1892-S $1 MS67 PCGS....

 

1892-S $1 MS67 PCGS. Ex: Eliasberg. Although the stock and financial markets are in turmoil--or, more likely--because they are in turmoil, the market for exceptional rare coins has been remarkably healthy and vibrant. While part of this is due to buyers seeking alternative investments to the normal lineup of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, the fact is that collector coins remain at the base of this phenomenal market. Although the past cannot predict the future, truly rare, high-end coins have turned in notable returns when held for long periods of time. One need look no further than the memorable, once-in-a-lifetime Lemus Collection patterns assembled by David Queller, offered elsewhere in this sale, for tangible evidence.
While patterns may be considered a somewhat esoteric numismatic specialty, Morgan dollars are part of the bedrock of U.S. coin collecting. The Morgan dollar coins were quite unpopular when they premiered in 1878, the creative efforts of a new, untested Englishman, George T. Morgan, whom the Mint had hired only two years earlier, in 1876. But over the years, a confluence of factors have conspired to make them today among America's most desired and widely collected coin series. Their large size, intrinsic value, and classic beauty are part of that equation. But a first major impetus toward increased collector interest was the Pittman Act of 1918, which spurred the melting of more than 270 million silver dollars, with the great majority of them Morgan dollars.
The collecting community as a whole first began pursuing the business strike issues, as opposed to the proofs specifically made for collectors, in the couple of decades following that great silver inferno. More recently, rising silver prices, the historic GSA sales of Morgan dollars, and even the modern introduction of the silver American Eagles have all contributed to steadily increasing popularity--and prices--of this legendary series.
A recent historic landmark must be noted before we turn to the present example. A recent sale of an MS67 PCGS-graded 1893-S Morgan dollar, the acknowledged key to the series, surpassed the $1 million mark for the first time ever. That coin, the Cornelius Vermeule-Jack Lee 2 specimen, was sold by Chris Napolitano to Laura Sperber of Legend Numismatics, who promptly resold it to an anonymous collector.
According to a recently published online CoinLink article by Greg Reynolds, Napolitano acted as agent for the seller, a collector who "likes to buy really neat coins." The buyer of the coin (to quote Sperber), "... has been collecting since he was a kid," "... has been buying Morgans since the 1970s," and "has one of the most intense passions for Morgans" that Sperber has ever seen.
There you have the story of Morgan dollar collecting in a nutshell: a sale of what is almost certainly now the finest known 1893-S Morgan, from one collector who likes top-drawer, "really neat" coins to another who has a passion for Morgan dollars as his sole collecting specialty.
While the present 1892-S Morgan dollar graded MS67 by PCGS (and with an illustrious pedigree) is not quite in the same league, it is not far off. We do not hesitate to say that, of the several MS67 pieces we have auctioned over the last dozen-plus years, this piece is at the top of the pack. Simply splendid, strictly original patina is present in both sides, with mellow amber-gold predominating, but the obverse adds a dash of ice-blue near the lower rim. Liberty's cheek, and indeed the surfaces throughout, are remarkably clean and free of mentionable distractions. The strike is bold and equally problem-free, and the wonderful luster has a slight semiprooflike gleam in the fields, completing this marvelous package.
The appearance of an 1892-S Morgan dollar in the highest Uncirculated grades is an understandably infrequent occurrence. Nonetheless, Heritage has handled some even-dozen appearances of the 1892-S from MS66 to MS68 PCGS in the last 18 years--some more than once--for an average of about one every 18 months or so. The phenomenal Jack Lee-Jack Lee 2 coin, the only MS68 PCGS specimen, brought a strong $322,000 in our November 2005 Dallas Signature auction (lot 2309). The last time we offered an MS67 PCGS specimen before the present lot was in 2004, and we saw five such occurrences between 2001 and 2004. Those Superb Gems all ranged from a low of $115,000 (the previous appearance of this coin) to $127,500 on the high side.
Interestingly, however, we handled one MS66 PCGS piece twice in 2006 and 2007, and both times it brought much more than an MS67 had only a few years before. The high-end MS66 piece in our 2006 FUN Auction (Heritage, 12/2006, lot 3319) garnered an amazing $230,000, and when it failed to upgrade and again was offered later, in a new MS66 PCGS holder as part of the Jackson Hole Collection (Heritage, 4/2007, lot 76), it brought $189,750.
As we said earlier, the past does not predict the future. But fortune has certainly smiled on those who buy top-drawer, eminently collectible coins, not because they want to resell them--but because they want to treasure them. Population: 5 in 67, 1 finer (11/08).
Ex: J. Colvin Randall, March 1894; to J.M. Clapp; John H. Clapp Estate, 1942, to Louis Eliasberg, Sr.; Eliasberg Collection (Bowers and Merena, 4/1997), lot 2290; Long Beach Signature Sale (Heritage, 5/2001), lot 6553.
From The Arno Collection.
See: Video Lot Description(Registry values: P8, N10218) (#7218)

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