Silver dollars are a favorite of most US coin collectors. In fact, it is not unusual to find a silver dollar or two away by people who have no particular interest in coins at all. Why is this? What is it about silver dollars that makes people want to collect them or, just hang onto them?
Well, for one thing, they are really Big. And Heavy. And Beautiful,too. (Okay, big, heavy, and beautiful. We are just talking coins here, right? What else?) They are a piece of American History. (Well, I guess so, but what history do you mean?) Pretty much all of it. They were first made in the 1700s, not too long after independence. And they were really a big deal in the days of the Wild West. And how about gambling in Las Vegas? You used to be able to get them in your change there, even if you were just buying gas!
(I see. So why were they made of silver, anyway?)
Because, back when the mint started, in 1792, coins were actually worth the amount of money they stood for. A dollar was made from metal worth one dollar. Silver was the best metal to use, because that way the dollar would still be an easy size in your pocket. Copper would have weighed a ton (not really, but a dollar in copper would have made a better doorstop than a coin. And a gold dollar would be really tiny and easy to lose. (Actually, they tried that in the 1850s. People hated them. They said they were tiny and easy to lose. Go figure.)
(Okay, hold on. Just what do we consider a silver dollar?)
Strictly speaking, it is made of silver (very good!) That means it was likely struck no later than 1935. Some of the Eisenhower dollars made from 1971 through 1976 were 40% silver, but the last of the mostly silver (90%) dollars was a 1935 Peace dollar. And, though it was rumored that the mint actually struck over 300,000 pieces of 90% silver Peace dollars in 1964, all were reportedly destroyed by the mint without exception.
The early dollar coins were really something. Just gorgeous coins.
But I guess the art critics had a problem with them. They said the first American dollar coin, the one they called the Flowing Hair dollar, made Miss Liberty look kind of trashy and undignified. So the next design showed a calmer sort of Liberty. More of a lady I suppose. They called that one the Draped Bust dollar, which seemed to make the grade, until the price of silver rose up to the point that you could make money by melting down your dollars, then trade them for gold.
So then the dollars disappeared. And the mint stopped making them for another thirty years (1805-1835). Then along came the Seated Liberty dollars, designed by Christian Gobrecht, who had worked his way up in the mint to Chief Engraver, after spending a lot of years making number punches for the dates they put on coins. Just imagine spending years making 1s and 8s and 2s and the other numbers, day after day.
The Gobrecht Seated Liberty design was well enough liked that it was put on all of the silver coins except the three-cent piece. Then there were the Morgan dollars, lots of them, beginning in 1878. During these years lots of silver was discovered out West. So much silver was mined that the price of silver tanked.
But silver mine owners had a fair bit of clout in Washington, so a law was passed that said for every paper dollar printed, an a silver dollar had to be struck. No one really needed that many, so they piled up in banks and Federal vaults, bags of uncirculated Morgan dollars.
When the town of Las Vegas began to boom, after construction of the Hoover Dam, out came the silver dollars, onto the gambling tables and into our hearts (so to speak.) As late as the early 1960s, Federal banks had considerable quantities of brilliant uncirculated dollar coins from the 1880s on hand, available for one paper dollar each.
Trust me, that was cool.
The topic of silver dollars has always interested me. These coins really are quite beautiful to look at, so I've added some information and some great photos on my website at http://www.valuable-coin-stories.com/pictures-of-us-silver-dollars.html and also at http://www.valuable-coin-stories.com/dollars-pictures.html that you may enjoy.
I've collected coins since age 11 -- so, more than half a century. Coins have been a pleasant distraction over the years. Though I've never been a coin dealer, I have occasionally sold a coin or two at a nice profit, when the market was right. These experiences have taught me a bit about coin value in the marketplace. But I have to say that my greatest pleasure with coins has been the hooks they have to history and other areas of learning. And, I can never quite get beyond the feeling that, if any of my coins could talk, the stories would be priceless!
Check my website at http://www.valuable-coin-stories.com for more.
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