The Binion Collection
Silver Dollars from the Hoard of Ted Binion

BINION HISTORY

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UNITED STATES SILVER DOLLARS

The Binion Collection contains both Morgan and Peace silver dollars.  Please read on to learn more about these varieties and a general history of the silver dollar in the United States.


Morgan Silver Dollars

The Morgan silver dollar was named for its designer George T. Morgan, who placed an M on both sides of the coin to lay his claim.  These coins were minted from 1878 until 1904 in the Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Carson City mints.   Letters signifying the mint of the coin (commonly referred to as a mint mark) were stamped on the reverse side of the coin underneath the branches on which the Eagle sits.  Only Morgan silver dollars coined in Philadelphia have no mint mark.  

The coins were discontinued in 1904 after the government exhausted its supply of silver bullion.  In 1918, Congress passed the Pittman Act and recalled over 270 million silver dollars for melting.  The silver dollar gained new life in America in 1921 and in that year the Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Denver mints coined the last Morgan silver dollars.  

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Peace Silver Dollars


These same three mints also began production of Peace silver dollars in 1921.  Their mint marks (except for coins minted in Philadelphia) are located underneath the word "ONE" next to the eagle on the coin's reverse.  These coins were designed by medalist Anthony DeFrancisci to commemorate World War I and were minted until 1935.  Peace dollars were actually struck again in Denver in 1965 but were never released to the public.  All were melted and none from this date have been preserved.  


A History of the Silver Dollar

The silver dollar has a history in the United States even before the Morgan and Peace varieties.  Congress first authorized the silver dollar on April 2, 1792.  For the next thirteen years, a few variations of the silver dollar existed.  The coinage of these dollars was suspended until 1835 when Gobrecht dollar varieties (named for engraver Christian Gobrecht) began being minted.  The Liberty Seated type followed in 1840 and continued until Congress eliminated coinage of the silver dollar in an act commonly referred to as the "Crime of '73".  To understand why an Act in Congress could be hated to the extent it would be called a crime by a large segment of the population, it is necessary to understand the economic climate of the United States at the time.

American experienced a great depression in the 1870s.  This depression led to a bimetallism movement favored by agrarians, miners, and debtors of the Democratic Party.  This movement, known as the Free Silver Movement, advocated the unlimited coinage of silver and began in earnest when Congress discontinued the silver dollar with the "Crime of '73."  For five years after this Act, only slightly larger (Trade) dollars were minted, and only expressly for export demand in Asia.  The vast majority of citizens of the United States would not see any newly minted silver coins during this time.

The Free Silver Movement's first major achievement was the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, which resulted in the re-emergence of the silver dollar in the Morgan type.  The victory was two-fold for proponents of a silver standard.  Not only was the silver dollar restored as legal tender (which marked the beginning of the Morgan dollar), but the US Treasury was also required to purchase between $2 and $4 million for coining dollars.  Certainly much of this silver came from the famed silver Comstock Lode in western Nevada.  In 1890, Congress passed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act (over a presidential veto by Benjamin Harrison) which increased the amount of silver purchased by over 50%.

Several years later William Jennings Bryan (pictured left) delivered his famous "Cross of Gold" speech.  It was this speech that garnered him the Democratic presidential nomination for the 1896 election at the age of 36, making him the youngest person to earn this distinction from a major party.  Demand for a silver standard waned (much as the gold standard would later on) soon after the Republicans held the White House and has never been seriously considered since.  Although many countries utilized a silver standard in the 19th Century, no country in the world operates on one today.

The Coinage Act of 1965 was designed to reduce or eliminate the amount of silver in American coins.  Coins minted after this date were composed of a lower percentage of silver or contained none at all.  Therefore, many Americans started hoarding silver dollars in circulation.  Ted Binion's collection is particularly special not only because of the Binion family, but also because his silver dollars are uncirculated.  Many of these investment-quality silver dollars are higher-grade.

The United States has minted only two other silver dollars after the Peace dollar.  Eisenhower dollars, minted from 1971-78, conformed to the Coinage Act of 1965 and are composed of only 40% silver.  The Silver American Eagles of today are bullion coins meaning that even though "ONE DOLLAR" appears on these coins, they are actually worth closer to the spot price that silver carries.

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