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Coin World: 13,000 New Orleans Mint Morgan dollars surface after 55 years
BackroadJunkie
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Well, we'll probably see these on the market soon...
coinworld: 13,000 New Orleans Mint Morgan dollars surface after 55 years
A hoard of 13,000 Morgan dollars from production at the New Orleans Mint has surfaced in the Treasury-sealed canvas bags in which they were secured during the government sales of silver dollars in the early 1960s.
Jeff Garrett from Mid-American Rare Coin Galleries in Lexington, Kentucky, met recently with the octogenarian widow of the late hard money supporter who originally purchased the Morgan dollars from the U.S. government.
766 pounds of Morgans. I'd like to play Scrooge McDuck and go swimming in those... 
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Not me. I'd like to leave the bags right where they are and open them one at a time, and veeeerrry slowly and carefully.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
truly a sight to be had by all. maybe it would be a good thing to put a bag of them aside for the future, fwiw
This happens much more frequently than you might suppose. Mr. Garrett likes the publicity, it helps to sell widgets.
Didn't Mr. Garrett have a similar grouping out of a Wall Street bank/ trust department about this time last year?
I disagree.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
WTG Jeff!
IIRC, a significant part of last year's Garrett Morgan Dollar "discovery" went on to be sold by MCM. MCM and NGC are neighbors.
There are probably many more such hoards out there. Millions and millions of Morgans were released in the 1962-63 period. So far as the coin market is concerned they will just keep getting more and more common.
I'd prefer they stay in the mint bags.
Gonna get me a $50 Octagonal someday. Some. Day.
Make some special hoard label and slab them all. Then they can sell for twice their value. lol Seriously though, that's a load of Morgans.
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
It's not optimal for preservation, and the bags that the coins were placed in back in (say) the 1880s had often been replaced sometime during the 20th Century.
Was it a fellow named Del Romines who always said "Morgan Dollars Ain't Rare!"? He was correct, but coin dealers hated his guts. I might have the first name correct and the last name wrong.
I believe that's what they did MOL with last year's Find (which was 16 bags, IIRC).
I think it's cool that bags of uncirculated coins from the late 19th century are still turning up.
I wonder if collectors will feel the same way about million (billions?) sf Prez and Sac dollars in the mid 22nd century.
No.
I wonder how many are Scarface?
Or Hot Lips.
The removal of the coins from the bag in this and other cases has nothing to do with preservation. It's the maximization of value, which I obviously don't begrudge the owners.
The point is that with each find the number of bags is reduced, and as a collector, not a dealer, I prefer things to be kept in as original a condition as possible. I realize that in some cases, like with double mint sets, the toning will eventually become terminal, but that is one of the reasons for the OSV that ANACS does in encapsulating the sets and the packaging as well.
The point is originality. I would love to own a bag. Not 1000 Morgans or 50 20 coin rolls. Bags, like they've been in for the past 100 years or even the past 50 if the bags are replaced. I collect mint bags and recently purchased a 1960 Philadelphia mint bag still full of BU nickels from the year. This one just happened to be open. But along with GSAs, original bankwrapped rolls, and any other unopened material, it is WHAT I COLLECT.
That's why I said I would prefer them to remain in bags if I were able to purchase them, not as another 13,000 O mint Morgans with some nonsensical label for extra cost.
Dealers and spouses have different priorities than I do, which is fine. But this forum is about the exchange of what we prefer. This example is no different. YMMV.
Gonna get me a $50 Octagonal someday. Some. Day.
Always interesting when finds such as this surface....years ago I purchased unopened GSA Morgans....from a forum member.....Of course, I had to open them....never could stand a mystery, especially when I am in direct control...
Cheers, RickO
Probably should rephrase your post
Most likely none.
The 2013 D Sacajawea dollar has an integer of 1.8 million.. not all of these were made in the billions.
Out of 13,000 all O mints? Come on, I bet there are 2 or 3 of each.
Early American Copper, Bust and Seated.
I know of two people (one a collector and the other not) that are sitting on original full mint bags of Morgans. They will not come to market until the death of the owners....
So, this could be happening more often as time goes along (aren't we all getting old?).
bob
Seems the promotion of these coins is already all set up and immediately underway.
Got an e-mail advert this SAT morning from MCM for an 1888-O Morgan in MS 63 in an NCG slab. Called the 'Great Southern Treasury Hoard' of 13,000 coins. Their price is exactly twice the amount shown for a 63 in the 2020 Red Book. Coin shown in the advert has a dull lustre.
>
In original bags, there will probably either be a relatively large number of them, or none at all. Think about why.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
This morning's issue of Coin World (Page 6 of the 25 November 2019 issue, posted on Saturday 11/09) has a detailed breakdown of the coins and grades received. Over 1,000 coins were going to be 'curated'.
There were no 1883-O, 1884-O or 1885-O silver dollars in this group.
I still need a 93-O, 95-O, and 1903-O. Was hoping the bag contained 13K of those dates.
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
The workers in the basement/vaults at the Treasury Building in Washington D.C. had lists of what dates and mints to look for. They would use cigarettes (very common at work in those days) to burn holes in the bags, just big enough to see the dates and mints. If you wanted a better date bag, 'tips' were required. A few dealers had an inside track based on their friendly relationships with the vault people.
I had an older friend who owned two 'original' bags years ago, and his bags had the cigarette holes.
Coin World says there were only four dates in these 13 bags, including 1888-O and 1902-O.
The coins in these bags were probably from just a few dies. The same can be said for original rolls-I've found multiple examples of doubled dies in those. Since low grade Hot Lip coins are common it's doubtful that any would still be in those bags as the variety circulated to a great extent.
I love the great news that new hoards of Morgans are still being found. Now we just need to find a hoard of new collectors to buy them.
We never hear about bags of copper coins, though. If they even existed they were probably melted down to support our war efforts.
OINK
We never hear about bags of copper coins
you have to think about the face value of the bags. with Dollars and Gold the value is high and they were transferred between banks similar to a wire transfer today. with minor coinage like Cents they were held by banks for commerce until needed.
That's a cool story. Thanks for sharing. I wonder how much the widow gets paid for a bulk purchase such as this. Do they generally agree upon a generic price per coin. For example, at $20 a coin, the hoard pays $260,000 or do you think it is more specific and at a higher price?????? What generic price do you think is reasonable for a hoard such as this which seems to have a lot of mint state coins in it? 20, 30, 40, 50 etc.... You figure the cost of curating, grading, etc. and they are not that rare of dates and I wonder how much the widow really gets from selling a hoard such as this.
perhaps some form of revenue sharing on a percentage basis
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
MCM has one coin listed from this hoard at double MV. Looks to me like they are testing the waters to see what they can sell them for. These days, after the hype comes down, they will realize the hoard is going to sell at normal prices....
I hope the progenitor of the hoard got at least wholesale prices with a fee for grading. Some of the higher grade ones, or varieties might be stronger in price, making the hoard price higher....
Best, SH
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They'll probably be....baggy.
Oh no, the last thing Morgan collectors needs is more 82O's. Imagine finding a Hotlips in 66, I wouldn't be able to contain myself.
I can remember going with my father, when I was a teenager, in the mid-1960's to look at a bag of 1887-O Dollars. The price was $1100. We passed. I do not remember why. Oh the days.
Okay probably true.
Poor graders eyes.