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Lot 0339 1895 Morgan $1 PF55 Details Net XF45 Lightly C

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:12,500.00 USD Estimated At:25,000.00 - 35,000.00 USD
Lot 0339 1895 Morgan $1 PF55 Details Net XF45 Lightly C
(PCI graded PR55.) Dark gray to charcoal suggesting that is has been cleaned and retoned, yet the fact remains this is THE KEY to the Morgan dollar series, the one and only 1895 Philly Mint Proof (all non-Proofs seem to have disappeared even though the mint records tell us there were 12,000 made that year). A well struck coin it is, with sharp devices, nice squared-edge lettering, and some proof surface remaining in the fields. Ample room for enjoyment here, and something to crow about to your friends once you acquire this extremely elusive date!

There are at least two possible explanations concerning the disappearance of the 12,000 business strike Morgan dollars struck in the Philadelphia mint in 1895. The first of these is that the mintage figure in truth represents a bookkeeping entry in order to account for the final 12,000 business strike 1894 Morgans delivered after the end of the 1894-1895 fiscal year. The second is that the Mint did strike 12,000 1895 Morgans that year intended for circulation, but all remained in Treasury vaults until melted in the early 20th century, perhaps under authority of the 1918 Pittman Act which saw 270,232,722 Silver Dollar destroyed. Wayne Miller (1982) credits the latter theory as being more correct, but Bowers (1993) points to contemporary documents that strongly suggest that no business strike 1895 Morgans were ever delivered. The true answer may forever remain cloaked in mystery.