1883-CC Morgan $1 Coin of the Week 3-7-10

Mitchell,

I am a real novice when it comes to Morgans. For example, the GSA Morgan image you just posted brings up an interesting question for me.

I've always thought that one-sided rainbow toned Morgan Silver Dollars were caused by the coin being situated at the end of a paper bank roll, with the outward facing side becoming heavily toned due to its greater exposure to the elements. The opposite side of the coin remains relatively pristine white since it is held flush against the next coin in the roll and is therefore protected.

Therefore, your GSA, one-sided rainbow example seems to indicate that at least some of the coins from the GSAs hoard of surplus Morgan Silver Dollars were taken from coin rolls prior to being placed in the ubiquitous black boxes. Is this correct? Also, is my assumption about the cause of one-sided rainbow toning accurate or is it an old wives tale?

Belay Off

Belay off:

Your question isn't easily answered. We know through the GSA documentation that all of the dollars sold in their sales came from the Treasury holdings. These holdings consisted of canvas sacks each containing one thousand coins. As you can imagine, inside the sack, some coins will have some contact with the sack cloth, either on a side, partial contact, or edge contact.

Thinking out loud, I can envision a couple scenarios for how my CC GSA coin was toned:
1. obverse side had some direct contact with the canvas; reverse no contact;

2. After striking, my coin was transferred to a bank, placed in a paper roll and then stored for an extended amount of time. Then, the roll somehow made it's way back into the Treasury system and then broken apart and the coin re-bagged. My coin is has no trace of circulation and will probably grade MS65 by NGC.

From the extensive records of the Carson City mint and the Treasury, we know that most of CC minted Morgan dollars were not circulated, especially for the years 1882-1884. Given the history, it's extremely unlikely that scenario 2 could have happened.

There are many toned GSAs morgan dollars out there with various kinds of colors and patterns. It's crazy what time and chemistry will do.