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Wayne Miller, holding a set of early Morgan dollars, is a Helena coin and precious metals dealer and collector who handles some three quarters of a million dollars worth of saleseach year. He is the author of a book on Morgan and Peace dollars that provides new informa-tion for silver dollar enthusiasts.Collectors keep silver dollarsDemand high for Morgan and Peace dollarsBy ANGUS WHITE 1R Staff WriterTo many Montanans, silver dollars are no longer a big deal, but for Wayne Miller of Helena, it’s a different story.Miller is a mail order coin and precious metals dealer and collector who handles approximately three quarters of a million dollars worth of sales each year.Despite high volume sales, Miller said the profit margin was slim, especially in bullion transactions.For example, Miller said he purchased $68,000 worth of South African “Krugerrands (1 ounce gold coins) for a customer and his commission was $180.MILLER IS PARTICULARLY interested in Morgan’’ and Peace” silver dollars, which are the most popular dollars for collecting.This interest spurred him to write a book — the second in existence on Morgan and Peace dollars and a source of new information for silver dollar enthusiasts.Coin collectors hailed the book’s explanations of toning or chemical reactions responsible for discoloring silver dollars as a major discovery.Also included in the book is a rare index of Morgan and Peace dollars and the first discussion of mirror surfaces that are found only on Morgan dollars lt;created by polished dies used to stamp an impression on the coin).Miller said that since the 1976 publication of the book, his mail order coin business has increased dramatically. He said a recent ad in one of the major coin publications drew nearly 300 orders topping more than $50,000.The topics of the book were the largest coins ever minted in the United States, Miller said.BOTH THE MORGAN DOLLAR, which was designed by George Morgan and minted from 1878 to 1921, and the Peace dollar, which had the word peace stamped on the back as an expression of a desire following World War I to not have any more wars, had a 90 per cent silver content, Miller said.He added that there are 96 different issues of the Morgan dollar, and 24 issues of the Peace dollar, which was minted from 1921 to 1935. In all, 847,679,889 Morgan and Peace dollars were minted at five U.S. mints from 1878 until the demise of the silver dollar in 19%, the numismatist said.A COLORFUL and somewhat limited history surrounds the silver dollar, including the Peace and Morgan dollars, according to Miller.In five states — Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada and parts of Colorado — the silver dollar enjoyed a special status. In these states, Miller recalled the silver dollar was the only proper” medium of exchange until the late 1950’s because of common distrust in paper currency.The large and cumbersome dollars wore holes in many a person’s pocket.SILVER DOLLARS are relatively scarce for a number of reasons, Miller said.In 1918, Congress passed the Pittman Act, which resulted in the melting of 270.2 million silver dollars — some which had been retired from circulation because of excessive wear or mutilation.England purchased $259 million in silver bullion created from a portion of the melted dollars and 11 million silver dollars underwent a face lift and were converted into subsidiary U.S. silver coinage.The bullion bought by England later was shipped to India to quiet the influence of silver speculators.Most of this silver later returned to the U.S., which re-purchased it and minted it into Peace dollars.THE ENTIRE MINTAGE of some years was lost during the great melt,” Miller said.For instance, only one out of 12,000 silver dollars minted in Philadelphia in 1895 is known to be authentic.The World War II Silver Act of 1942 also was responsible for continued silver stock reductions. An additional 50 million silver dollars were melted down, and the government diverted the bullion to war time uses such as the Manhattan Project, which resulted in the development of the atomic bomb.IN THE LATE IMi’S, about half of a huge supply of nearly 500 million Morgan and Peace dollars was stored in the vaults of banks, mints, and the Treasury Department.Miller said the government stored the dollars to back silver certificates so that the huge quantities of silver dollars wouldn’t knock the bottom out of the silver market.During the 1960’s, the price of silver rose to levels where a profit could be made by melting the dollars for the silver content, even though at that time, it was against the law. The silver was used in jewelry, belt buckles, bracelets, money clips and cutout jewelry.PERHAPS THOUSANDS of silver dollars slipped through holes in pockets or were hidden and forgotten over a period of time.Miller recounted the Grandon Hotel fire in Helena in which 900 silver dollars melted into a pile of silver slag. He added that another 1,700 silver dollars were hidden in a mine shaft wall somewhere in Montana by an old miner who distrusted banks. Vandals sealed the shaft by a dynamite blast, he added.SOME DOLLARS DISAPPEARED from circulation because people hoarded the silver.The most spectacular silver dollar hoard, Miller said, was owned by LaVere Redfield in Reno, Nevada. The Redfield Estate was settled following Redfield’s death in 1974 and a portion of it involved 407,596 silver dollars of which 951,256 were uncirculated. The hoard brought a record bid of $7.3 million.Miller said Redfield was an eccentric who stored hissilver dollars by callously throwing bags of dollars down a coal chute into his basement.Redfield was not a silver dollar collector, Miller said, but collected the dollars because of a profound distrust in government and paper money.The wholesale value of the Redfield hoard has been estimated at between $15 and $20 million, and is the largest quantity of silver dollars individually owned and amassed in one place in history, Miller said.A HOARD IN CARSON CITY represents the last silver dollars held by the U.S. Treasury after the silver dollar rush of 1961-1964 and it is even larger than the Redfield hoard.In five sales starting in October 1972 the Carson City Treasury offered approximately three million silver dollars to the public.Miller noted the sales stimulated silver dollar collecting and have had an impact on the price of all issues since the first sale.He said a remaining 975,000 silver dollars are to be offered for sale to the public in the future.LOCALLY, TWO HELENA boarders accumulated 80 bags of uncirculated silver dollars with loans from a local bank in the 1960s, said Miller, who first became interested in coin collecting when he was a kid. His grandfather had some old coins, and Miller would send away for $10 in coins every month.His interest in coin collecting slacked off, but in 1966 while he was a graduate student in social work in Washington D.C., he regained interest. Miller has been a coin dealer for 11 years and a full time dealer for the past four years.HE SPECULATES that the country will experience increased inflation, driving silver and gold prices up, because of the East coast freeze this winter, and the drought which is presently facing the western United States.But he doesn’t expect silver dollars to again be minted because of inflation and the increasing value of silver.circulatingMorganHe wrote the book
Newspaper Details
Helena Independent Record
Helena, Montana, US
Fri, May 06, 1977
Page 36
Full Page
Clipped by
Ted B.
NA, 22 Aug 2023
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