Weekly Market Report: Silver Dollars are on the Move as Collectors Seek Top Quality, Tough Dates

By Bruce Amspacher - May 1, 2001

All varieties of silver dollars are in demand. Pictured is an 1800 Bust dollar.

Let's talk about silver dollars!

From the 1794 Flowing Hair dollar through the 1935 Peace dollar (and that covers a lot of coins) silver dollars are among the hottest areas of the 2001 rare coin market. Early coins are in great demand and are bringing record prices. Supplies of scarce and rare date Morgan dollars are dwindling and prices are getting ready to make a significant move upwards. The elite coins of the series offer unlimited potential. Even with all of this happening, there are segments of this market that are slow. In order to get the inside scoop on what's really going on we checked with two world-renowned silver dollars gurus, John Love and Jack Lee.

Prices of many semi-key dates are ready for "a big jump!"

"You can look for a big jump in the Morgan dollar market," says John B. Love of Record Coin Shop in Cut Bank, Montana. "The supplies of MS63 and MS64 better dates are incredibly thin and the demand is tremendous. That can only lead to one thing, and that's rising prices."

John, can you share with us which dates you're talking about? "A few months ago I got tired of chasing down 1880-CC dollars in MS64. I was always out of them. Bid was $225. I raised my buy price to $325. Do you know how many I bought? Two! That's it. Two coins. The market didn't even blink. There are over 3,000 pieces certified by PCGS in that grade, counting varieties, but the supply is almost nonexistent.

"From that beginning you can go right down the list in MS62 through MS64. There's the '86-S, '88-S, 90-S and '99-P, to name just a few. I know these coins are going up because I'm raising my bids significantly."

What about the MS65 and MS66 coins? "The generic dates are slow right now in MS65 and MS66, and the semi-generics are slow in MS65, such as the '82-CC, '83-CC and '84-CC. But if the coin is a little better date in MS66 it's a great seller. Some of the dates in tremendous demand in MS66 are the '88-P, '96-P, '97-P, '98-P and '02-O."

What else? "Even though MS65 and MS66 generics are slow, the MS64 pieces are doing just fine. Circulated key dates are doing great as well. I haven't had a '93-S in any grade in a month. All of that stuff sells instantly," Love continued. "Key and semi-key Peace dollars are also selling in MS63 and MS64."

The word on the street is that DMPL [deep mirror prooflike] dollars are hot again. What about that? "Hot? You never see them anymore! There never was a big supply, but now the sellers have disappeared. There's one thing to be careful about, though," Love concluded. "White coins are the name of the game. That's what the people want, and the brown-toned coins are non-sellers, even if the surfaces are beautiful underneath the toning."

The secret? If you like it, just buy it!

Jack Lee of American Silver Dollars in Flowood, Mississippi, once assembled the greatest set of Morgan dollars in the history of the universe. There is no argument about that from anyone. Since he has owned the best of virtually every date in the series, he definitely knows what he's talking about in the world of beautiful bucks.

"The good dates are doing extremely well, the really good dates are in tremendous demand, and the coins with a population of only one or two coins couldn't be any better. There are eight or ten serious collectors looking for the finest dollars, so when a great low-pop coin comes on the market it's gone in an instant," Lee said.

"Not every silver dollar in every grade is a wonderful seller, of course. Generics are soft, and even some of the MS66 and MS67 coins are in neutral. If a dollar has a population of 40 coins in MS67, for instance, it might stay in inventory for a while.

"There is a ready market for DMPL dollars. They have seen a STRONG comeback, as have the regular PL dollars. Those coins are very easy to sell."

Jack, what dates do you particularly like right now? "The 1891-P is a coin that you almost never see. Of the dates that are in high demand but not impossible to find, the '99-P and '03-O are excellent choices."

Any advice for the dollar buyers in the coming market? "Many years ago a wondrous '84-P dollar showed up on the bourse floor. It was priced at about ten times bid. Dean Tavenner bought it anyway and was nice enough to sell it to me for a small profit. I asked him how he knew it was okay to pay so much for the coin. 'If you like it, just buy it,' Dean answered.

"That seems to be great advice for the upcoming market. I believe we're going to see the great coins trade at prices that having nothing to do with so-called bid and ask levels. Absolutely anything can happen when the right coin comes along."

Want to buy some silver dollars? Me, too!

All of this talk about great silver dollars is getting my blood pumping. What to do? There's an excellent auction on the docket for May 21, 2001, as Bowers & Merena Galleries offers Part III of the Lucien M. LaRiviere Cabinet. This 1,175-lot sale will take place at the Park Lane Hotel in New York City. Internet bids will be accepted through May 19.

Included in this sale are 136 lots of silver dollars, encompassing single pieces as well as large lots. As a bonus, there are 38 lots of Bust Dollars! To bid or just peruse the lots, click here.

Bruce Amspacher has been a professional writer since the 1950s and a professional numismatist since the 1960s. He won the OIPA sportswriting award in 1958 and again in 1959, then spent eight years in college studying American Literature. This background somehow led him to become a professional numismatist in 1968. Since then he has published hundreds of articles on rare coins in dozens of publications as well as publishing his own newsletter, the “Bruce Amspacher Investment Report,” for more than a decade. His areas of expertise include Liberty Seated dollars, Morgan and Peace dollars, United States gold coins, sports trivia, Western history, modern literature and the poetry of Emily Dickinson. In 1986 he was a co-founder of the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS).