1895-O Morgan Dollar

Specifications

Denomination: $1
Series: Morgan dollar (1878-1921)
Designer: George T. Morgan
Engraver: George T. Morgan
Years of issue: 1895
Composition: 90% Silver, 10% Copper
Weight: 26.73 g
Diameter: 38.1 mm
Edge: Reeded
Mintage: 450000
Key mintages: 450,000 (PCGS CoinFacts; morgandollars.net mintage table). NOTE: the task hint of 400,000 was unverified and is wrong — 450,000 is the referenced figure. Well over 100,000 melted (PCGS CoinFacts).

Melt value: $49.85silver $64.40/ozt, copper $0.44/ozt · prices as of Sep 16, 2026

Wikimedia Commons, Daniel1901100, CC BY-SA 4.0

450,000 struck; over 100,000 melted — the scarcest O-mint Morgan dollar.

History

New Orleans struck 450,000 circulation coins in early 1895 — 200,000 in January, 100,000 in February, 100,000 in April, 50,000 in May — and well over 100,000 were later melted (PCGS CoinFacts; accessed 2026-09-16)
Apparently no significant Treasury hoards were released in the 1950s or 1960s; surviving Mint State coins are very rare, usually poorly struck with unattractive surfaces (PCGS CoinFacts; accessed 2026-09-16)
The issue is ranked the scarcest O-mint Morgan dollar — scarcer than the 1893-O — with nearly all surviving Mint State pieces grading in the low end (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)
Note: some listings quote 400,000, but PCGS CoinFacts and the standard mintage tables both list 450,000 — the 400,000 figure is not verified (PCGS CoinFacts; accessed 2026-09-16)

Circulation-strike mintage 450,000 — the 400,000 figure in the task hint was unverified and is not used (PCGS CoinFacts; accessed 2026-09-16)
Prooflike coins are very rare and only a few DMPL coins exist, nearly all in lower grades (PCGS CoinFacts; accessed 2026-09-16)
Counterfeit alert: the 1895-O is on numismatists’ watch lists of commonly faked key dates, with fake 1895-O Morgans coming out of China (Numismatic News; accessed 2026-09-16)
Only five obverse and five reverse dies were prepared, and possibly not all pairs were even used (PCGS CoinFacts; accessed 2026-09-16)

Certified populations: PCGS Pop 386 in Fine-12, 7,884 graded higher (APMEX, ~2026)

Genuine diagnostics: the O mintmark sits above the DO of DOLLAR on the reverse; the 1895 Philadelphia issue is proof-only, so a favorite fabrication is adding an O to an 1895-P — examine the mintmark area for tooling marks, scratches, or inconsistent metal flow (Midwest Precious Metals; accessed 2026-09-16)
Strike expectation: most 1895-O dollars are weakly struck at the centers with unattractive surfaces — on this date, softness is the norm, not necessarily wear (PCGS CoinFacts; accessed 2026-09-16)
Value factors: circulated examples are the affordable entry point; Mint State pieces are very rare and command large premiums; buy certified given the active counterfeit market (PCGS CoinFacts; accessed 2026-09-16)