The South’s First Wild West Silver Dollar: The 1879 New Orleans Morgan
By the early 1830s, the United States was facing a severe shortage of coinage – there was just one small silver coin per person! After the panic of 1837, caused in part by President Jackson’s fiscal policies, there was an increased need for minted money. New Orleans was one of the three branch Mints chosen by the Federal Government to fill this new need for coinage. It was selected due to its strategic location along the Mississippi and for the large quantities of gold from Mexico that also passed through its port annually. Our one and only southern Mint was created to save the nation, but few could have guessed the storied history that this Mint would have!
An Unrivaled Minting History
The New Orleans Mint has had a very rich history; in fact it actually was commissioned by the Federal Government in 1935 to help deal with a circulating coin shortage the country faced at the time, helping to stabilize our nation’s economy! The Mint operated continuously from 1838 until January 26, 1861, when the state of Louisiana seceded from the United States of America. The “New” Government allowed existing Federal Employees to remain at their posts, but they became employees of the state of Louisiana, not the federal government. That following March the state of Louisiana accepted the Confederate States Constitution and joined the Confederate Government; The New Orleans Mint retained all of its employees and began minting coinage for the Confederacy until they exhausted their bullion stores not long after.
The following year in April of 1862, the Union forces had retaken New Orleans and the southern Mint once again in the control of the United States of America’s Federal Government. Sadly, the New Orleans Mint was repurposed for several different roles during the initial post-civil war period…but, in 1879 the New Orleans Mint was finally given a second chance to do what they were born to do: Mint coins!
The "Desperado" Dollar & the Hand-Me-Down Mint’s Second Act
The New Orleans Mint picked the perfect silver dollar to start its second chance as a United States Mint. Starting in 1879, the Southern Mint began production of the fabled Wild West Silver Dollar: The Morgan. Known for its special “O” mint mark located on the back of the coin below the eagle, New Orleans was the only southern Mint to produce the Morgan Dollar!
In 1879, the New Orleans Mint would strike just 2,778,000 total Morgan Dollars -- a small enough mintage for it to rank #5 out of all 26 O-Mint Silver Dollars!
Did you know? The New Orleans Mint is not only known for being our only southern Mint...it is also known among collectors as the “hand-me-down” Mint! This nickname came from the fact that most of their coin-striking machinery came pre-used from one of the our other Mints!
Despite millions of coins being struck, very few have survived the test of time and survived the 145+ years until today:
Population Reports currently show (as of 02-09-2024) that just 29,456 total coins exist in any condition at all today with NGC and PCGS.
That breaks down to just 1 in every 100 coins struck!
Just 0.99% of the entire mintage!
