1896-S $1 MS(PCGS#7244)

December 2020 U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

1105

等级

MS67

价格

865,151

详细说明

Incredible Superb Gem Mint State 1896-S Dollar CC#2 The Clapp-Eliasberg-Miller Specimen Acquired Directly from the San Francisco Mint in 1896 1896-S Morgan Silver Dollar. MS-67 (PCGS). CAC. OGH. The two finest 1896-S Morgan dollars known to both PCGS and CAC are certified MS-67 and MS-69. Incredibly, both examples were part of the Larry H. Miller Collection. We had the privilege of offering the PCGS/CAC MS-69 in our November 2020 sale of Part One of the Miller Collection. Here, as a highlight of the Miller Collection, Part Two, is the PCGS/CAC MS-67. A beautiful Superb Gem, both sides exhibit bountiful mint luster overlaid in splashes of iridescent reddish-apricot and champagne-pink toning. The reverse is modestly prooflike, evident when the coin is held at an angle to the light and viewed in the reflection. A special Morgan dollar, obviously hand-selected at the San Francisco Mint in 1896 in fulfillment of John M. Clapp's request. Outstanding quality. A generous mintage of 5 million coins conceals the rarity of the 1896-S in Mint State. While circulated examples are plentiful, at least in grades up to and including Choice VF, Mint State coins are scarce by the standards of this series. We suspect that much of the mintage remained undistributed and was eventually included among the 270,232,722 silver dollars melted pursuant to the Pittman Act of 1918. Some coins were distributed into commerce, probably during the final years of the 19th through the earliest decades of the 20th centuries, and these account for most of the circulated survivors. Although additional distributions from the San Francisco Mint were made during the 1950s, the scarcity of this issue in Mint State was not widely understood by that time. Q. David Bowers (1993) reports that another 1,000-coin bag emerged from a bank in Oakland, California during that decade, possibly followed by a few other similar finds. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, however, dealer offerings were apt to be for single coins only, the issue no longer plentiful in quantity. The appearance of several rolls during the early 1970s (as reported by Wayne Miller, 1982) resulted in only a temporary change in availability, as by the early 1980s the individual coins had been widely dispersed. Today Mint State 1896-S dollars are scarce, with offerings even in the largest auction sales usually two or three examples at most. Among Uncirculated survivors the typical certified coin is in the MS-62 to MS-64 range. Moderately to heavily abraded surfaces are the norm, and many are also softly struck, if not quite blunt at the central high points. Acquiring a sharply struck and attractive example in PCGS or NGC MS-65 is challenging, and the collector who has done so owns a significant coin of which they should be proud. In grades above the MS-65 level, the 1896-S is a formidable condition rarity. In MS-67 the present example is virtually unsurpassed, as above. It is a coin that, as they say, took the path less traveled, and that has certainly made all the difference regarding its quality. Whereas most Mint State 1896-S dollars entered numismatic hands through the various distributions reported by Dave Bowers, and related above, this special coin was obtained directly from the San Francisco Mint by John M. Clapp in the year of issue. It has been carefully preserved and cherished by only a handful of collectors since. After offering it as part of our (Bowers and Merena's) April 1997 Eliasberg Collection sale, we are once again honored to have the opportunity to present this Condition Census 1896-S for the consideration of advanced Morgan dollar enthusiasts. Provenance: From the Larry H. Miller Collection. Earlier ex John M. Clapp, who obtained the coin directly from the San Francisco Mint, August 1896; John H. Clapp; Clapp estate, 1942; Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr.; our (Bowers and Merena's) sale of the Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection, April 1997, lot 2303. PCGS Population: 1; 1 finer (MS-69). CAC Population: 1; 1 (MS-69). PCGS# 7244. NGC ID: 2564. Click here for certification details from PCGS.