1886-S Morgan Dollar

The 1886-S Morgan Dollar was struck at the San Francisco Mint in 1886 and is part of the Morgan Dollar series.

Specifications

 * Designer: George T. Morgan
 * Obverse Design: Lady Liberty
 * Reverse Design: Eagle holding arrows and olive branch
 * Edge: Reeded
 * Weight: 26.73 grams
 * Diameter: 38.1 millimeters
 * Composition: Silver (90%), Copper (10%)
 * Mintage: Circulation Strikes: est. 750,000

Background
With the Carson City Mint not producing Morgan Dollars in 1886, the San Francisco Mint would mint the smallest number of Morgans for that year. Making the 1886-S desirable in any grade.

Collecting
The 1886 is affordable to MS-62 with higher grades commanding a premium from collectors. The strike on these coins is generally sharp with some "bagmark" problems in the population of coins. Most of these coins have excellent eye appeal with a little graininess around the motto. Very sharp strikes require some searching.

Prooflike coins are seen fairly frequently and the same with DMPL coins. Keep a look-out for prooflike and DMPL characteristics as these are sought-after by collectors.

Historical Background in 1886
March 29, 1886, Wilhelm Steinitz becomes first recognized World Chess Champion. Wilhelm (later William) Steinitz (Prague, May 17, 1836 – August 12, 1900) was an Austrian and then American chess player and the first undisputed world chess champion from 1886 to 1894. From the 1870s onwards, commentators have debated whether Steinitz was effectively the champion earlier. Steinitz lost his title to Emanuel Lasker in 1894 and also lost a rematch in 1897.

October 28, 1886, in New York Harbor, U.S. President Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886. The statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France, is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue has become an icon of freedom and of the United States.

On December 25, 1886, Arsenal Football Club is founded. Arsenal Football Club is an English professional football club based in Holloway, London, which currently plays in the Premier League. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups. Arsenal holds the record for the longest uninterrupted period in the English top flight and is the only side to have completed a Premier League season unbeaten (in the 2003-04 season). Arsenal was founded in 1886 in Woolwich and in 1893 became the first club from the south of England to join the Football League.

Die Varieties

 * VAM-1 Normal Die
 * VAM-1A Lines in 6
 * VAM-1B Die chip in O
 * VAM-2 S/S Repunched Mint Mark (Top 100 Morgan Vam)
 * VAM-3 Doubled 18-6, S Tilted Left
 * VAM-4 S/S Sides