The mining interests had powerful friends in Congress – and while they didn’t get totally unlimited coinage, they did win a lucrative deal: Under the new law, the U.S.
#UNLIMITED COINAGE OF SILVER FREE#
A bitter battle arose regarding the merits of “free silver” – the free and unlimited coinage of silver dollars. Mine owners soon were denouncing that law as the “Crime of ’73” and demanding its repeal. Agitation for the coin came mainly from the owners of the nation’s silver mines, who were aggressively seeking new outlets for freshly processed ore.įive years earlier, Congress had passed legislation halting production of standard silver dollars as part of an attempt to reform the nation’s coinage.
There was no real need and little public demand for a new silver dollar when Congress authorized this coin in the Bland-Allison Act of 1878. In the last quarter-century, it has become one of hobbyists’ favorite U.S. In recent years, however, long after the end of its limited existence as a circulating coin, the Morgan dollar has achieved a vibrant new life – some might even say a measure of immortality – as a collectible. Thereafter, hundreds of millions were melted or lay idle in storage vaults for decades.
It saw relatively little use during the years it was made by the United States Mint. The birth of this familiar silver coin in 1878 was greeted with a huge collective yawn by much of the American public. Is there life after death? Those who doubt it ought to consider the case of the Morgan dollar.
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