1893-S $1 MS PL

Key to Collecting: The 1893-S is the object of great desire in the Morgan dollar series. No single issue has greater popularity across the board. The majority of known pieces, into the thousands, are in the single grade category of Very Fine. Not G or VG, not EF or AU, but VF. Most such pieces circulated in the American West, and for an appropriate but apparently restricted time, to bring them to this grade. Mint State coins exist. However, among the great Treasury release coins of 1962 through 1964, no bag or even small group was found, although many stray pieces were identified, nearly all in the aforementioned VF grade. Many fake 1893-S dollars exist. Absolutely and positively do not buy any “1893-S” dollar that has not been certified by a leading service, and avoid like the plague offerings of uncertified coins “from an old estate” or “from my grandfather’s collection” offered on the Internet. While few will be able to afford a Mint State 1893-S, enough attractive VF coins exist that out there somewhere is one just right for you.

Surface Quality: Usually seen well struck, and even worn pieces are apt to have good detail. The luster is usually deep and rich on Mint State specimens, when they can be found. Prooflikes are in the minority.

Prooflike Coins: About half of the known Mint State coins have a degree of prooflike character.

Mintage and Distribution: Delivery figures by month: January, 100,000; February– December, 0. Tens of thousands of 1893-S dollars went into circulation. However, those of 1893-S are almost all VF. A strong clue is provided by the experience of dollar specialist E.S. Thresher, who in The Numismatist, July 1925, said that despite years of looking, he had not found an 1893-S. I can envision a scenario in which, sometime after 1925, tens of thousands were turned loose in circulation in the Rocky Mountain states, routinely used, and not numismatically noticed. This would neatly explain the VF concentration. Apart from 20 Mint State coins said to have been found in a bag in Great Falls, Montana, and reported by Wayne Miller, I do not know of any group of high-grade coins found in the 1950’s or later. However, Walter Breen reported that Harry Warner, once active in the bulk sale of silver dollars, had handled a full bag. If so, then we may all be surprised and delighted someday if these appear (for the present the availability estimates in this book do not consider these).

There is just one die pair known, distinguished by having a very tiny raised diagonal die line on the crossbar of the T of LIBERTY.