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161 bid online atwww.goldbergcoins.com (800) 978-COIN (2646) |
Session Three - Monday, June 2, 2014 10:00 AM
963 1878 7 TF Reverse of 1878. NGC graded MS-62 . Premium
Quality for the grade. Lot of 2 coins. (PCGS # 7074 )
Estimated Value ................................................... $150 - 160
1878 MORGAN D OLLAR. 7 TAIL FEATHERS,
REVERSE OF 1879
964 1878. 7 TF, Reverse of 1879. PCGS graded MS-66
PQ. CAC Approved. Lovely light golden toning. Finest we
have seen for the date. Having exhausted its supply of 8
Tail Feathers and 7/8 Tail Feathers dies, the Mint at last
switched permanently to the anatomically correct 7 Tail
Feathers version. For at least the first few months of 1878,
the reverse dies depicted an eagle with a flat breast and a
parallel fletch on the top arrow. Since no eagle alive has a
sunken chest, and unless one of the arrows held by the
eagle was bent, the perspective was wrong, these two
problems needed fixing on the reverse dies. At the end of
1878, a new eagle punch was incorporated where the
eagle's breast was rounded while the top fletch was
slanted. Coins struck from this new die. They became
known as the "Reverse of 1879" to differentiate them from
the earlier dies. It is for this reason that the 1878 7 Tail
Feathers is found with either a Reverse of 1878 (rather
common) or a Reverse of 1879. Pop 18; none finer at
PCGS . (PCGS # 7076 )
Estimated Value .................................... $10,000 - 11,000
1878 MORGAN DOLLAR. 7 TAIL FEATHERS,
REVERSE OF 1879
965 1878. 7 TF Reverse of 1879. PCGS graded MS-66. A
nice white gem tied for the finest graded at PCGS. The sur-
faces range from silvery to downright gorgeous hard white
frost. A lustrous and well struck Gem. Far in advance of
most, this 1878 Reverse of 1879 was struck with systematic
exactness including (not excepting) the often seen central
weak areas in the design. Devices foursquare and bold
throughout. Pop 18; none finer at PCGS . (PCGS #
7076)
Historic note: From the late-1870s onward, there was an
excess of silver coins in the country, first evident in 1877,
but becoming a serious problem even before specie
resumption began in 1879. At the time, only the silver dol-
lar was legal tender for any amount. Lesser denomination
had caps that varied over time, but merchants or banks or
government offices could, and did, refuse payment beyond
the specified amount. The general public managed to get
rid of the smaller denomination coins in various ways,
chiefly through purchases of stamps, payments to the gov-
ernment wherever the Treasury offices would accept them,
and deposits in the banks. They poured into the Treasury in
a steady stream from 1876 to 1880. Meanwhile the Trea-
sury was paying out new subsidiary Seated Liberty coins in
redemption of fractional notes after 1875. When the Bland-
Allison Act began to add silver dollars in 1878, the country
was called on to absorb in large numbers new subsidiary
coins, old subsidiary coins from abroad, trade dollars, and
the new standard silver dollars we now call Morgan dollars.
Fortunately, the Morgan dollars were used in large part as
backing for Silver Certificate paper money, and so were
stored in Treasury and bank vaults for the most part.
Estimated Value ........................................ $8,500 - 9,000
1878 MORGAN DOLLAR. 7 TAIL FEATHERS,
REVERSE OF 1879
966 1878. 7 TF, Reverse of 1879. NGC graded MS-66.
Well struck and white. Tied for Finest graded. Pop 17;
none finer at NGC . (PCGS # 7076)
Estimated Value ........................................ $8,500 - 9,000