1893 $1 Morgan Silver Dollar PCGS MS64

The 1893 Morgan dollar is a better date in this ever-popular series. PCGS has graded 1,331 as MS64 with 402 finer. Collectors Universe prices this issue at $3,850.00 in MS64. This low mintage issue, as well as the low mintage issues from the other three U.S. Mints that year, were the result of the economic turndown brought about by the Panic of 1893.

It was in May of 1893 that the Panic struck Wall Street. May 7 of that year saw The New York Times report that “it reached its most acute stage on Friday morning, when for nearly two hours it seemed as if the whole Street would go down in a crash…by the afternoon there had been a rebound of prices almost as great as the morning fall…the market was feverish, and from feverishness it is likely to quiet down into a weak dullness, like a patient who has been exhausted by violent spasms.” Thus began the Panic of 1893.

The Second Philadelphia Mint, where this great collectible was struck in 1893.

Mintages of silver dollars dipped dramatically in 1893 due to The Panic. Below are mintages of the four Morgan dollars issues of that year:

1893-P     378,000

1893-CC   677,000

1893-S      100,000

1893-O     300,000

Numismatics is inextricably connected to financial and economic forces, therefore explaining the low mintages of silver dollars in 1893 across the board.  Due to these extremely low mintages, and the great popularity of all four issues, there simply aren't enough 1893-dated coins to go around.