Heritage Auctions - From The Rev. Dr. James G. K. McClure Collection comes a tremendous condition rarity, an
1895-O silver dollar graded MS65+ by NGC, and given the CAC green seal of approval. This coin will be offered in the June 9 Premier Session of our June 8 - 12 Long Beach Expo
US coins Signature Auction.
More so even than in 1894, silver dollar coinage in 1895 was minimal. Other than 880 proofs that were struck for collectors, no silver dollars were issued from the Philadelphia Mint, and San Francisco and New Orleans produced only 400,000 and 450,000 coins, respectively. Most of the reason for
Morgan dollar coinage in previous years had been congressional legislation that mandated the purchase and coinage of vast amounts of silver bullion. This legislation was in the form of the Bland-Allison Act from 1878 to 1890, and from 1890 to late 1893, it was the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. When the latter legislation was repealed in November 1893, the Mint's silver purchases plummeted, and coinage of
Morgan dollars declined proportionately.
Silver coinage in 1895 was primarily focused on subsidiary denominations, particularly the quarter and half dollar, which experienced commercial demand despite economic erosion following the Panic of 1893. Silver dollars circulated to some extent in the Southern and Western states, but hundreds of millions of unused coins were stored at the mints and at the Treasury Building in Washington D.C. Storage was the fate of most 1895-O Morgans -- which were eventually melted -- although many were paid out into circulation around the time of issue. Worn examples are plentiful today.
In Mint State, the 1895-O is among the rarest issues in the series. Michael Standish, in
Morgan dollar -- America's Love Affair With a Legendary Coin, writes: "the 1895-O is the third-rarest
Morgan dollar in Uncirculated condition. Only Mint State examples of the 1892-S and 1893-S are rarer." The '95-O is significantly rarer than the 1895-S, despite similar mintages. A number of 1,000-coin bags of 1895-S dollars survived the Pittman Act melts of 1918 and were paid out in the '40s and '50s, but no such luck befell the 1895-O. Modern population data seem to support rumors that up to a few hundred 1895-O dollars were released from Treasury vaults in the 1950s, but no bag quantities have ever even been suggested to exist.
Modern auction appearances of this date are few and far between above MS62, and they drop off sharply at the Gem level. Our Auction Archives show only six previous offerings of a Gem-graded 1895-O, including reappearances. The last such offering was a PCGS coin in lot 5210 of our Philadelphia Signature sale (Heritage, 8/2012), which realized $164,500. The McClure example is Plus-graded and CAC-endorsed. This is the first time it is known to have ever been offered at auction. The strike is above-average for the issue, and the surfaces display the characteristic satin luster of 1890s New Orleans dollars. Much of each side displays cream-gold and champagne toning but with crescents of blended multicolor hues along the left-hand peripheries. The preservation is remarkable, as a loupe readily confirms.
The certified population of this key New Orleans issue is extremely small in MS64, and Gems like this are headlining rarities. This is the sole second-finest at NGC, which lists one MS65, this MS65+, and an MS66. PCGS reports six Gems (two in MS65+), an MS66, and an MS67. The chance to acquire any of these rare, Condition Census examples is a lifetime goal for many collectors. But the opportunity to acquire a fresh, never-before-seen representative such as the McClure coin may only occur once in a lifetime.
Posted 06/04/2016 2:49 pm
