Silver Dollar, 1879-O, PCGS MS 65 CAC

A brilliant, white, evenly struck example with only minor softness above Liberty’s ear. With exceptionally clean and unmarked surfaces for the grade, a minor mark between the Motto and legend on the reverse serves to identify this example.

1879 marked the first year of Morgan dollar production at New Orleans; it was also the first year coining operations resumed at that mint since the close of the Civil War. As Bowers noted in his Encyclopedia, although the Mint had hoped to commence operations the previous year, repairs to the unused machinery and an outbreak of yellow fever delayed coining production until February 20, 1879.

Certificate number: 3141058 (Generation 3.1 holder). Neither PCGS nor NGC has graded any examples above MS 66+. CAC cites seventy-six at this grade and five (MS 66) finer. (02-18)