Friedberg 342 (W-3624). 1880 $100 Silver Certificate of Deposit. PCGS Currency Extremely Fine 45.Just 13 examples of this rare catalog number are recorded in the Martin Gengerke census. This Series of 1880 $100 "Black Back" Silver Certificate of Deposit displays a small red scalloped seal to the lower right of center. The engraved signatures of Treasury officials Rosecrans and Nebeker are also at the lower right of center. Blue serial numbers are found within panels at bottom left and top right. The intricate "Black Back" displays "SILVER CERTIFICATE" in bold letters at center.pOnly 40,000 Fr. 342s (W-3624s) were printed. This is the second finest example graded by PCGS Currency. It displays broad, even margins and bright paper showing only light signs of circulation. The overprint inks remain bold and the engraved design elements are sharply detailed. This example is the Friedberg illustration note and has an auction history that can be traced back to 1951. This is a design type and seal combination that is undoubtedly missing from many advanced collections.strongEffects of the Bland-Allison Act/strongpThe February 28, 1878 Bland-Allison Act mandated that the Treasury Department buy between two and four million dollars in silver bullion each month at the current market price and coin it into standard silver dollars of 412.5 grains weight, the same as the Liberty Seated dollars last minted in 1873. In an illogical move, the highly successful trade dollar minted since 1873 was discontinued. Trade dollars, however, had been made to the order of bullion depositors seeking export coins. The quantities were far lower than for the new Bland-Allison dollars. The act also created a new series, the Silver Certificates of Deposit as studied here, each note backed by an equivalent amount of silver dollars held by the Treasury.ppThe new silver dollars were made legal tender without limit. Over 50 million of the newly authorized silver dollars were coined in their first two years of production in 1878 and 1879 alone. The Silverites dreams had come true!ppThe new dollars were first struck on March 11, 1878, using obverse and reverse designs made by George T. Morgan in 1877 for a pattern half dollar. At first numismatists and others called them Bland dollars. Generations later the designation was changed to Morgan dollars, the term we use today.ppThere was a problem: a Morgan dollar contained only 89 cents worth of metal while a gold dollar had nearly a dollars worth of gold. Another problem was that silver dollars had never been popular in the East or Midwest. What to do with all of them? The answer was simple: put them in storage.ppAs it turned out the Treasury bought the minimum acceptable amount of silver each year. The number of dollars coined depended on the market price of the metal. There was so much available on the international market that the price of silver continued to decline. In the next year, 1879, a Morgan dollar contained only 87 cents worth of silver.ppFrom 1878 to 1904 and again in 1921 hundreds of millions of Morgan-design dollars were made and stored. What was a government boondoggle became nirvana for numismatists as vast quantities were later released from Treasury vaults. Today the nearly 100 different dates and mintmarks of Morgan dollars are the most popular early series to collect. The majority of them cost no more than a few hundred dollars in Mint State. Alls well that ends well!ppppFrom Friedberg Illustration; Abe Kosoffs sale October 1951, lot 262; Currency Auctions of Americas sale of January 1998, 1624; David Lawrences Bank Note Reporter advertisement of January 2006; Lyn Knights sale of June 2006, lot 238.
