History of the Morgan Dollar

aus3000tin

Can someone enlighten me on why no Morgan Dollars were minted between 1903 and 1921?

Thanks,

Chris

newbiecollector

Here is a quick goggle link that I think will answer your question.
Morgan History

Arizonadesertrat

Not many of them actually were in circulation---most just sat, in heavy bags, in bank vaults. The public presumed that silver and gold dollars were needed to back paper currency, but mostly these coins were minted in response to pressure from western mining interests. The mint was directed by congress to purchase a large stock of silver in 1890 and use it to produce coins, especially dollars. This stock wasn't used up until 1904. Some people speculated that the Morgan dollar series would end with the 1904 coins. Hundreds of millions of silver dollars and minors were melted in 1918-1920 (much of this would end up as bullion that was sold to Great Britain). In 1921, he mint resumed production of Morgan dollars because there weren't enough to back silver certificates. Mint personnel certainly realized that the 1921 Morgans wouldn't widely circulate, and did not go to great lengths to produce high-quality coins.

GoldenEyeNumismatics

Short 'n' sweet:

Silver mining in the US had slowed, and the Treasury was having trouble meeting the mandated silver purchases required by the Bland Allison Act.

To say that the US already had enough of them sitting in vaults, and that's why they stopped, would be incorrect. It was those vaulted coins that backed up silver certificates, which were becoming more and more popular.

GoldenEyeNumismatics

<< <i> mostly these coins were minted in response to pressure from western mining interests. >>



There was also a lot of pressure from the "Silverites," people who believed silver would help increase the rate of inflation and allow eople to pay off their debts quicker (later to become the populist party).



<< <i> The mint was directed by congress to purchase a large stock of silver in 1890 and use it to produce coins, especially dollars. This stock wasn't used up until 1904. >>



Incorrect. The Sherman Act was passed in 1890, which stated the Treasury had to purchase roughly 4.5 million ounces of silver monthly, most of which was coined into silver dollars. However, there was never a single "large stock of silver" that the Treasury purchased. Instead, the Treasury bought silver every month. When the Sherman Act was repealed in 1893, the required amount of silver to be purchased monthly by the Treasury fell back to what was mandated by the Bland-Allison Act, which was $2-$4 million worth monthly. Eventually, mining slowed so much that there really wasn't enough domestic silver to even fulfill that requirement, resulting in the halt in Silver DOllar coinage in 1904.

Arizonadesertrat

Ah, the foibles of an imperfect memory. I stand corrected.

Zoins

<< <i>To say that the US already had enough of them sitting in vaults, and that's why they stopped, would be incorrect. It was those vaulted coins that backed up silver certificates, which were becoming more and more popular. >>

Were the vast majority of Morgan Dollars made as a result of needing something to do with the silver the Treasury was supposed to buy or to back up silver certificates? Online articles about the Morgan Dollar typically say that the Treasury was required to buy large quantities of silver and decided to make silver dollars out of them by choice, not out of some external requirement. Do we have any Mint records that say they coined the silver they were required to buy in order to back silver certificates? Also, do we know the dollar value of the silver certificates in circulation during those years?

Arizonadesertrat

Also, was the ratio of total silver certificate dollar value to silver dollars in the treasury constant over the years?

GoldenEyeNumismatics

<< <i>

<< <i>To say that the US already had enough of them sitting in vaults, and that's why they stopped, would be incorrect. It was those vaulted coins that backed up silver certificates, which were becoming more and more popular. >>

Were the vast majority of Morgan Dollars made as a result of needing something to do with the silver the Treasury was supposed to buy or to back up silver certificates? Online articles about the Morgan Dollar typically say that the Treasury was required to buy large quantities of silver and decided to make silver dollars out of them by choice, not out of some external requirement. Do we have any Mint records that say they coined the silver they were required to buy in order to back silver certificates? Also, do we know the dollar value of the silver certificates in circulation during those years? >>

I'm pretty sure that the Bland Allison Act required that the $2-$4 million in silver it required be purchased monthly was for the express purpose of minting silver dollars. Under the Sherman Act of 1890, only $2 million woth had to be minted monthly out of the 4.5 million ounces it required be purchased each month.

GoldenEyeNumismatics

<< <i>Also, was the ratio of total silver certificate dollar value to silver dollars in the treasury constant over the years? >>



I'm not sure if the Treasury ever had a surplus, but in order to issue a silver certificate, there HAD to be a dolla rwoth of silver sitting in a vault somewhere that the Treasury could pay out. This meant that, at it's highest, the ration of silver dollars/coins to silver certificates would be 1:1

Zoins

The following is from Wikipedia and based on my reading of what is there.

The Bland-Allison Act of 1878 seems like it required the Treasury to purchase $2-$4 million in silver bullion each month at market prices and they were required to coin the silver at a 16:1 ratio to gold. Wikipedia also says that the Teasury never purchased more than the minimum and never circulated the coins. This could mean that the silver dollars were not needed for circulation but made as a way to give money to silver mining interests. Did this Act mention silver certificates at all?

The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 replaced the Bland-Allison Act. This added an additional $4.5 million of silver to the required amount the Bland-Allison Act allowed. This act required the Treasury to buy silver with notes that could be redeemed for silver or gold. Many of the notes were redeemed for gold instead of silver, depleting US gold reserves. After the Panic of 1893, President Cleveland repealed the act to stop the depletion of gold.

The backing of silver certificates was not listed as a reason for either act. Is there better information elsewhere? While the Sherman Act required the purchase of silver in Treasury silver/gold certificates but it seems like most people redeemed them for gold, not silver and that the notes were backed with either. Another angle is that it has been mentioned that silver certificates could have been redeemed for "one dollar in silver" as well as "one silver dollar" meaning you could get two silver half dollars for your $1 silver cert. The text on the notes changed at some point but was there ever a point when a silver certificate required you to get silver as one silver dollar coin instead of one dollar in silver coins?

Most articles seem to say the large number of Morgan dollars created was a political boondoggle, not to mint coins required for commerce either directly or through the support of silver certs. If this is incorrect, it would be good to know how many silver notes actually circulated (not ones that could be backed by silver or gold), whether they could be backed by silver coins other than dollars, did the Acts require the issuance of silver certificates to match the amount of silver purchased? It seems like most people wanted gold for their Treasury notes and most of the silver never circulated. It would also be good to know how much of the Morgan mintages were needed to support circulating silver certificates, if any.