LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 Summer F.U.N. Sig. Coin Auction #442  / 

1797

1895 $1 PR65 Cameo NGC.

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:50,000.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1895 $1 PR65 Cameo NGC.
<B>1895 $1 PR65 Cameo NGC.</B></I> For silver dollar enthusiasts, the year 1895 has always been magical, and a myth was born about a hundred years ago when Morgan dollars of this date, without mintmarks and therefore made at Philadelphia, were occasionally listed in auctions and dealer sales lists as slightly circulated pieces. Such coins continued to appear on the numismatic scene for the first seven decades, approximately, of the 20th century. The Red Book continues to list this year’s mintage as 12,880. Proofs made for collectors account for the 880 coins, a fairly normal number, but what of the 12,000 figure? It is an official U.S. Mint account of silver dollars struck. Evidently it was a clerical error, possibly pertaining to 1894 dollars struck at the end of the year, possibly just an errant figure entered into mint production logs, or it is remotely possible that 12,000 Morgan dollars were minted for commerce but that they were melted. Many ideas have been published. Whatever the truth may be, the myth of this date existing as business strikes has been carried forth into our own time. <BR> However, long before there were grading services, long before there were data bases for PCGS and NGC or other grading companies, and long before today’s more scientific and systematic examination of rare coins, a darkly toned or impaired proof might well have been confused with a business strike, and listed in an auction or dealer list as, say, About Uncirculated. The term itself perpetuated the myth. Third-party grading services have now been in existence for several decades, and PCGS with its data base is more than 20 years old. Close-up photography, including digital imaging, has brought an added dimension to coin examination that was not possible when the myth of the business strike 1895 silver dollar was born. No silver dollar of this date from Philadelphia has yet been discovered to be other than of proof manufacture. Thus, the coin often called the “King of Silver Dollars” has a total possible population of just 880 pieces, certainly among the smallest number among coins of this, one of the most popular of all series of U.S. coins. It is a date so sought after by collectors that even major auctions sometimes do not offer a single coin. The majority of the 880 coins struck are always “off the market.”<BR> This piece also will surely be "off the market" soon. A solid Gem proof, the surfaces are nearly defect-free. The fields show the deep reflectivity one would expect from a well-produced proof, and the devices have a significant amount of mint frost which yields a noticeable cameo contrast on each side. Both obverse and reverse are evenly draped with light golden-brown toning. Certainly one of the most attractive 1895 dollars we have seen in some time. <BR><I>From the Reuben Reinstein Collection.</B></I><BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Coins & Currency (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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