The Fed Had Them
Many "Old-Time" Coin Collector's can well remember when, in the late 50's and early 60's, the 1903-O Silver Dollar was a rare date commanding a price of around $1500. What had happened to the four plus million that were minted? It is now known that they were never released by the Treasury Department until the Silver Dollar disbursement of the early 1960's.
The flight of Silver Dollars out of the Treasury started in the summer of 1963 as a result of the discontinuance of the $1 Silver Certificate and the redeeming of these notes for an equal amout of Silver in the raw form or in the form of Silver Dollars. The rush was on! From then until March of 1964, when the Treasury forbade any further release of Silver Dollars, over 150 million Silver Dollars flowed out of the Treasury. Silver Certificates could, however, still be redeemed for raw, refined, Silver until the summer of 1967.
Previously scarce and rare dates were being "discovered" by the thousands. New Orleans minted Dollars from the late 1800's and early 1900's were showing up by the bag! Overnight, the value of the 1903-O went from $1500 to less than $10. Other scarce dates followed. Additionally, some bags of Liberty Seated Dollars were released.
By the time the flow of Dollars out of the Treasury was halted, all that were left were approximately three million Carson City minted Dollars. How the Government disposed of these is another story. One thing was certain, no more Silver Dollars would leave the Government's hands at face value!
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