Finest-Known 1880-S Dollar to be Offered by Heritage!

Dallas, Texas: Heritage Galleries & Auctioneers (HG&A) will the finest known specimen of an 1880-S $1 MS69 Prooflike PCGS at their official January 3-7, 2006 Florida United Numismatists Signature Auction.

"Gem-condition San Francisco Mint dollars from 1878 through 1882 are often upheld as the pinnacle of Morgan dollar coinage," said Greg Rohan, President of HG&A, "and this unsurpassed dollar qualifies for that singular honor in a way that no other Morgan dollar so far has. This is the single highest graded business strike Morgan dollar of any date, either at PCGS or NGC."

"Currently, PCGS has graded 1,708,843 Morgan business strikes," Rohan said. "Of that enormous number of coins, PCGS has graded eight coins of all dates MS69 (non-Prooflike). In the Deep Mirror Prooflike designation, PCGS has graded five coins of all dates MS68 Deep Mirror Prooflike. Within the Prooflike category, PCGS has graded 21 coins graded MS68 Prooflike. But this is the only Morgan business strike, of any date, that PCGS has graded MS69 Prooflike."

"The employees at the San Francisco Mint during the nascent years of the Morgan coinage were obviously obsessed with producing high quality, well struck coins," Rohan said, "and that obsession shows in the high number of existing Prooflike S-mint coins from that era. As for the coin itself, it is, of course, nearly perfect, as it should be. The mint luster on both sides is heavily frosted, except for a few extreme highpoints. The deeply mirrored, glassy, and serene fields are essentially undisturbed. The reverse reveals no mentionable distractions, even of the minutest sort, while the obverse shows what appears to be a single small bagmark in the left (facing) field that would never be mentioned on a less-pristine specimen. There is a single tiny dot mark behind Liberty's head. Finally, examination with a loupe reveals some roller marks on the lower cheek, but they are subtle and observable only under a glass when the coin is tilted just so. There is a single light, short scrape on the jawline, again visible only when the coin is tilted under a glass. These are the only mentionable condition qualifiers on this coin, and ones that clarify the distinctions between MS69 and MS70."

"This is the ultimate coin for the connoisseur assembling the finest type set," Rohan concluded. "It is also the ultimate, unbeaten, single loftiest coin for the date collector assembling the highest ranking Morgan dollar set. For the collector desiring the ultimate, this example is both irreplaceable and unimprovable."

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