1883-O Morgan Dollar

The 1883-O Morgan Dollar was struck at the New Orleans Mint in 1883 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. 8,725,000

Background
With a mintage of 8,725,000, the 1883-O Morgan Dollar was produced in quantity. The New Orleans Mint continued to produce higher mintages than the Carson City Mint but fewer than the Philadelphia Mint and San Francisco Mint.

Collecting
The 1883-O Morgans Dollar strikes vary widely in quality ---from sharp to weak. An average strike is easy to locate and examples are accessible to MS-66 with higher grades at a premium. Some examples in the marketplace are razor sharp with a deep luster, are worth the search, and command a premium from collectors.

Prooflike examples exist in quantity but contrast can be a problem. Separate those later strikes for wear and the those unfortunate bagmarked.

Historical Background in 1883
On August – King William's College is opened on the Isle of Man. King William's College is a leading world International Baccalaureate HMC independent school for ages 3 to 18, situated near Castletown on the Isle of Man. The College is located on two sites in Castletown; the main estate which takes pride of place on the shore of Castletown Bay, and The Buchan School which is the College's preparatory school, located in the Westhill part of Castletown, some two miles from the main campus. The College, known as KWC or to the local people as King Bill's, widened entry from boys-only to co-educational in the 1980s. Today there are roughly 500 pupils, many of whom are international.

On June 16, 1883, the Victoria Hall disaster occurs: A rush for treats results in 183 children being asphyxiated in a concert hall in Sunderland, England. The Victoria Hall disaster, in which 183 children died, occurred in Sunderland, Great Britain on 16 June 1883 at the Victoria Hall, which was a large concert hall on Toward Road facing onto Mowbray Park.

November 3, 1883, self-described "Black Bart the Po-8" makes his last stagecoach robbery, but leaves handkerchief with a laundry mark that eventually leads to his capture. Charles Earl Bowles better known as Black Bart, was an English-born American Old West outlaw noted for his poetic messages left after two of his robberies. Also known as Charles Bolton, C.E. Bolton and Black Bart the Po8, he was a gentleman bandit, and one of the most notorious stagecoach robbers to operate in and around Northern California and southern Oregon during the 1870s and 1880s.