180
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Dollars
DMPL 1890-O M
ORGAN
D
OLLAR
1163
1890-O
.
PCGS graded MS-65 Deep Mirror Prooflike
PQ.
CAC Approved
. Light hint of gold tone around the
edges. A great looking DMPL Dollar. Silver satin luster on
Liberty and eagle ride atop mirror-bright fields on this well
presented and fully struck ’90-O example. Elusive as a Gem
Deep Mirror Prooflike, let alone a regular prooflike, and it
deserves your full attention. Soft-edged devices and letter-
ing throughout the centers are typical on this New Orleans
date, as commonly seen; however, a small percentage of
the year's production is found with enough convincing
detail to be called "bold" and this is one such coin!
Pop
17; 1 finer in 66
. (
PCGS # 97201
)
Estimated Value .................................... $10,000 - 12,000
DMPL 1890-S M
ORGAN
D
OLLAR
1164
1890-S
.
NGC graded MS-65 DPL
. Well struck and fully
white. A very attractive gem with decidedly reflective sur-
faces, supporting devices that burst out atop with bright
and hard-working frosty throughout. Some weak spots in
strike is seen only at the hair above Liberty’s ear where
there is the least little touch of rounding. Fortunately this
has appreciable eagle chest feathers, and as such can be
described as bold.
Pop 6; none finer at NGC
. (
PCGS #
97203
)
Derivation of the word Prooflike: The designation Prooflike,
Deep Prooflike, Deep Mirror Prooflike (DMPL, pronounced
“dimple”) first emerged to describe Morgan Dollars (and
later certain Peace Dollars). The term is being extended
now to describe other coins that have the bright, shiny, mir-
rored surfaces and frosted devices of Proof coins, but which
were struck for circulation. In most cases, the dies that
struck the prooflike coins were prepared and polished in a
similar manner to the Morgan Dollar dies. The procedure
included a step called "basining" the dies. Basining was
where each individual die just before inserting it into the
coin press is machined on the die face to a slight concavity
while applying a very fine die polish. Basining helps to
make the metal flow more evenly when a planchet is
struck. Sometimes these basined dies were buffed to a high
reflectivity, resulting in an even deeper mirror. Unfortu-
nately, the mirror effect only lasted for the first few hun-
dred to a few thousand strikes, changing slowly to the point
where luster forms and the struck coins are no longer even
mirror-like enough to be called semi-prooflike.
Estimated Value ........................................ $5,500 - 6,000
1165
1890-S
.
PCGS graded MS-64
. Lovely blue and golden
obverse toning. (
PCGS # 7202
)
Estimated Value ................................................... $300 - 350
1166
1891
.
PCGS graded Proof 62 Cameo
. Mostly white. Only
650 struck. Brilliant throughout with some minor hairlines
noted. It is easy to see this piece was delivered a hard blow by
carefully made and well polished dies, or as some researchers
believe, the Proof dies may have been close to new when set in
the equipment to impart the requisite force. The high pressure
from the hydraulic medal press that struck this large denomina-
tion imparted the dies’ sharpness to the struck planchet.
Pop 7;
46 finer at PCGS.
(
PCGS # 87326
)
Estimated Value ..............................................$2,300 - 2,400
1167
1891-CC Top 100 VAM 3 Spitting Eagle
.
PCGS graded
MS-65 PQ.
CAC Approved
. Lovely light golden toning and
boldly struck, the reverse mostly frosted white. There is little to
say about the surfaces of this coin as they are frosty as can be,
nothing is left to the imagination. The mint frost is thick; it radi-
ates intensely over each side. There is just the most gorgeous
multicolor patina as well. Moving along, we can gladly report a
highly presentable strike, with boldness to the chief design
areas, where others lack defining detail.
Pop 13; 2 finer, 1 in
65+, 1 in 66
. (
PCGS # 133937
)
Estimated Value ..............................................$3,500 - 3,800
