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1921, Morgan Liberty Dollar Keychain in Yellow Gold Keychain

1921, Morgan Liberty Dollar Keychain in Yellow Gold Keychain

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1921, Morgan Liberty Dollar Keychain in Yellow Gold Keychain

Price:$800

$980List Price

About the Item

Eytan Brandes combined one of his Morgan silver dollars with 14 karat gold fittings to make a weighty and distinctive key chain. This Morgan was minted in 1921, which is an interesting year for this particular coin. Because it's sort of a funny story (if you like stories where your government acts like a chump), we will attempt to paraphrase it from the various coin nerd websites we reviewed in preparing this listing. The Morgan silver dollar was minted from 1878 to 1904, but by 1910, the mints in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Carson City and New Orleans had started destroying the hubs (the things that make the stamps that press the image to make the coin), assuming the Morgan wasn't coming back. From 1904 to 1921, no new silver dollar coins were minted, and apparently, nobody felt the lack. Then the cigar-chomping Big Boys in the silver mining industry went to work on congress to create some reason for the US government to buy a lot of silver. Among other nice treats, the resulting Pittman Act of 1918 required the government to buy up 209 million ounces of silver from American mines at an above-market rate of $1.00 per ounce. So now the US government has all of this silver that it doesn't need. Congress decided to use all this silver to mint more silver dollars. The US mints (now just San Francisco and Philadelphia plus Denver) weren't much interested in this project, recognizing the lack of demand for silver dollars, and opted to simply revive the Morgan design. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to work with after the mints had jettisoned most of their hubs. George Morgan (the US Mint's chief engraver and the artist behind the original design) reworked one old hub to create a new master stamp (called a die), and the resulting strikes were considered more shallow and less crisp than the 1878-1904 originals. But that didn't stop the US government from mandating the production of over EIGHTY-SIX MILLION of these coins. This was a preposterous number considering the total number of coins produced in the Morgan's previous 26-year run was around 570 million. More than half were minted in Philadelphia, as is our coin. Most went uncirculated for the simple reason that they weren't needed. By this time consumers much preferred to carry (and retailers much preferred to accept) paper currency instead of big, heavy coins. Many Morgans ended up in Las Vegas and Reno in the 1960s to be used as dollar poker chips, but this was short a blip in their hundred history of chronic unemployment. And once the one dollar bill was introduced in 1963, even gamblers didn't want the coins. Today, these coins have a bit of an edge over their better struck, older Morgan brethren for the simple reason that they tend to be in pretty good condition. Since the vast majority of these coins did not spend much time in circulation, you can still find shiny, bright examples. Yes, they might have done some hard time at a sleazy Reno casino for a few years, but that's nothing compared to an 1880s coin that never stopped changing filthy hands from the moment it was minted. The 1921 Morgan also had the distinction of turning 100 years old last year, which the US Mint, quixotically, decided to commemorate by reissuing the coin (sold out within 20 minutes of showing up on the Mint's website!) with mint marks for New Orleans and Carson City (which did not actually mint the coins in 1921). Since our coin is now on keychain duty, we went ahead and polished it. It still shows some light scratches, but not many, and we wanted to bring out the bright silver color in contrast with the 14 karat gold coin frame and split ring. These gold elements were sourced separately. The half-bezel coin frame is fairly old -- it probably dates from the 1950s -- and it has a slightly rosy cast (though the rosiness doesn't quite rise to the definition of rose gold) and a nice fluted edge (not reeded like a coin with thin vertical grooves). The frame, made specifically for Morgan dollars, wraps around the coin's back edge and is tightened with a screw at the top. Four prongs on the back side secure the coin in place. This frame is unstamped and we got it in a pile of old stock from a retired coin dealer. We guarantee it to be 14 karat gold. The split ring is newer. It's 14 karat yellow gold and stamped by the manufacturer (George Fuller & Son of Rhode Island). The ring connecting the two elements is round wire pulled here in our shop from recycled 14 karat yellow gold. WEIGHTS, MEASUREMENTS & OTHER INFORMATION: Total length: 2" Total weight: 35.4 grams Total 14k gold weight: 8.5 grams Coin composition: 90% silver / 10% copper Coin weight: 26.7 grams Coin diameter: 38.1mm Coin thickness: 2.4 grams Half-bezel frame weight: 3.2 grams Connecting ring weight: 0.5 grams Split ring weight: 4.8 grams Diameter of bezel: 39.5mm Split ring diameter: 30mm

Creator:
Eytan Brandes
Metal:
Gold,14k Gold,Yellow Gold,Silver
Weight:
35.4 g
Dimensions:
Width: 1.54 in (39 mm)Depth: 0.12 in (3 mm)Diameter: 1.54 in (39 mm)Length: 3 in (76 mm)
Style:
Contemporary
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
2010-
Date of Manufacture:
2022
Condition:
Polished. Wear consistent with age and use. The coin has been polished (there goes the PCGS rating), but it still shows scratches under a loupe. The bezel is new old stock, probably from the 1960s or 1950s. The split ring is pre-owned, around 15 years old, and in excellent condition.
Seller Location:
Sherman Oaks, CA
Reference Number:
Seller: FD03741stDibs: LU1673116152252

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