MS-65 1895-O Morgan dollar offers atypical quality

By Steve Roach

Published: Jun 7, 2018, 4 AM

One of the finest-known 1895-O Morgan dollars, graded PCGS MS-65, sold for $225,000, well above its $100,000 to $150,000 estimate on May 21 in New York City.

Original images courtesy of Sotheby’s.

Most 1895-O Morgan dollars were poorly struck, so this Mint State 65 example is exceptional.

Images courtesy of Sotheby’s.

Sotheby’s May 21 Historic Coins and Medals auction featuring Morgan dollars from the Ralph and Lois Stone Collection was noteworthy for a number of reasons.

The auction, which totaled $5,094,629 in prices realized, was formed during the first decade of third-party grading, and the coins were sold in their original holders; many have additionally received a sticker from Certified Acceptance Corp. recognizing the coin’s quality.

Among the lots were three unusually well-preserved New Orleans Mint dollars from the mid-1890s that surpassed expectations, one of which is highlighted here. Read about the first profiled coin, an 1897-O Morgan dollar, here, and the second, an 1896-O dollar, here.

The Lot:

1895-O Morgan dollar, Mint State 65

The Price:

$225,000

The Story:

The New Orleans Mint was prone to producing silver dollars at a high volume with relatively low quality when compared with the Philadelphia, Carson City or San Francisco Mints. The 1895-O Morgan dollar is notorious for its poor strike and dull luster, and most Mint State examples grade MS-61 or MS-62.

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This one, graded Professional Coin Grading Service MS-65, was formerly in the famed Jack Lee Collection, and Sotheby’s wrote, “The quality of the strike is significantly more robust than most examples encountered. Although the hairs above Liberty’s ear are not completely full, the rest of the coin is as fully and evenly struck as one could hope for; the eagle’s breast feathers are well-delineated, and the beading is sharp.”

An indentation on the eagle’s chest is likely a strike-through error, where a foreign substance comes between a planchet and a die during the striking process, rather than a post-minting contact mark.

The clean and conditionally rare dollar sold for $225,000.

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