1893-S Morgan Dollar "RAREST of ALL MORGANS"

PCGS Mint State 63

Upon first glance this coin appears to be a MS65, but upon close review there are a few light hairlines that keep it from a higher grade. In all grades, this date is the rarest of all Morgan dollars, and it is easily the most famous. It is difficult to say what Mint State grade constitutes the best value to prospective investors, although MS63 seems to be an excellent choice. Of course, budget constraints dictate that most collectors must be content with a circulated piece to represent the date. Even with the tremendous prices that these coins have been bringing over the last 35 years, few Mint State examples have ever come to light.
The actual surviving population of Mint State examples today is subject to debate. Clearly the grading service data is subject to substantial numbers of resubmissions and cannot be relied upon as an accurate figure. Whatever the case, this is truly a stunning piece and a once in a lifetime find. Despite the limited mintage of this date, the surviving population of Mint State coins is surprisingly low. Wayne Miller once reported the finding of 20 pieces in a bag of otherwise 1894-S dollars located in Montana, but no other groupings of these coins have been discovered since the 1940s, at the latest.
The year 1893 brought several events that ultimately influenced this and related issues. The silver purchase clause of the Act of July 14, 1890 was repealed on November 1, 1893, resulting in a drastically reduced need for silver to be converted into coinage. For the next few years, mintages of silver dollars were substantially smaller than in previous years. The World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893, brought an issue of commemorative quarters and half dollars that did much to increase the popularity of coin collecting at that time. Finally, in 1893 Augustus Heaton published a little book simply titled Mint Marks. Prior to this publication, little attention was paid to the small identifying marks on the branch mint coins.

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