Expert: Dan Moore - 9/21/2009

Question
QUESTION: Dan,

I have a slightly tarnished 1886 Morgan Silver Dollar with the Carson City mint mark.  I have not been able to find information that the Carson City mint produced any in the year 1886.  Do you know if there were Morgan Silver Dollar coins minted in Carson city in 1886?  If so, how many? Is my coin very rare?  Can you estimate its worth?

Thanks, Dan

ANSWER: Dan,

There were no dollars minted at Carson City in 1886.  You have a modern Chinese counterfeit -- I don't know what they were thinking -- it has no value.

Dan


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The interesting thing is that I found this coin under two inches of dirt deep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains last week.  I was off trail, and not many people camp where I was.  It had been there for quite some time.  Is there any possibility that there is another explanation?

Answer
Sorry but the only other explanation is that maybe some other counterfeiter made it -- but it definitely did not come from the Carson City mint -- perhaps some other disappointed collector/hiker pitched it in the woods after finding out it was a counterfeit?

Dan