Thief Finds 1921 Peace Dollar on First Job – Back Up, That Can’t Be Right!

1921 Very Fine Peace Dollar

It’s not common to chance upon a conversation about coins these days, unless you work in a company like International Coins and Currency.  Here, most of us talk about coins all day – whether we’re collectors or not – but outside of work, discussions on coin collecting don’t happen very often.  For anyone who does know about coins, when the topic comes up, it’s easy to say, “wait a minute – that’s wrong!” especially when you know a little something about the coins in question!

I’m an English graduate student, and my life outside of work almost never involves numismatics.  You’ll most often find me critiquing stories and writing in my free time.  Part of my work as a graduate student is to participate in peer reviews.  This week, I decided to analyze a story by a classmate whose work I had never critiqued – and he happened to mention the 1921 Peace dollar.

In his story, a thief keeps a silver dollar in his pocket, flipping the coin to determine the outcome of the heist he’s about to embark on.  The coin that he mentions in this story is a 1921 Peace dollar, a relatively rare coin given its extremely low mintage of just a little over one million coins (1,006,473 to be exact).  In the story, the character (Ronnie) mentions that he “found the coin 15 years ago at his first job.”  The story implies that Ronnie has been given jobs by some “higher-up” to rob from upper-middle-class homes.

When I read his story, I got excited.  Not many writers make extraneous numismatic references in their short stories, especially not the graduates I share class with, who range in age from around 22-40.  My goal as a student critiquing another’s work is to focus on the small details.  In this case, I prefaced the information I gave him regarding the Peace dollar with an explanation: “If this seems excessively nitpicky, I apologize! This is what I do for my day job, and I noticed a discrepancy here.”

The issue in this story was that it insinuated the 1921 Peace dollar was an easy find.  To those who are unfamiliar with Peace dollar mintages, the assumption is an easy one to make.  In comparison, the 1921 Morgan dollar had a total mintage of 44,690,000 so the coin is exceptionally more common than the Peace dollar.  I mentioned in my critique, “If your character found this on his first heist, it’s more likely going to be a 1921 Morgan rather than a Peace dollar.”  It seemed to me that a thief would be more likely to find a more common Morgan dollar that had been passed on from a father to a son, or from a grandfather to a grandson, especially on his first-ever heist!

Many silver coins during this era were lost to melts and attrition, so the Peace dollar is even more rare than its mintage suggests. The 1921 Morgans were also lost to these melts, although there were so many minted during 1921 that they are exceedingly more common than their Peace dollar cousins.  The value of a coin is not just based on its precious metal content or its age; in fact, mintage numbers play a huge role in the numismatic value of a coin.

What’s most fascinating to me about the entire thing is that an English student chose to mention and focus their short story on a coin.  Now, some people might really think that’s over the top to be this nitpicky, but I say, what if a dedicated numismatist or coin collector happened to read your story? They would be sorely disappointed in your lack of research!  Authenticity is one of the most important factors to a realistic piece of fiction.  In this case, the author used so many minute details throughout his story I thought it would be a shame if he didn’t take the time to research and understand the implications of the 1921 Peace dollar as a prop.

It is important to understand how much mintage numbers can greatly affect the value of a coin.  In cases like the 1921 Peace dollar, this is because the coins started out with a low mintage to begin with and were then subjected to melts and attrition later on.  The value of the coin is much higher than that of the 1921 Morgan dollar, which holds the same silver content and is the same age.  The difference here is the mintage numbers.  Factoring this key piece of information into your collecting (or referencing) habits is extremely important to any collector, beginner or advanced.

Amanda Paulger-Foran, for ICCoin.com

Have questions, comments, or concerns?  Give us a ring, send us an e-mail, or ship out that letter snail mail!  We would love to hear from you!  Contact us here.

A Brief History of the Morgan Silver Dollar: Its Inception, Purchasing Power, and the Standard of Value

Have you ever found an old silver dollar in the back of your mother’s jewelry box, hidden under the necklaces that were passed down to her from her grandmother?  Chances are it’s a Morgan dollar. The U.S. Mint’s 1878-1921 Morgan dollar remains undoubtedly the most famous and collected classic silver dollar worldwide. How did this masterpiece of American minting emerge?

The Morgan silver dollar was, during its time of circulation, considered the standard for monetary value across the globe and widely viewed as a symbol of strength.  Interestingly enough, the coin was born during a period of great financial instability in America.  The Long Depression began with the Panic of 1873 and continued until 1879, the year after the Morgan dollar’s introduction.

When I first held a Morgan dollar, my response was, “wow, this is a big coin!” The Morgan silver dollar was constructed at such a large size to compare with the Spanish Eight Reale, which was the standard of value during the American colonial era.  The Eight Reale coin – informally known as the Spanish Pieces of Eight – was the foundation of our silver coinage system (“two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar”). The U.S. dollar sign ($) is believed to derive from the scroll-effect Herculean pillars of the reverse side.

The Morgan dollar was originally designed by George T. Morgan at the Philadelphia Mint. George Morgan was a former pupil of William Wyon of the Royal Mint in London.  The coin was being designed just as the Bland-Allison Act passed on February 28^th, 1878.  The act required the treasury to purchase silver at market levels, between two and four million troy ounces of bullion per month, to be coined into dollars.  This then amounted to massive subsidy, coming at a time when the dollar’s face value exceeded its intrinsic worth by nearly ten percent.  It is not far-fetched to assume that this act was incredibly politically motivated.

The Morgan dollar was often considered an inconvenience because of its size and most of its use occurred in the western states.  One reason that has been suggested for its unpopularity is that unlike the Eight Reale, it could not be cut into pieces and used as such in commerce.  Money during the colonial period was much different than when commerce moved towards money only representing face value, rather than literally embodying it.  This is an important piece of history for American silver dollars; the Eight Reale was more efficient. Instead of continually trading larger denominations of coins for smaller denominations, the Eight Reale (and early colonial American dollars) were divided into eight pieces, to be used as such.  Although the Morgan was of a similar size and weight to the Spanish Eight Reale, it did not adhere to this practice.

During the Morgan’s inception, the American public expected their money to actually be worth more than its face value.  This was true throughout most of history in the United States and initially for the Morgan dollar.  Today’s dollar is worth significantly less than the Morgan.  The Morgan contained silver; our current dollar does not.

One of the biggest fascinations of old American dollars, and especially the Morgan dollar, is the purchasing power compared to our modern dollar.  In Chicago, which “…struck visitors as the ‘purest kind of commercial city’…”(Moberg, 1990), many workers in industrial factories worked an estimated 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week (Moberg, 1990), for only a dollar a day.   According to CPI (consumer price index), a Morgan dollar would have approximately the purchasing power of $22 in 2013.  This still didn’t leave much room for those who worked for such low wages to live comfortably, but given the immigration influx during this era, many were expected to work for less, to “earn their keep,” as the saying went.

Henry Ward Beecher is even famous for his attack on railroad workers for their “inability” to live off the dollar a day: “It is said that a dollar a day is not enough for a wife and five or six children. No, not if that man smokes or drinks beer. It is not enough if they are to live as he would be glad to have them live…But is not a dollar a day enough to buy bread with? Water costs nothing; and a man who cannot live on bread is not fit to live. What is the use of civilization that simply makes men incompetent to live under the conditions which exist?” (Brauer, 1965)  Beecher was a famous clergyman from Brooklyn who was raised in a strict Puritan household in Massachusetts as the eighth of ten children.  Beecher was a man who believed that a family could live on simply bread and water, that they should be happy to live in any condition, no matter how poor.  It is tragic to think of families struggling to survive on only bread and water, yet this was how poor families were often treated.

The American Morgan dollar was considered a standard of value and it was also often a day’s pay.  Although sometimes this concept is misunderstood as a larger amount of money, it’s clear that a single dollar a day was considered a low wage, especially for the exceptionally unsafe conditions that railroad workers, iron workers, and other industrial workers were exposed to.  All of that said, though, the Morgan silver dollar still held a vastly larger amount of purchasing power than our current American dollar; a testament to inflation and the ups and downs of economy.

The Morgan dollar embodies a diverse and changing time in history, which means it also holds the stories of countless Americans and their families.  In owning a Morgan, you can pass the history of our early nation and the stories of the individuals who lived here onto younger generations.  You can help preserve the coin, and in the process, also preserve the generous history of the United States.

Amanda Paulger-Foran, for ICCoin.com

Have questions, comments, or concerns?  Give us a ring, send us an e-mail, or ship out that letter snail mail!  We would love to hear from you!  Contact us here.

Works Cited:

Brauer, J. (1965). Protestantism in America: A Narrative History. Retrieved from

http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=1663&C=1669

Moberg,D. (1990). Encyclopedia of Chicago. “Work.” Retrieved from

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1381.html

The Historic Lure of Gold Coins

The pirate opens his treasure chest, the dragon enters its lair, the king surveys his vault. All are filled with golden treasure, gold jewelry, gold tableware, gold ornaments and gold coins. We would all love to have a trove of these beautiful and valuable items for ourselves, as gold offers the promise of security in uncertain economic times like these. There are many ways to collect gold, but gold coins may be the very best.

Gold has established the monetary value of currency throughout much of history.  Historically, coins have been minted from this precious metal since around 500 B.C. in Persia, with their gold coin known as the daric (Garg, 1992) right up to the present day.  The United States itself has a long history in the production of gold coins, but many of these are now beyond the means of the average coin collector.

In general, there are many way to collect gold.  Gold coins, however, are often considered one of the best, as they do not focus solely on the metals; instead, they combine the appreciation of artistry, numismatic value, and precious metal content.  With gold outpacing the market in the past ten years, gold coins have become increasingly expensive – and much more difficult to procure.  Demands for gold and the price of gold have reached record highs given the current economy, and many investment professionals advise that now is the best time to diversify portfolios with hard asset gold.

Not all gold coins are out of reach, though.  There are affordable options for collectors, given the U.S. Mint’s production of American Eagle gold bullion coins in a variety of denominations.  The compact tenth-ounce gold piece, for example, is one of the most popular pieces of the Mint’s ongoing Gold Eagle series.  The five-dollar gold piece contains one-tenth of an ounce of pure 22 karat gold and sells for $229 dollars.

American Eagle bullion coins were first congressionally authorized for production in order to provide affordable and convenient ways to add silver, gold, and platinum to investment portfolios.  These coins are meticulously produced and each coin’s content, weight, and purity is guaranteed by the United States’ government.

The obverses of these coins were all designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, with the “Standing Liberty” design, originally used on U.S. twenty-dollar gold pieces from 1907 through 1933.  On the reverse of the gold Eagle coins is the homely “Family of Eagles” engraving; a male eagle with an olive branch approaches a nest with a female eagle and her hatchlings, designed by Miley Busiek.

The American Eagle gold coins are made in four denominations: a $50 coin with one ounce of gold; a $25 coin with a half an ounce of gold; a $10 coin at a quarter of an ounce of gold; and the $5 coin at a tenth of an ounce of gold.  Each coin is made of 22 karat gold.  These coins are not made available directly through the U.S. Mint; here at International Coins and Currency, we offer the $5 denomination, given its affordability and popularity; and we even have the new 2013 issue!

If you’re interested in reading more about the history of the American Eagle coin (silver, specifically) and the history of its design and rebirth in modern America, check out the blog we posted in January here.

Jennie Lutton, for ICCoin.com

(ed. A. Paulger-Foran)

Have questions, comments, or concerns?  Give us a ring, send us an e-mail, or ship out that letter snail mail!  We would love to hear from you!  Contact us here.

Works Cited

Garg, S., & Gupta, P.L. (1992). Chapter 2.  In D.W. MacDowall & S. Sharma (Eds.)  Indian Numismatics,

History, Art, and Culture: Essays in the Honour of Dr. P.L. Gupta.  (n. pag.). Delhi: Agam Kala

Prakashan.