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Description

1895 Morgan Dollar, PR64 Deep Cameo
The 'King of Morgan Dollars'
Unknown in Business Strike Format

1895 $1 PR64 Deep Cameo PCGS. It is likely that the 1895 business strike Morgan dollars--if they ever existed--now form baubles in Bangalore, collectibles from Calcutta, or doodads in Delhi. Much ink has been spilled over whether they were produced or were merely an accounting error. But in the final essence, it matters little today, as the odds of a business strike appearing today are approaching those of a lottery win.
Trying to trace the existence of the 1895 business strike dollars is a bit like looking for one's lineage on a genealogy web site: Sooner or later one encounters the same records that other seekers have stumbled over--but there is no independent sourcing, none of the first-person sightings that might help separate fact from fiction.
What we do know is that, in the greatest-ever revelation of the Morgan dollar issues, the Treasury releases of the 1960s, no business strike 1895 Morgans were uncovered--although a couple of impaired, spent proofs turned up, as Walter Breen notes in his Proof Encyclopedia.
We also know the following, again quoting from the Breen proof reference:

"Probably all 12 bags of business strikes (1,000 each) were included in the meltage of 270,232,722 dollars for export to British India as ingots and for domestic coinage, pursuant to the Act of April 23, 1918."


Were they melted, or did they never exist? The jury is still out, and may be forever. What is certain is that the proof Morgan dollars of 1895 have managed to attain a celebrity all their own, as stand-ins for coins that may never have existed in the first place. Deep Cameo Morgans of the issue stand out in their own right, as well: Although PCGS has certified several hundred proof 1895 Morgans (including a considerable number of circulated proofs), only a small percentage of them are in the most desired Deep Cameo category.
The present near-Gem Deep Cameo example is brilliant, with remarkably strong contrast between the frosted fields and mirrored devices. There are no mentionable contact marks, although a few wispy hairlines are scattered here and there. An excellent example of this celebrated proof Morgan dollar issue. Population: 2 in 64 Deep Cameo, 14 finer (8/10).(Registry values: P4)

Coin Index Numbers: (NGC ID# 27ZR, PCGS# 97330, Greysheet# 7843)

Weight: 26.73 grams

Metal: 90% Silver, 10% Copper


View Certification Details from PCGS

Auction Info

Auction Dates
September, 2010
23rd-26th Thursday-Sunday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 15
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 4,798

Buyer's Premium per Lot:
15% of the successful bid per lot.

Sold on Sep 24, 2010 for: $60,375.00
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