1991 Silver Eagle MS67

History

The Liberty Coin Act, Public Law 99-61, signed by President Ronald Reagan on July 9, 1985, authorized a silver bullion coin struck from metal purchased out of the National Defense Stockpile, which held nearly 140 million ounces in the 1980s. Senator McClure introduced the measure on June 21, 1985 as an amendment to the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Commemorative Coins Act rather than as a standalone bill, and the statute simply required an obverse symbolic of Liberty and a reverse bearing an eagle. Presses at the Philadelphia Mint began striking the first uncirculated silver bullion coins on November 24, 1986. The 1991 issue is the sixth year of the series, and its 7,191,066 bullion coins made it the highest-mintage date of the decade through 1998, after which sales passed 7.4 million in 1999 and reached eight to ten million in later years.

Details

The obverse carries Adolph A. Weinman's design and the reverse John Mercanti's, and each coin contains 0.999 troy ounce of silver with the balance copper. Specifications are 31.103 grams, 40.6 mm in diameter, 2.98 mm thick for the bullion strike and 3.10 mm for the proof, with a reeded edge and a face value of one dollar. The Mint reported bullion sales of 7,191,066 for 1991. A separate proof issue, the 1991-S, carries the San Francisco mint mark, while the bullion coins bear no mint mark.

Features

Weinman's Walking Liberty, first used on the half dollar from 1916 through 1947, shows Liberty draped in the American flag and striding toward the sunrise, with LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST and the date. Mercanti's reverse presents a heraldic eagle behind a shield beneath thirteen five-pointed stars, the eagle holding an olive branch in one talon and arrows in the other. Reverse legends read UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 1 OZ. FINE SILVER, ONE DOLLAR and E PLURIBUS UNUM. This Type 1 reverse remained in use through 2021, and the security notch in the reeded edge belongs to the Type 2 coins of 2021 and later, so a 1991 will not have one.

Notable facts

• As late as 2015 the Professional Coin Grading Service had certified no 1991 Silver Eagles in MS-70, and the population stood at 329 by 2024.
• American Silver Eagles were not submitted for encapsulation in large numbers until roughly 2001, so 1991 coins typically sat in unsearched tubes and monster boxes for a decade or more before grading.
• Recovery crews at Ground Zero reached an intact vault whose contents were removed under guard, and dealer Lee Minshull bought approximately 100,000 recovered Silver and Gold Eagles for $560,000, after which PCGS authenticated them with "WTC Ground Zero Recovery" labels.
• Minshull's team generated close to $3 million from those coins and donated all resale proceeds to the World Trade Center Memorial Fund, work recognized with the American Numismatic Association's Harry J. Forman Dealer of the Year Award in 2014.
• Weight and diameter remain the practical authentication checks on this issue, since base metal substitutes cannot match silver's density and fakes frequently miss the 40.6 mm standard.
• South Africa's Krugerrand, introduced in 1967, preceded the American program by nearly two decades.