Let us tell you the tale of our modern treasure hunt, that started as a quest to honor Professional Coin Grading Services 30 year anniversary of guaranteeing the grade of coins in their holders – Armen and I have enjoyed and made a career of niche coin marketing, collecting and selling special subcategories of coins. After completing and selling a 1794 US type set of coins – we were in need of the next great challenge, so I asked a hypothetical question – “Is it still possible to complete a date set of mint state Morgan Silver Dollars in first generation “rattler” PCGS holders?” An interesting question given that it completely defies the more common rule of thumb – which is buy the coin not the holder. Not to mention the fact that we had been told over and over again that most of these originally graded coins have either been cracked out or resubmitted for upgrading and re-holdering – that they were basically endangered species on the brink of extinction.

So late in 2013 early 2014 – I started purchasing first generation “rattler” PCGS Morgan Silver Dollars with the common dates actually much easier to locate than I had ever expected. My day job affords me the privilege of travel all through-out North America so whenever I had spare time I would seek out local coin shops and dig up these treasures within treasures. Through my travels, internet searches and phone calls, I had the extreme pleasure of meeting so many amazing people including Richard who actually had a website dedicated to first generation rattler Morgan dollars. He not only had and sold me a couple of the really hard to find key dates that I was never able to locate like the year 1894 – which he sold me the 1894-S in MS 61 PL, but he was able to tell me about an 1895-S that he personally either owned or had seen change hands on E-bay earlier in the year. You see in the treasure hunting business information is extremely crucial to the search, the more information you have, the better the chances of a successful search.

A date set of Morgan dollars consists of 28 coins – one coin for each year they were minted which ran from 1878 through 1904 and then again in 1921 – and the mint mark (where they were minted doesn’t matter in a date set) – so you are just looking for one representative coin from each year – if it was a complete set of Morgan dollars that would be 105 coins – but a date set was still a daunting task given that the years 1891,1892, 1893, 1894 and 1895 are key year’s that run from rare to extremely scarce to non-existent for a regular circulation strike 1895 Morgan dollar from the Philadelphia mint – which can only be acquired as a “Proof” coin for that year and at an average price of $75,000 not an inexpensive coin either – which I don’t even think you can include in a date set even if we could find one in a rattler holder. So, 1895 became the last date needed as we approached the end of 2015.

It was then that I received a call from Richard letting me know that he was able to track down the 1895-S in a first-generation holder and that it had been consigned with Great Collections Coin Auctions! – now with bells ringing, heart throbbing and my mind racing – I made the call to verify when this would be coming up – a few clicks later and my calendar was marked for December 6th, 2015 – now all I needed was a pile of money and some patience until the day of the event arrived. I can’t remember now why I was down in Irvine, CA that rainy day, but I had to pull over into a Duncan Doughnut shop to pull the auction up on my smart phone for what would become another first – buying a coin over the internet via a timed live auction on a phone – wow had technology advanced or what – and I got to have a chocolate glazed while refreshing my screen every 5 seconds starting at the minute and a half mark…. Bite, click, bite, click … with 20 seconds left to go enter my highest bid number…wait for it …wait for it…. Click submit…click agree to the terms and submit…You are the highest bidder! Screen flashes …the next coin appears….Did I win – DID I WIN – ah the suspense was madding!!! And then the email came.

1895-S Morgan Silver Dollar PCGS MS-62 OGH (1st Gen)

And so we were able to complete the first goal of this new quest. In reviewing the prior three years and the 28 coins now in the set, along with the large numbers of spars we had amassed during the process – we noticed that an unusually large number of the coins had the prestigious CAC sticker on them we decided to take things to a whole new level and submitted all of the coins that were not already CAC stickered to CAC to see what would happen. This is when Armen said that we were on to something – possibly something big and that it might even become a book – thus started our book partnership and a new, loftier quest for both the Rhumba Morgan dollar date set and the grand experiment.

One of the toughest dates in the highest grade (quite possibly the rarest, highest graded Morgan for its year still in a rattler holder) showed up in a Coin World add in November/December of 2017 – The 1895-S in MS 65 had been found and was going to be auctioned off by Great Collections on Sunday night April 22th, 2018. I could hardly contain my excitement, as this date was the last and hardest date to locate and secure – ironically ultimately purchased at auction with this same company Great Collections 2 years earlier – and our coin, an 1895-S, was an MS 62 which also happened to be our lowest graded coin in the set – which at the time had a cumulative average of 64.426 give or take a point.

When we last recorded the addition of the 1895-S into our rattler set – we stated that we were ever so close to the final goal of a cumulative grade of MS65 for the 28 coins and that even though the mathematical average of our amazing set was at 65.39826 – The PCGS registry set weighted average only came to 64.9412. Argh!!!! How frustrating is that? The quest originally started with a question shared between my partner and co-author of this book – “Do we think it is even possible to put together a date set of mint state Morgan dollars in First Generation Holders?” – which led to the myths and urban legends that lead to the overall premise of the book – which after 3 years led to the completion of the mint state set – which after realizing it really was possible, led to upping the ante to try to reach a PCGS Registry Set weighted average grade of Mint State 65. Ok time for me to take a breath.

This date, 1889, has been stuck in an MS 64 grade for the better part of 5 years. Despite multiple attempts to purchase an example through Heritage’s make an offer program and years of daily scouring the internet , endless hours calling dealers, countless tradeshows – I had basically written this date off. It was the only “common” date coin that I could not find in MS 65. From our December 1989 population report – here are the quantities of 1889 coins at MS65 or above; 1889 – 195 in MS65,  4 in MS66 and 1 in MS67, 1889-S – 82 in MS65, 5 in MS66, 1889-O – 23 in MS65, 1 in MS66 and finally the 1889-CC – 1 in MS65 – 312 coins in all to get our set to MS65 or better. I am not really sure this quantity is enough to call 1889 a common year – maybe just the 1889 P, so imagine my joy when a better mint mark finally showed up.

It was a Saturday morning and I was out running errands in the gas line at my local Costco store, when I pull out my smart phone (A completely modern way to treasure hunt) and click on one of my saved google links to take me right to E-bay with the search criteria “rattler dollar” set for “newly listed” – where I scan the first two pages for anything that could upgrade any one of our 28 coins which I know will tip the weighted average grade above MS65 – nothing. I need to move my car forward to wait for the next two cars to finish pumping. Then I switch the search to another saved criteria “1889 MS65 dollar” again set for “newly listed” and started the scroll, coin 1 no, coin 2 no, 3 no, 4 no then 5….Shazam!!! Right in front of me appeared an 1889-S in MS65 proudly pictured in a nice First Generation Holder – Now I know I am Dreaming. Quick – check the line of cars and yes, have to move up again. Then return to my phone and there it is just below the picture and price – a “Buy it Now” button – Holy Cannoli – I don’t even have to compete for it! I can hardly contain my excitement, but I do take a moment to double check the date just to make sure it really is an 1889 – it is! Then a final glance at the price $1,450 (which I know by memory is full PCGS retail) and CLICK – The coin is now mine and the quest is DONE – We have not only assembled a complete date set of Morgan Silver Dollars in Mint State – But now have achieved a PCGS weighted average of Mint State 65 – In truth, I still can’t believe it! Hooray for E-Bay, who’d a thunk it!