The Top Five Morgan Silver Dollars

Written by Daniel J. Goevert


Why waste everyone’s time? Let’s skiprepparttar appetizers and get torepparttar 144606 meaty stuff right now: The Morgan silver dollars poised to increaserepparttar 144607 most in value inrepparttar 144608 years ahead arerepparttar 144609 1895, 1892-CC, 1894, 1878-CC, andrepparttar 144610 1883-CC. Pretty bold prediction, eh? At this point,repparttar 144611 reader now has three options: (1) Stop reading and act upon this information, (2) Stop reading and get on with life, or (3) Continue on, evaluaterepparttar 144612 analytical approach to identifyrepparttar 144613 “Top Five” Morgan dollars, and then implement a variation of (1) or (2) above. If you’ve gotten this far, we encourage you to continue on with option (3).

First, a little background info onrepparttar 144614 Morgan silver dollar…

The Morgan silver dollar is today one ofrepparttar 144615 most popular of all collector coins. First minted in 1878 followingrepparttar 144616 passage ofrepparttar 144617 Bland-Alison Act,repparttar 144618 new dollar was named after its designer, George T. Morgan. Political pressure by powerful silver mining companies, in a gambit to stabilizerepparttar 144619 price of their commodity at artificially high levels, createdrepparttar 144620 impetus drivingrepparttar 144621 legislative action. Bland-Alison led torepparttar 144622 overproduction of silver dollars, resulting in millions of these unused “cartwheels” languishing in bank and Treasury vaults. Indeed, few coins have ever been released under more dubious circumstances than Morgan silver dollars. Minting continued until 1904, and then again for one more year in 1921, whenrepparttar 144623 series finally came to a close.

For decades thereafter, Morgan dollars were largely snubbed by hobbyists. Many dates, including those in mint state condition, could be obtained for as little as $1.00. This situation shifted dramatically in 1962, whenrepparttar 144624 US government began selling original 1000-piece silver dollar Treasury bags torepparttar 144625 public at face value. Stories of rare dollar finds circulated widely, touching off a veritable Morgan mania. Within a matter of months, all but a small fraction ofrepparttar 144626 federally owned coins were transferred from government vaults to private hands, consequently expandingrepparttar 144627 Morgan dollar collector base far beyond anything seen previously.

Since then, Morgan silver dollars have proudly perched themselves atoprepparttar 144628 catbird seat ofrepparttar 144629 numismatic world. Their physical size, availability, beauty, and historical significance have consistently attracted herds of new buyers. Numerous boom-turned-bust cycles have come and gone, sometimes driven by pure speculative motives, but from a long-term perspective, most Morgan dollar prices have trended somewhat positive.

Unlike some controversial promoters inrepparttar 144630 past, I do not propose purchasing Morgan silver dollars simply as investment vehicles. However, for collectors hoping to satisfy their numismatic yearnings AND acquire coins destined to be worth substantially more inrepparttar 144631 future, Morgan dollars do present a few opportunities. As noted above, as a whole, Morgans have gained moderately in value overrepparttar 144632 years. The crucial challenge, then, is to identify which members of this series have enjoyedrepparttar 144633 best growth patterns inrepparttar 144634 past. The underlying logic is clear: coins that have demonstratedrepparttar 144635 strongest gains over a long period of time arerepparttar 144636 coins best positioned to show similar price advancements withrepparttar 144637 continued passage of time.

In order to measure past performance and thus visualize Morgans most likely headed toward a bullish future, I developed a systematic approach. First, I researched individual Morgan dollar retail prices as they existed in 1950, for a broad range of conditions, and entered this data on a computer spreadsheet. Moving forward in time, values fromrepparttar 144638 years 1980, 1995, and 2000 were likewise recorded. Finally, estimated selling prices in 2005 were juxtaposed with counterpart data from those earlier years. Because grading terminology has evolved overrepparttar 144639 55 year period, certain assumptions were made to progressively track price movements throughoutrepparttar 144640 time spectrum (e.g. an “Uncirculated” value in 1950 is equivalent torepparttar 144641 “MS-60” of today).

From Immigrant to American Toy Producing Leader- The Gund Story

Written by Sharon Lauer


For over 100 yearsrepparttar name Gund has been synonomous with quality, baby-safe plush products. The oldest and leading soft toy manufacturer inrepparttar 144605 United States,repparttar 144606 Gund story is one of a family owned-business leadingrepparttar 144607 industry in quality, safety and unique design.

The Gund company was founded by German immigrant Adolph Gund in Norwalk, Connecticut in 1898. The company was one ofrepparttar 144608 first to design and produce teddy bears inrepparttar 144609 early 1900's.

In 1907 Russian immigrant Jacob Swedlin began working at Gund. In 1925 Adolph Gund retired. Not having children of his own, he soldrepparttar 144610 company to Swedlin for a token sum withrepparttar 144611 understanding thatrepparttar 144612 name would always remain Gund. Swedlin ranrepparttar 144613 company until 1969 when it was passed to his daughter Rita Raiffe and her husband Herbert. Under their leadership Gund flourished andrepparttar 144614 company began using their now trademarked under-stuffing technique.

Bruce Raiffe,repparttar 144615 third generation to runrepparttar 144616 company joined Gund in 1977 and became President in 1993. He later became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 2004. At that time Jim Madonna was appointed President, markingrepparttar 144617 first time inrepparttar 144618 company's history that a non-founding family member was in charge.

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