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Lot 0767 1887 Liberty Seated 25C NGC Proof 67

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:1,750.00 USD Estimated At:3,500.00 - 5,000.00 USD
Lot 0767 1887 Liberty Seated 25C NGC Proof 67
A frosted gem with strong underlying mirrors from the carefully made Proof dies that reinforce the beauty of the frosted relief of Liberty and eagle. Only 710 Proofs were made of the 1887 date. This piece has toned around the periphery in complementary colors of warm russet brown and blue iridescence.

Why the low mintage for 1887 (and others from 1879-90)? There was an enormous expansion of silver coinage in the mid-1870s. Then, toward the latter part of 1877 vast numbers of previously exported silver coins began returning to the United States from abroad, principally from Central America and Canada. Tens of millions of coins (worth perhaps as much as $30 million in the estimate of Robert W. Julian, a Coin World columnist) returned like a whirlwind from the past. This vast "inpouring" continued well into 1880, much to the amazement of observers.

According to Julian, silver miners and their political cronies were not only amazed by the unexpected inflow, but were enraged, because the mints were no longer buying silver for minor coinage. There was no demand for such coinage and the channels of trade were clogged with it. Because there was no inflation in prices paid for goods and services with the added coinage, the long suffering farmers who thought they were better off with inflated prices were not helped.

In response to this inpouring, the Treasury ordered the suspension of minor silver coinage in early 1878 and did not resume it for some years because of the accumulation in the Treasury. It is Julian's contention that contrary to popular belief, the coinage of Morgan dollars had nothing to do with the interdiction of subsidiary silver mintage in the years 1879-90.