1886-O $1 MS(PCGS#7168)

Summer 2025 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auktionator

Stack's Bowers

Losnummer

3124

Erhaltungsgrad

MS65+

Preis

312.000

Losbeschreibung

Here is an outstanding highlight of the Morgan dollar offerings in this sale. An "old friend" of our firm, when offered in our (Bowers and Merena's) April 1997 sale of the Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection the cataloger noted:<p><em>Lustrous and frosty with brilliant, satiny surfaces enhanced by splashes of gold. Certainly, this is one of the most attractive examples to come on the market in recent times.</em><p>Since then this coin has settled comfortably into the CC#2 slot for the 1886-O Morgan dollar issue, a ranking it shares with no other example. The only one that is finer is the remarkable Jack Lee I-Larry H. Miller specimen in PCGS/CAC MS-67 DMPL that brought $780,000 in our November 2020 sale of the latter collection.<p>Not atypical for Morgan dollars and one of the situations that make the series so appealing, this issue is far scarcer in Mint State than the 1883-O, 1884-O and 1885-O despite having a higher mintage (10,710,000 coins for the 1886-O as opposed to, for example, 9,185,000 pieces for the 1885-O). Given that the 1886-O is plentiful in worn condition, millions of examples likely found their way into circulation beginning in the late 19th century. Millions more, probably more than half of the mintage, were almost certainly kept in storage and then melted under the terms of the 1918 Pittman Act. Remaining pieces in government vaults were limited in number with Q. David Bowers (1993) speculating that "apparently no more than a few bags dribbled onto the market in the 1940s and 1950s - enough to keep the issue in the $6 to $10 range for most of the period 1945-1960." Despite its obvious scarcity in Mint State, at that time the 1886-O was largely overlooked by dealers and collectors, a situation that Bowers blames on the overall poor strike, luster and surface quality for which this issue is known.<p>During the Treasury Department releases of 1962 to 1964 a few additional bags probably came to light, again enough to meet the demands of a market that was generally less than enthusiastic about this issue. The coins released during the 1960s may have been part of mixed-date bags, for Harry J. Forman (as related by Bowers, 1993) "recalled that he never had an intact bag of 1886-O dollars, but he did find several hundred 'minimum Uncirculated' coins in a bag containing various dates." Wayne Miller (1982) writes of four original Uncirculated rolls that he purchased in 1971. Surprisingly for the issue, Miller describes those coins as "full strike BU," but he quickly follows that up with the fact that, while "BU pieces are available at nearly every coin show...gems are truly scarce."<p>The days of partial bags and Uncirculated rolls of 1886-O dollars are now history, and Mint State examples of this issue are widely dispersed. While major numismatic auctions occasionally offer multiple certified coins, these are almost exclusively in MS-60 to basal MS-64 (along with a number of the seemingly ubiquitous, and highly salable About Uncirculated examples). Bowers' aforementioned comments about the overall poor quality of Mint State 1886-O dollars was commented upon earlier by Miller when he described the typical Mint State 1886-O as "heavily bagmarked, with indifferent luster." Such comments are equally applicable in today's market, and they explain the extreme rarity of this issue in grades above MS-64. Gems such as this are exceedingly rare, seldom offered, and remain the province of the most advanced Morgan dollar enthusiasts. A fleeting opportunity not to be missed, and one that will require an aggressive bidding strategy to prevail.