1893-S $1, PL (Regular Strike)

The 1893-S Morgan Dollar

Founded in 1833, the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company — known to generations of players of the famous Parker Brothers board game Monopoly as the Reading Railroad — was one of the first railroad companies in the United States. In its earliest days, it carried coal from Pottsville to Reading and then onward to Philadelphia. Eventually, it bought the coal mines and carried its own product along its double-track lines up and down the Schuylkill River. As the company's fortunes grew, so did its reach. It gained control of lines feeding into New York City in 1879 and into New Jersey in 1892. This growth was not without its share of competition from rival rail barons, or from violence, as a militia was used to violently suppress rioters and protestors in July 1877.

It also came with a tremendous amount of risk under the leadership of company president Archibald A. McLeod. Crushed by debt he couldn't pay, the company went into receivership in February 1893, which caused markets to panic. The crisis quickly spiraled out of control when the Treasury's gold reserves fell below the psychological threshold of $100 million, shattering confidence in the dollar. Another major business, the National Cordage Company, went bust in May. A stock market crash followed, and the contagion spread across the entire economy. National unemployment soared to nearly 20% and was even higher in the industrial cities in the Northeast and Midwest. Americans were angry, and many rallied on the side of labor, sparking violent protests that were put down by federal troops under the order of President Grover Cleveland.

Unlike the East Coast and Midwest, California initially weathered the Panic of 1893 with a degree of resilience, though it eventually succumbed to the broader depression. What protected the California economy was its distrust of paper money and its reliance on its most important native "crop" — gold. However, California eventually experienced its own bank runs, and major banking institutions like the Pacific Bank and the People's Home Savings Bank failed in the summer of 1893. To get out of the financial troubles and restore its gold reserves, Congress repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. Without the Congressional mandate to purchase millions of ounces of silver, the need to continue striking commercially unnecessary Morgan Dollars was no longer present. As a result, in 1893, the San Francisco Mint produced just 100,000 pieces, and the Carson City Mint produced 677,000 pieces before closing its coinage operations shortly thereafter.

Collecting the 1893-S Morgan Dollar

The 1893-S Morgan Dollar (#7226) is the most challenging coin in the series to acquire in Mint State, with fewer than 100 uncirculated examples known to exist today. An estimated 25 to 30 percent of these surfaced in the early 1960s when John B. Love of the Record Coin Shop in Cut Bank, Montana, discovered them mixed into an original bag of 1894-S Dollars (#7232). Sealed in early January 1894, the bag contained a scattering of coins struck from the previous year’s dies. Love believed that most surviving Mint State pieces of this key date originated from that single bank hoard.

The solitary PCGS MS67 specimen was once owned by Dr. Cornelius Vermeule, a collector, scholar, and numismatic author. It was later the centerpiece of Jack Lee's collection and has since solidified its status as the pinnacle of Morgan Dollars, shattering records by selling for over $2 million at auction. A nicely toned example that is tied for the second finest known sold in an August 2026 GreatCollections auction for over $1 million.

Even in circulated condition, the 1893-S demands a premium across all grades, with values starting well above $2,500 in PCGS FR02 and crossing $6,000 in PCGS VG08. Of the original 100,000 mintage, fewer than 10,000 total survivors likely remain, cementing the 1893-S as the absolute key-date coin of the 19th century. For collectors pursuing a Prooflike (PL) or Deep Mirror Prooflike (DMPL) set, the 1893-S is the ultimate stopper with only one known piece certified by PCGS in PL.

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