Q. David Bowers
There will always be diverging interests. Collectors and dealers owning a particular coin often hope that it is as rare as possible, while an objective researcher endeavors to present the facts as they exist. Each of these perspectives must be considered.
Anyone can make estimates, and if they are given as that-estimates-and not facts, there is always the opportunity to change them in the future. Over the years I have written hundreds of auction and fixed price catalogues and have made countless thousands of statements. I do not hold that each one is accurate if reproduced today, for the dynamics of numismatics change, new information comes to light, and we all learn in the process. Without doubt, some of the finest auction catalogues ever written were turned out by the New Netherlands Coin Company in the 1950s and 1960s. And yet, I was reading one of these the other day and noticed a description for an 1836 Gobrecht dollar, and no mention was made of the die alignment, something that would be described now by anyone who had even the most rudimentary knowledge of Gobrecht issues. But, in the 1950s and 1960s it wasn't, and my catalogues didn't have this information either.
Occasionally, an engraved or stamped Flowing Hair, Draped Bust, or Liberty Seated dollar comes on the market, attesting to its use as a sentimental remembrance in a wedding or birth observance, or, possibly, its utility as a pocket piece. Several have inscriptions pertaining to the Civil War and may have been carried by a Johnny Reb or his northern counterpart. The shame of it all in numismatics is that worn coins and counters tamped or engraved coins are often dismissed by "connoisseurs" who prefer glittering Proofs. I recall that once a gentleman from New Jersey approached me about forming a collection of colonial American coins in gem Uncirculated grade. I told him that with the exception of a few issues such as the 1773 Virginia halfpenny, 1795 Talbot, Allum & Lee cent, etc., such a goal was an impossibility. In fact, among certain Vermont coppers the finest known specimen might be only Very Good or Fine. He mumbled something about why would anyone want to collect such things, and pursued the matter no further.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with gem Proofs, and, supplies permitting (which they don't), everyone should have a full set of Proof Liberty Seated dollars: However, the image that Proofs and high-grade Mint State coins exist of many dates often prevents collectors from enjoying what is available and is readily at hand, say a well-worn but very interesting common 1841. Perhaps it was carried on the battlefield in Shiloh, Chickamauga, or Manassas. Such pedigrees are forever unknowable, but it is certain that a coin worn down to the point of near smoothness has been to a lot of places and has done a lot of things. Our numismatic predecessors did not have delusions of grandeur when it came to high grades of coins. One of the lessons to be learned from examining auction catalogue listings of Liberty Seated dollars included infamous collections of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is that grades such as Very Fine and Extremely fine were the norm for many coins dated in the 1840s and for the mintmarked issues.
While it is popular to state that Morgan dollars went from coining press to bag to storage to melting pot (or to later release to delight collectors), the incontrovertible evidence of wear seen on many dollars of this type attests to their everyday use as coins of the realm, if primarily in the West. It is not to be overlooked that many citizens of the West did not like paper bills; people there preferred "hard money." Saloons, gambling parlors, bordellos, and other establishments of the mining camps used silver dollars far into the night, and the chances are that a wellworn 1881-S would spin many tales if it could.
It is fascinating to contemplate the stories that silver dollars hide between their surfaces.
In addition to historical tales about the largest American silver denomination, there are numismatic narratives to relate. For the present book I have secured the recollections of Harry Forman, Ruth Bauer, John Skubis, John Jay Ford, Jr., Robert Johnson, Jonah Shapiro, Leon Hendrickson, and others who were deeply involved.
As no one knows how many of a given Morgan silver dollar were melted under the Pittman Act of 1918, and as no one knows how rare a given issue is in MS-60, MS-63, or some other grade, just about anyone can issue predictions; sometimes the more fanciful, the better. As such, Morgan (and, to a lesser extent, Peace) dollars have been oil to grease the skids of investment newsletters. If someone were to run an advertisement in Coin World or Numismatic News with this title: "10 Morgan Dollars Likely to Double in Price in a Year," he would get dozens of times more orders than if he were to place a notice soliciting orders for a study titled "Die Varieties of 1795. Silver Dollars." Such is life. The almighty dollar (pun intended) raises its head once again.