1884-O $1 MS DMPL

Key to Collecting: The 1884-O was minted in quantity, and examples are readily available today in all Mint State grades from MS-60 to 65 and beyond. Wayne Miller considered the 1884-O to be the most common Mint State Morgan dollar except for 1921, if all Mint State levels are considered.39

Surface Quality: Striking ranges from poor (no hair detail above Liberty’s ear, little definition of breast feathers on the eagle) to very sharp, but is typically average or a bit above. Cherrypicking is advised. The luster ranges from grainy or insipid to frosty, but generally will not win any awards.

Prooflike Coins: There are many prooflike coins in existence, one-sided as well as two-sided examples. However, most show little contrast and are the antithesis of cameo, and most are heavily bagmarked.

Mintage and Distribution: Logically, the work of turning out 9,730,000 coins was spread over the year. Although many were paid out and used in circulation in the nineteenth century, as evidenced by the plenitude of worn pieces in existence today, and although many were melted under the provisions of the 1918 Pittman Act, large quantities remained in storage. In 1933 and 1934, and again in 1938, multiple bags were turned loose by the Treasury Department. In November 1962 and for a short time afterward many bags were released from a Philadelphia Mint vault sealed in 1929, exhausting the supply. It is believed that the bulk of about 10,000,000 coins from that vault were 1883-O, 1884-O, and 1885-O.

About three dozen different die varieties are known from as many as 40 die pairs used, none of which is dramatic enough to be listed in the Red Book, although the specialist can find many of interest. On most the O mintmark is elliptical and heavy, although small, with a narrow vertical opening at the center. However, VAM-2 has a round O mintmark, with a narrow slit. VAM-6 with repunched mintmark is the only listing in The Top 100 Morgan Dollar Varieties. Breen (Encyclope-dia, 1988) gives Breen-5577 (“oval” O) and Breen-5578 (round O), noting the latter forms a minority among known 1884-O dollars.

In 1884 the change was made from an elliptical O mintmark, in use since 1879, to the new round O, continued in use through 1904.