1889 Silver Dollar Value
A hoard of 16,000 Morgan dollars stored in canvas bags in a New York City bank vault since their purchase in 1964 from the Treasury Department stockpile will be placed on the market after all are graded and slabbed by Numismatic Guaranty Corp.
Jeff Garrett, founder and president of Mid-American Rare Coin Galleries in Lexington, Kentucky, will be offering the coins in the hoard.
He values the hoard of dollars at between $1 million and $1.5 million.
The Morgan Dollar was a part of everyday currency in America for almost 80 years. Add this 1889-CC Morgan Silver Dollar to your cart today! The Morgan Dollar holds a special place in U.S. Coinage as it was the first coin to feature Lady Liberty with an American look, rather than the traditional Greek style.
- Estimated value of 1889-S Morgan Silver Dollar is worth $55 in average condition and can be worth $308 or more in uncirculated (MS+) mint condition. The coin has a 'melt value' of $20.44 (bare minimum metal value of coin).
- 1889 $27.88 $32.42 $36.11 $ CC $346 $494 $1,925 Rare 1889 O. Although these are wholesale Morgan silver dollar values, realize your coins are very.
Garrett said the estimated value of the hoard will be determined by the certified grade each coin receives. Garrett is working on commission, on behalf of heirs who more than a decade ago inherited the silver dollars from their parents.
Garrett said the son and daughter of the man who originally purchased the coins more than 50 years ago no longer wanted to continue paying the $800 annual rental fee for the roughly 3-foot by 3-foot by 4-foot safe-deposit box that houses the silver dollars.
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Garrett said the heirs do not want to be identified but just want to dispose of the hoard.
Garrett said the heirs’ father worked in the financial district in lower Manhattan, and the coins were stored in a bank vault on Wall Street.
The coins in the hoard were contained in 16 canvas bags of 1,000 coins each, with each bag comprising coins of a specific date and Mint production facility. Garrett said the hoard has no bags containing mixed dates.
The bags were wire sealed with string and lead clamps and also bore tags from Brooklyn dealer Edward’s Associate, a numismatic firm specializing in silver dollars.
“The family purchased them from this broker when the Treasury distributed the bags in 1964,” Garrett said. “That’s when the box was opened at the bank. The coins have been there since.”
Some of the bags were imprinted with the designation for U.S. Mint and Treasury Department and others with the designation for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
The coins were struck at the Philadelphia, San Francisco and New Orleans Mints. None of the coins are from the Carson City Mint, Garrett said.
Once graded, the hoard coins will affect the NGC certified populations for the dates and Mint marks represented in the bags.
The hoard contains 1878-S, 1880-S, 1881-S, 1883, 1884, 1884-O, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888 and 1889 Morgan dollars. Garrett said several hundred of the coins exhibit toning from their storage in the canvas bags.
Coin handling
Garrett said he, his son Ben, and Mark Salzberg, chairman of Certified Collectibles Group (NGC’s parent company), spent May 28, 29 and part of May 30 handling each of the 16,000 coins.
The bags were removed carefully from the safe-deposit box to minimize creation of more marks than they may originally have. Garrett said the coins were removed slowly from each bag, with the best pieces set aside, placed into 2-inch by 2-inch coin flips. The remaining coins were individually placed into coin tubes, to be shipped by Brink’s from the New York bank to Florida, for grading and encapsulation at NGC’s facility in Sarasota.
Government hoard
The 16,000 silver dollars stored in the Wall Street bank vault were among the more than 200 million Morgan dollars sitting in Treasury vaults when the government decided in the early 1960s to allow an exchange of other currency for silver dollars, at face value.
Interested parties could line up to acquire up to 50,000 silver dollars from the Treasury Department’s main building, in Washington, D.C., where the coins were stored in vaults. Some enterprising individuals made some early money by selling their places in the line of those waiting to purchase the coins.
Treasury Secretary Douglas C. Dillon halted the exchange March 26, 1964, leaving some 2.9 million silver dollars, mostly Carson City Mint pieces, in 1,000-coin bags remaining at the bottom of the vaults.
Those silver dollars were auctioned in a series of five sales starting in October 1972, after Congress in 1970 authorized their sale by the General Services Administration.
The coins sold from these auctions were known as the GSA hoard. By 1979, that remaining silver dollar supply was exhausted.
Millions of coins
The government stockpile of silver dollars traces its genesis to the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, which authorized the four Mint production facilities to begin striking millions of dollar coins using silver from the Comstock Lode.
Within 15 years, the American people’s preference for the convenience of carrying paper currency was obvious, but Morgan dollars were minted through 1904 when the supply of silver from the Comstock Lode was depleted.
To replenish the government’s silver bullion supply, Congress legislated melting the silver dollars, under the Pittman Act of 1918.
More than 270 million silver dollars were melted under that legislation, an amount totaling nearly the half the combined production from 1878 through 1904.
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The silver dollars melted under the Pittman Act significantly reduced the surviving populations of coins dated 1900 through 1904.
1889 Silver Dollar Value Chart
However, the Pittman Act required the government to purchase more silver on the open market to replace the coins melted, resulting in resumption of silver dollar production in 1921, first with the Morgan designs and then the Peace dollar designs.
Between 1958 and 1960, nearly 58 million silver dollars stored in government vaults were released.
In 1963 alone, 31 million silver dollars were released, and another 25 million in just the first three months of 1964, before the distribution was ended.
While many mint state or proof Morgan silver dollars sell at auctions for thousands of dollars, the value usually drops to a figure much closer to just the melt value of the silver for circulated coins. That is even true of AU (Almost Uncirculated) examples that retain all of their details. Typically, coins gain value because of their rarity or condition, but some coins might benefit more from one than the other.
In the case of one MS-68 Morgan CC, the auction price benefited from both scarcity and condition. It might be somewhat surprising to learn from Coin Update that an MS-68 1889 CC Morgan silver dollar sold at auction in 2013 for almost $900,000, but it was the finest example of its kind that had ever been found, and this date and mint mark are extremely rare in all conditions.
It is interesting to note that a previous sale of that same coin, in 2009, collected $531,875, but that was right in the middle of the Great Recession when many collectable coin values were depressed. Still, the auction value of this coin increased dramatically in less than five years.
How Valuable are Circulated 1889 CC Morgan Silver Dollars?
However, collectors might find it even more surprising that even some circulated Morgan silver dollars, engraved with that rare date and mint mark, sell for thousands of dollars. This high valuation might also be somewhat disappointing for collectors who want to complete a set but lack the budget for very expensive coins.
Consider recent price guides for these Morgan dollars:
- Even in G (Good) condition, the NCG price guide says that these coins could sell for over $500.
- The Morgan’s silver melt value is about $16 right now.
- In almost uncirculated (AU) condition, the price guide suggests selling these coins for between $6,850 and $18,500.
Compare these prices to the 1889 O and S Morgan dollar in similar condition. NCG states that an 1889 S in G condition might sell for $29, and an AU-58 might sell for $43. Similarly, an O mint mark might be worth $29 in G condition and an AU worth about $40.
It’s not just the Carson City mint mark raising the value either. Of course, the CC tends to inflate the value of a Morgan silver dollar from any year that mint produced silver coins. If you try to buy an 1890 CC Morgan, for example, you might pay about $75 for a coin in G condition and $360 for an AU-58.
What’s Special About the 1889 Morgan CC Silver Dollar?
The Carson City Mint had been closed for four years before 1889, and it did not open until the third quarter of that year. Because the mint had been closed, crews had to clean the offices and machinery before production could begin. That year, the mint only produced 350,000 coins, and all of these coins came out in the last three months of 1889.
Additionally, according to estimates, only 100,000 to 25,000 of these dollar coins avoiding getting melted down for silver. Most of the few remaining coins got heavily circulated, and many of the existing examples have damage. Any examples of 1889 CC Morgan silver dollars are scarce, but typical examples have grades of VF or worse. Many have damage.
Even though these coins are silver, if you find one in decent condition, it’s likely that you just struck gold.
Why Consider Owning a Silver Coin Like This?
The current economy inspires many investors to look for alternative investments. Nationwide, more people than ever seem to invest big dollars in collector’s items such as rare coins, rare cars, rare artifacts and rare artwork. The top end of these markets has been flourishing because of big money investors scrabbling for tangible assets.
The reason these investors are so attracted to these kinds of purchases is that their value is recognized in any economic climate. Even during the German invasion of Europe in WWII, the riches that were the most sought after by the Germans were not only Europe’s gold, but also Europe’s rare art and artifacts.
So, if you have never considered owning coinage that has immense value because of its recognized rarity, perhaps you should now. You don’t need to be an expert to participate in rare coin investing, you can contact Scottsdale Bullion and Coin and have a Precious Metals Advisor show you how to get involved and what types of coins have the best chance for future returns.