I was just looking thru my silver coin collection the other day and I came across this guy. Thought I'd share

Gotta love Morgan dollars, esp MS65 professionally graded ones. According to the PCGS verify page, it is worth $185. Nice!

It was a gift from my dad some years ago. He gave it as more of an investment gift and not a sentimental one as of a coin he carried all his life, so if the price were to go up significantly, I would consider selling, but as now I just enjoy having it.

Ah, to imagine the days where this coin was in circulation. Oh I suppose that if I had lived back then having a silver coin would just be perfectly normal and I wouldn't think anything of it, but looking backwards from a point where having silver in our coins isn't so normal, it seems just a little amazing that this used to be a standard thing.

In 1885, the average daily wage was around $1-$2. That amount of money could buy you a decent meal, plenty of food or supplies at the grocer's shop. Adjusted for inflation, $1 in 1885 would be about $35 today, showing us that despite the wage stagnation since 1971, wages are still outpacing inflation by quite a bit, but it also shows us that the cost of living was far lower back then. Really, as Michael Saylor is fond of saying, inflation is more of a vector and can't be represented by a single number, and this coin from 1885 lends some credence to his words.

Anyway, cool coin. Hope you enjoyed and hope you all are continuing to have a great holiday!

❦

David is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.