the public in the 1820’s, when hardly any were even produced and typically, there weren’t any official mintage figures? Was that, perhaps, a typo?

Maybe the author just meant that people could buy them at the Mint if they stopped by the old bank back door. To your point, I'm pretty sure there were no public offerings or advertised sales.

Even that scenario sounds very far-fetched at that time, other than perhaps for a very small group of individuals. And that still wouldn't qualify as "the public".

@MFeld

As far fetched as it may seem, visitors to the mint could request to buy proof coins if they were on hand. They were also available by request if someone sent a letter to the mint.

So if I lived in the mid 1800s and wanted a proof cent, I could visit the mint and ask for one, or I could write to the director and ask for one. Both instances are documented in mint records (particularly the letters).

BillJones

This coin may also have been spent during the Great Depression. Years ago a then well-known dealer, Robert Batchler, had a 1904 Proof set that was missing the dollar. He told me that the coin had been taken out of the set and spent in the 1930s.

To have been worn like this, this coin had to have been carried as a pocket piece. It's hard to believe that it saw that much circulation. Silver dollars circulated mostly in the western states.

MFeld

@FlyingAl said:

@MFeld said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@MFeld said:

@WingedLiberty1957 said:

@Glen2022 said:
What did the proof $1 cost from the mint in 1895? Just curious.

This excerpt below was gleaned from a number of CUForum members over the years ...

In the earliest days, the 1820s, proof coins were available to the public -- there was little interest, until the mid 1850s. The figures shown in the Red Book indicate the number of proof coins struck and it is safe to assume that the number sold to collectors was pretty close to that figure….

How could Proof coins have been made available to the public in the 1820’s, when hardly any were even produced and typically, there weren’t any official mintage figures? Was that, perhaps, a typo?

Maybe the author just meant that people could buy them at the Mint if they stopped by the old bank back door. To your point, I'm pretty sure there were no public offerings or advertised sales.

Even that scenario sounds very far-fetched at that time, other than perhaps for a very small group of individuals. And that still wouldn't qualify as "the public".

@MFeld

As far fetched as it may seem, visitors to the mint could request to buy proof coins if they were on hand. They were also available by request if someone sent a letter to the mint.

So if I lived in the mid 1800s and wanted a proof cent, I could visit the mint and ask for one, or I could write to the director and ask for one. Both instances are documented in mint records (particularly the letters).

@FlyingAl , you're talking about the mid-1850's. The time period I questioned was the 1820's, when very small numbers of Proofs, if any, were produced in a given year. I don't think you can apply what occurred in the 1850's to that in the 1820's.

brokecollector

I have had this coin for close to 20 years. For years it was the only PF6 graded. I wanted to complete my Morgan set and this was the most affordable for me. There was some appeal in that it was the lowest graded Morgan proof dollar.

I remember reading an article on this coin in Coin World, when it was discovered.

alefzero

@BillJones said:
This coin may also have been spent during the Great Depression. Years ago a then well-known dealer, Robert Batchler, had a 1904 Proof set that was missing the dollar. He told me that the coin had been taken out of the set and spent in the 1930s.

To have been worn like this, this coin had to have been carried as a pocket piece. It's hard to believe that it saw that much circulation. Silver dollars circulated mostly in the western states.

This is why we have so many 1900 Lafayette dollars that are well circulated, even though they were sold by the Mint at what was then considered an outrageous premium. You dipped into the coffee can under the sink and the cigar box in the dresser when it got very tight during the Depression.

ColoradoCoinGuy

That looks like a coin we were given in the Advanced Grading Class last year at Summer Seminar. Definately the same grade we saw. That is one of the cool things about that class, some of the coins you get to grade are super rare or rarely seen.