1894-S $1 MS DMPL

Key to Collecting: The 1894-S dollar is a numismatic delight. Most are well struck, lustrous, and pleasing to the eye. In MS-63 and MS-64 grades, examples will fit well into a high-quality collection. MS-65 coins are diffcult to find and justifiably more expensive.

Surface Quality: The 1894-S is usually seen well struck, the only date and mint of this year for which this can be said. Typically with excellent luster. Some have distracting die-polishing lines in the field, consisting of minute raised lines that to the uninitiated can make a coin appear as if it has been cleaned.

Prooflike Coins: Prooflike pieces are scarce, but the VAM notes that they are more available than the other prooflike issues of the year span 1893 to 1895.

Mintage and Distribution: Delivery figures by month: January–June, 0; July, 160,000; August, 300,000; September, 300,000; October, 250,000; November, 150,000; December, 100,000. Bags of 1894-S dollars were paid out in the 1950’s, the source being the usual: vaults at the San Francisco Mint. Several bags came out in Deer Lodge, Montana, one of which was not “pure” and had just 980 coins, the balance being twenty 1893-S dollars! Bags of 1894-S dollars continued to be available at face value in the 1950’s, but demand was low. By the time of the 1962 through 1964 Treasury bonanza, it seems that all bags were gone.

Although 18 obverses and 13 reverses were furnished for the 1894-S coinage, it is likely that not all were used, for less than half that number of combinations can be identified today. Varieties are not significant and are mainly with regard to minor differences in date or mintmark position.