Silver Dollars

Auction Preview — Smithsonian Benefit:
1895 Morgan Dollar

1895 Morgan Dollar Highlights Heritage's Smithsonian Benefit Auction At F.U.N.

Among Proof Morgan Dollars, the 1895 is the date with the most cachet, and more than a century of numismatic scholarship has justified its position as the "King of the Morgan Dollars."

An 1895 Morgan Dollar, graded PR66 Deep Cameo by PCGS, is among the coins donated to the Heritage Smithsonian Benefit Auction, scheduled for Jan. 4-7, 2012, during the Florida United Numismatists convention in Orlando, Fla. Funds from the auction will be used to create an endowment fund for the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

Silver Dollars

The auction, featuring coins and pieces of currency donated by collectors nationwide, has no seller's fees and no buyer's premiums. "Heritage is donating all of our normal fees and services so that 100 percent of all donations of cash or 100 percent of donations of material to the auction will directly benefit the endowment," says Heritage Auctions President Greg Rohan.

The 1895 Morgan Dollar donated to the benefit auction is the key to the Morgan Dollar series. Even though there was a recorded mintage of 12,000 strikes struck for circulation, none has survived, says Heritage's chief coin cataloger Mark Van Winkle.

"Apparently, this mintage is either a Mint ledger mis-entry, or the entire mintage — twelve 1,000 coin bags — were melted under authority of the Pittman Act of 1918," Van Winkle says. "As a result, the only 1895 Philadelphia dollars available to collectors are the proofs, and only 880 of those were produced. This is a high-grade example that also displays the desirable white-on-black cameo contrast between the frosted devices and mirrored fields."

Event
Heritage Smithsonian Benefit Auction #1135 is scheduled for the Florida United Numismatists convention, Jan. 4-7, 2012, in Orlando, Fla. For information, call 800-872-6467, ext. 1000 (coins) or ext. 1001 (currency).

1895 $1 Morgan graded PR66 Deep Cameo by PCGS
Estimate: $110,000-$120,000

Photos and article courtesy of www.heritageauctions.com

Morgan Dollars from JohnFranklin.com Morgan Silver Dollars are the most collected US coin. Here are a few interesting facts about this coin made from 1878 to 1921 (with a suspension of minting between 1904 and 1921).