Buying Rare Silver Coins
There are many different types of rare silver coins from which to choose when you are starting a silver coin collection. One of the most popular options is the 1895 Morgan dollar. This coin is frequently referred to as the King of the Morgan dollars due to the fact that it is the most valuable and the rarest of all of the Morgan dollar silver coin series. These coins are so valuable and rare that some specimens have sold at auction for some $120,000.
There were 12,000 Morgan dollars minted in 1895 according to the U.S. Mint records. There were also 800 proof specimens of this coin struck. Less than 100 of these rare silver coins have actually been accounted for and all of those have been proofs, leaving the question of what happened to the 12,000 1895 Morgan silver dollars.
There has been some debate regarding what actually happened to the coins. Many believe that these rare silver coins were not ever actually minted and that the notes in the Mint records are actually an error. There are also other scholars who believe that the coins were actually minted but that they were possibly melted down. There have even been stories that they were lost in a shipwreck.
While the mystery of what may have happened to the coins has yet to be solved, these coins remain a popular favorite among investors and collectors. The Morgan dollar is well known for its depiction of Lady Liberty, although it was not actually that popular when it was first introduced and was once known as the Buzzard dollar due to the shape of the head of the eagle on the coin. These rare silver coins were also sometimes known as Cartwheels.
The Morgan silver dollar eventually became much more popular as millions of the coins were produced between 1878 and 1904 as a result of the Bland-Allison Act, which originally passed Congress in 1878 and mandated the Treasury to purchase as much as 4 million troy ounces of silver each month. Due to being forced to purchase this astounding amount of silver, which came from the Comstock Lode in Nevada the Treasury was forced to find something to do with it and began to produce the now famous and popular silver dollars. If you are looking for an excellent coin to begin your silver coin collection, the Morgan silver dollar could not be a better choice.