1896 $1 PR68 ★ Ultra Cameo NGC....

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Phenomenal 1896 Morgan Dollar, PR68 ★ Ultra Cameo

1896 $1 PR68 ★ Ultra Cameo NGC. After several years of sparse P-mint emissions, the Morgan dollar came roaring back in 1896, to the tune of nearly 10 million business strikes, along with about 5 million pieces each in New Orleans and San Francisco. The proof mintage was typical for the era, at 762 specimens. The 20 million examples of the 1896 Morgan dollar joined the hundreds of millions of earlier Morgan dollars in Treasury vaults, unwanted by the public, unneeded in commerce, undesired by the government, yet mandated by the inflexible terms of the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, a sop to the Western mining interests and domestic banks that had grown considerably in power in the intervening years since the "Crime of '73."
The year 1896 was notable for another event in the life of the Morgan dollar (or the Bland dollar, as it was almost universally called throughout its lifetime). 1896 was the year that Miss Anna Williams, the model for the head of Liberty on the coin, married her husband. Mint Director Henry Richard Linderman, who was of the opinion that U.S. coinage designs were unacceptable, offered designer George T. Morgan, an Englishman and former student of A.B. Wyon, a job as assistant engraver at the Philadelphia Mint in 1876, although both Mint Chief Engraver William Barber and his son Charles strongly--and unsurprisingly--resisted the appointment. Morgan came to America that same year and was enlisted to design a new silver dollar. His friends directed him toward the classic beauty of Miss Williams, and when he first approached her, like most proper ladies of the time, she immediately turned him down. Her friends interceded, however, and she relented, agreeing to pose. Apparently Miss Williams "kept her looks" well, as she married nearly 20 years later, in 1896.
The year 1896 was an especially kind one for Morgan dollar proofs, and for this particular specimen as well. While only a couple of dozen proofs have been certified as fine as this piece at NGC, that service has certified four 1896 dollars in PR68 Star Ultra Cameo, including the present example, and only one PR69 ★ coin (6/08). The coin is brilliant silver-white, without detectable patina, and stunning silver-on-black, deeply contrasting surfaces. Perusal even under a loupe reveals only surface minutiae unworthy of singular mention. Simply a phenomenally attractive piece.(Registry values: N7079)

Coin Index Numbers: (NGC ID# 27ZT, PCGS# 97331, GSID# 7846)

Metal: 90% Silver, 10% Copper
Weight: 26.73 grams
ASW: 0.77346oz

View Certification Details from NGC