While collectors prize the Morgan silver dollar today, in its day much of America shunned the coins, even the President of the United States was against it. After silver coins stopped being minted in the United States in 1873, the booming silver mines in the West were producing more silver than the mine owners could sell. In 1878 the Bland-Allison Act was introduced in Congress to give the silver mines an outlet for all of the excess silver by selling it to the government for minting coins. The bill passed, even though President Rutherford B. Hayes vetoed it.
The first Morgan dollar was minted in 1878. Also the infamous Lincoln County War began in New Mexico. The war was started to break a monopoly in the county in the beef cattle trade. The most famous participant in the conflict was William Henry McCarty, also known as Billy the Kid.
The Morgan coins saw America through good and bad times, including many milestones in the country's history. Some of the more notable include;
1879-Thomas Edison demonstrated a successful electric light with a cotton thread as the filament.
1881-President James Garfield was shot in July and died in September.
1882-Jesse James was shot and killed by one of his associates.
1883-The Brooklyn Bridge was opened.
1885-The Westinghouse Electrical & Manufacturing Company was founded.
1886-The first Coca-Cola was sold by pharmacist John S. Pemberton in Atlanta, Georgia.
1887-Thomas Edison built the first motor driven phonograph.
1888-George Eastman introduced the Kodak camera.
1889-The I.M. Singer company begins marketing the first electrically driven sewing machine.
1891-Carnegie Hall opens in New York City.
1894-Oil begins gushing from a well being drilled for water in Corsicana, Texas.
1895-The first auto race took place on a 53 mile stretch between Chicago and Milwaukee.
1896-The first commercial car for sale was made by the Duryea Motor Company in Massachusetts.
1898-Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders made their famous charge up San Juan Hill.
1901-President William McKinley was shot in Buffalo and died 8 days later.
1903-At Kitty Hawk, North Carolina Wilbur and Orville Wright flew 852 feet at an altitude of 15 feet for 59 seconds.
The Morgan silver dollar is now the most popular silver dollar among collectors, and one of the most collected of all American coins. Having seen America through so many important moments, it's no wonder this coin becomes more popular each year.
William Davis
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Coins From Ancient Times Were Often of Superb Artistic Value
Did you know that the very first known coins were made of an alloy of silver and gold? The reason seems to have been that this alloy, called "electrum" was found naturally in riverbeds in the area -- the kingdom of Lydia in what is now the western part of Turkey, near the Mediterranean coast.
The ruler of Lydia of about 600 B.C. had arrived at the excellent idea of issuing clumps of electrum with a standardized weight, and marking them as such with a stamp. The result was what we call a coin. These ancient coins look very coarse to us, they are just little rounded clumps of precious metal bearing a symbol on one side. This symbol which identifies them as coins is usually an animal, such as a lion, often quite skillfully rendered.
Modern measurements of these early coins reveal that their weight is surprisingly constant. The weight of different coins of the same denomination varies only very slightly.
Pretty soon, coins appeared all over the eastern part of the Mediterranean area, now they were produced by the various Greek city-states. The ancient Greek coins soon acquired the look of coins as we are used to see them: flat circular discs with designs on both sides. These Greek coins were almost always made of pure silver.
The city of Athens controlled some very productive silver mines, which made Athens a powerful force in the area. Coins were used to pay mercenary soldiers, which meant that if you had much silver you were likely to win a war.
Another, more pleasing, aspect of early Greek coinage is the very high aestetic appeal of these coins. My personal opinion is that certain ancient Greek coins are the most beautiful coins ever produced in the history of coinage -- including even the most spectacular modern coins such as the Morgan silver dollar.
Using very primitive tools, the ancient coin makers achieved fantastic results. The later history of coins is for the most part a history of artistic decline. Some coins issued under the Roman empire do show great artistic merit, but as time goes on it seems not only the Empire declines but also the appeal of the coins.
Coins produced during medieval times, in countries like England, are very coarse and the quality of the engraving is amateurish. It seems there are no longer any skilled craftsmen engaged in coin production. In my opinion they have no artistic value whatsoever, especially by comparison to the superb Greek coins made seventeen centuries earlier.
Kai Virihaur
The ruler of Lydia of about 600 B.C. had arrived at the excellent idea of issuing clumps of electrum with a standardized weight, and marking them as such with a stamp. The result was what we call a coin. These ancient coins look very coarse to us, they are just little rounded clumps of precious metal bearing a symbol on one side. This symbol which identifies them as coins is usually an animal, such as a lion, often quite skillfully rendered.
Modern measurements of these early coins reveal that their weight is surprisingly constant. The weight of different coins of the same denomination varies only very slightly.
Pretty soon, coins appeared all over the eastern part of the Mediterranean area, now they were produced by the various Greek city-states. The ancient Greek coins soon acquired the look of coins as we are used to see them: flat circular discs with designs on both sides. These Greek coins were almost always made of pure silver.
The city of Athens controlled some very productive silver mines, which made Athens a powerful force in the area. Coins were used to pay mercenary soldiers, which meant that if you had much silver you were likely to win a war.
Another, more pleasing, aspect of early Greek coinage is the very high aestetic appeal of these coins. My personal opinion is that certain ancient Greek coins are the most beautiful coins ever produced in the history of coinage -- including even the most spectacular modern coins such as the Morgan silver dollar.
Using very primitive tools, the ancient coin makers achieved fantastic results. The later history of coins is for the most part a history of artistic decline. Some coins issued under the Roman empire do show great artistic merit, but as time goes on it seems not only the Empire declines but also the appeal of the coins.
Coins produced during medieval times, in countries like England, are very coarse and the quality of the engraving is amateurish. It seems there are no longer any skilled craftsmen engaged in coin production. In my opinion they have no artistic value whatsoever, especially by comparison to the superb Greek coins made seventeen centuries earlier.
Kai Virihaur
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