Lot 1507
1890. PCGS graded MS-64+. Well struck with near immaculate satiny mint surfaces exhibiting full mint bloom. A Premium Quality coin in a new PCGS Secure Plus holder. Only 4,240 struck. The 1890 Half Eagle's low mintage can be partially traced to a foolish piece of legislation passed by the Congress. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was enacted in 1890 as a United States federal law. While not authorizing the free and unlimited coinage of silver that the Free Silver supporters wanted, it increased the amount of silver the government was required to purchase every month. The US government was now required to purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver bullion every month. The new law further required the Treasury to buy the silver with notes that could be redeemed for either silver or gold ("Treasury Notes"). That plan backfired, when speculators turned in their silver Treasury notes for gold money, thus depleting the government's gold reserves. A series of gold stringencies occurred in this period (note the extreme variability in all denominations of gold mintage at the Philadelphia Mint in 1889-1892). This led up to an economic crisis. After the Panic of 1893 broke, President Grover Cleveland urged Congress to repeal of the Act in 1893 to prevent the depletion of the country's gold reserves. Soon thereafter, more normal mintage totals returned in the half eagle, eagle, and double eagle series.Pop 1; 1 in 66.
Estimated Value $10,000 - 11,000.
|
| |
| Realized $11,500 |
