1878-S $1 Specimen Strike, VAM-58 SP

The first 10 Morgan silver dollars struck in the San Francisco Mint in a special commemorative ceremony held on April 17, 1878 were struck with special Specimen strikes. One is known struck from the VAM-58 dies.

Eighteen hundred seventy-eight is an important transitional year in the United States Mint's dollar series, seeing both the last of the circulation strike trade dollar coinage and production of the first Morgan silver dollars. Authorized by the Act of February 12, 1873, the trade dollar replaced the standard silver dollar and was meant to provide U.S merchants involved in the export trade with a domestic coin that could finally compete effectively with the Mexican dollar, the successor to the Spanish-American 8 reales as the standard for trade with the Far East and commercial use therein. In so doing, the new coin would also provide an outlet for the increased silver production from domestic mines in the West. Due to a sharp decrease in the price of silver in 1876, however, the trade dollar soon became a scourge in domestic circulation - a role for which it was never intended. While prices recovered somewhat during the second half of 1876, the writing was already on the wall and, in October 1877, Treasury Secretary John Sherman halted trade dollar coinage when the coin's bullion value in the East once again sank below that of a paper $1.

Obverse Description

Portrait of Liberty centered. On the left are found 7 stars with the words E*PLURIBUS*UNUM followed by 6 stars on the right. The date is positioned at the bottom.

Reverse Description

The heraldic eagle is centered holding a bunch of arrows and branch surrounded by and olive leaves. The words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA * ONE DOLLAR frame the periphery. Mint mark, if any, appears above the letters DO of DOLLAR.

Source: Stack's Bowers