Owner Comments:
The Morgan dollar's creation in the Bland-Allison Act of 1878 was the result of silver-subsidy politics, and the same politics brought about the denomination's eventual demise. The Act of July 14, 1890, better known as the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, updated the original Bland-Allison Act by providing for an even greater level of silver subsidy purchase by the U.S. Treasury, and further specified the issuance of Treasury notes. One sentence in Section 2 of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act nearly collapsed the U.S. government's financial position in 1893:
{blockquote}'That upon demand of the holder of any of the Treasury notes herein provided for the Secretary of the Treasury shall, under such regulations as he may prescribe, redeem such notes in gold or silver coin, at his discretion, it being the established policy of the United States to maintain the two metals on a parity with each other upon the present legal ratio, or such a ratio as may be provided by law.'{/blockquote}
Note holders, disagreeing with the government's ratio, virtually drained the nation of its gold reserves in conjunction with the Panic of 1893, and among other government action, the silver purchase and coining provisions of the Sherman Act were repealed. Without that legal support, strikings of silver dollars plummeted, down to just 110,000 business strikes for the 1894 Philadelphia issue. That date, while desirable, is not properly termed a condition rarity until the MS65 level, once there, though, it is among the most coveted coins in the entire Morgan dollar series
After the Panic of 1893, the U.S. government repealed the portion of the Sherman Act which called for the Treasury to make large silver purchases and to coin them into silver dollars. Due to this, the mintage of silver dollars at the Philadelphia Mint plummeted in 1894 to only 110,000 pieces (down from over 1.8 million a year before.) This made the 1894 an instant rarity and a key date today. However, it is still generally available in most grades, but it becomes extremely rare in gem.