1896-O $1 Morgan Silver Dollar PCGS AU58

Here’s a New Orleans Mint silver dollar issue with an interesting story behind it. David Bowers writes, “The 1896-O dollar is one of those coins that makes numismatics so interesting and, at the same time, puzzling to the uninitiated observer. On one hand, a well-worn specimen can be bought rather inexpensively. On the other hand, no less an authority than Wayne Miller wrote that ‘the 1896-O is the rarest of all Morgan dollars in truly gem condition.’ In some ways the 1896-O dollar is similar to its cousin of a decade earlier, the 1886-O. Both are exceedingly rare in high Mint State levels, but are relatively available MS-60 to 62.”

The New Orleans Mint, where this great collectible was struck in 1896. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

PCGS has graded 1,751 as AU58 with 1,701 finer. Collectors Universe prices this issue at $675.00 in AU58. The 1896-O saw a large mintage of 4.9 million. The vast majority of those coins were placed in circulation due to the low mintages of the few previous years. Those that were not distributed in 1896 were stored at the New Orleans Mint and at a later date were shipped off to vaults in the Treasury building in our nation’s capital and the Philadelphia Mint.