1881-S $1, PL MS(PCGS#7131)

June 2026 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

2177

Grade

MS68PL

Price

10,370

Lot Description

An enchanting, premium quality example of this otherwise readily obtainable Morgan dollar issue. Both sides combine reflective fields with a virtually pristine appearance to set this coin apart from the vast majority of 1881-S dollars extant. The obverse is minimally toned around the periphery, the reverse with a crescent of attractive multicolored iridescence along the upper right border. Fully struck, as befits the issue, with simply outstanding technical quality and eye appeal.<p>Specialists agree that there are more of this issue available to today's collectors than of any other Morgan dollar. Silver dollars had been held in vast quantities in the Federal Reserve banks as backing for Silver Certificates, but were released to circulation in the early 1960s when the United States went off the silver standard. At that time countless bags of previously scarce Uncirculated 1881-S dollars were put away by dealers and investors. Q. David Bowers, in his 1993 silver dollar Encyclopedia, estimated that between 4 and 6.25 million pieces of this issue still exist in Mint State! Today PCGS estimates that only 1,200,000 have survived, with fully half of those in Mint State. No matter the actual number of existing pieces, in higher Uncirculated grades, the 1881-S remains an important condition rarity. While PCGS has graded a total of 10,616 1881-S dollars in the Mint State Prooflike category, only seven have achieved the Ultra Gem grade of MS-68 PL, and none have been graded higher, although they have graded a single conditionally equal MS-68 DMPL. Every Morgan dollar collector has to have an 1881-S in their collection, and to represent this rather ordinary date in a high-end set, discerning numismatists try to find as fine a piece as possible. This specimen cannot be improved upon in today's' market and will impress even the most discerning bidders.<p><p>