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1895 S$1 PR68 NGC. With the circulation strikes s

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1895 S$1 PR68 NGC. With the circulation strikes s
<B>1895<S$1> PR68 NGC.</B></I> With the circulation strikes seemingly lost forever to the mass meltings of 1918-20, the Proof 1895 Silver Dollar has become one of the keys to completing the enormously popular Morgan Dollar series. Sadly, most of the surviving pieces are impaired through careless handling and/or crude attempts at cleaning. Gems are thus rare and highly sought after.<BR> To call this lovely specimen merely a Gem is to do it an injustice. So pristine is this beauty that it may reasonably be described as flawless. A fabulous, cameo proof, in other words, its richly frosted devices are set within deeply mirrorlike fields. Mottled shades of green-gray, rose, and gunmetal-blue toning enhance both sides of this delightful specimen.<BR> The American Numismatic Association was just four years old when this magnificent proof was first sold by the Philadelphia Mint. At that time, the purchasing of sets of proofs had become an annual ritual for several hundred American coin collectors. In fact, a mere 880 proof sets with the Silver Dollar were sold in 1895, a number whose significance was not understood at the time but which (would) become very clear as later generations of numismatists attempted to complete their sets of Morgan Dollars.<BR> Aside from the annual issue of Proofs, coins of this type were routinely ignored by the vast majority of hobbyists. It was not until decades later in the 1950s and 1960s that collectors sought to own an example of each mint's products for each respective date. Only then did it become apparent that none of the 12,000 1895 Philadelphia Mint Dollars reportedly struck for circulation were extant. Not a single verifiable example could be located, and the demand for this issue has ever since fallen entirely on the few hundred Proofs minted that year. Currently, only three examples have been certified Proof 68 by both services combined, and none are finer (4/05).