Silver Dollar, 1886-O, PCGS MS 64 CAC

A well struck example, with even, slightly muted lustre and hard white fields; the whole with an attractive and consistent frostiness. An exception to Wayne Miller’s comment that most of the emission is heavily bagmarked. The marks are scattered, one small one above Liberty’s brow serves as an identifier under magnification. As Dave Bowers has observed, the 1886-0 issue is “an anomaly”. Despite a massive production of nearly eleven million pieces and the great releases of silver dollars by the government in the mid-20th century, few mint state examples of the issue are known, and at the upper end of the spectrum they are great rarities. This example is an appealing coin of a surprising scarcity.