New Orleans struck silver dollars for fifteen years, and 1893 was the year the music stopped. The Panic of 1893 was wrecking the banking system, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was repealed that November, and the mint's dollar output collapsed to 300,000 coins, the lowest New Orleans mintage of the entire Morgan series.
No hoard ever came to this date's rescue. While bags of other New Orleans dates sat in Treasury vaults waiting for 1962, the 1893-O went out and worked. Survivors are mostly circulated, mint state examples are scarce, and gems are genuinely rare, with strikes that are often soft even by New Orleans standards.
The forgotten member of the 1893 family. The 1893-S takes the crown and the 1893-CC takes the romance, but the 1893-O is a 300,000-mintage coin from a failing silver program, and it is priced like the semi-key it is in every grade. A wholesome circulated example is the sensible play.
| Issue | Mint | Mintage |
|---|---|---|
| 1893 Morgan Dollar | Philadelphia | 378,000 |
| 1893-O Morgan Dollar | New Orleans | 300,000 |
| 1893-S Morgan Dollar | San Francisco | 100,000 |
| 1893-CC Morgan Dollar | Carson City | 677,000 |
Mintage figures: United States Mint, Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, cross-checked across independent published references. Specifications: United States Mint coin specifications.