1903-O $1 MS PL

Key to Collecting: The 1903-O is one of my favorite coins in all of American numismatics. In one book, More Adventures With Rare Coins, I devoted a chapter to it. In brief, by 1962 the 1903-O was viewed as being the great rarity among Mint State Morgan dollars, valued at 10 times the price of an 1889-CC. No matter; even at the $1,500 listing none were available. In my nearly decade of dealing in coins by that time I had never owned one! Then in November 1962 a storage vault in the Philadelphia Mint, sealed since 1929, was opened to gain access to some dollars for holiday distribution. They turned out to be mint-fresh 1903-Os, and hundreds of thousands of them! The numismatic world has not been the same since. Today, there are many 1903-O dollars around, usually well struck and nearly always with brilliance and luster. Enjoy!

Surface Quality: Usually fairly well struck. Typically seen brilliant and lustrous.

Prooflike Coins: Some prooflike pieces exist, are of light contrast, and are fairly elusive.

Mintage and Distribution: Delivery figures by month: January, 1,000,000; February, 350,000; March, 500,000; April, 500,000; May, 500,000; June, 1,250,000; July– November, 0; December, 350,000. This is the ultimate “story coin” of the Morgan series. Releases were small in the early twentieth century, and it seems that no more than a dozen or so were saved by interested numismatists. Years later, in the 1930’s when numismatics became popular, it was realized that 1903-O dollars were rare and that Mint State coins were especially so. The explanation was simple: They had been melted under the 1918 Pittman Act. And, probably the majority were. Then in 1962 many thousands were released from a long-sealed vault in the Philadelphia Mint, setting o" the treasure hunt that led to the depletion of bank and Treasury reserves of nearly all dollars. How many 1903-O dollars were found? Estimates have ranged to the long side of a million. I guess that 200,000 to 350,000 might be in the ballpark.

Many varieties exist, all from the new hub (introduced in 1900).