THE BIGGEST SILVER DOLLAR HOARD EVER: THE GSA

In the mid 1960s, the U.S. government was winding down the exchange of silver certificates for silver dollars. After the program was terminated in 1964, the government had a large supply of original mint sealed bags of silver dollars.

From October 1972 to June 1974 the U.S. Treasury offered five sales of silver dollars, consisting mainly of Carson City coins.

The hoard was dubbed the GSA (Government Services Administration) Hoard; it was the branch of government in charge of the dispersal of the coins.

The hoard consisted of more than 3 million coins, most of which were minted in Carson City, Nevada. Until the discovery of this hoard, CC dollars were thought to be relatively scarce in high grades.

Approximately 125,000 coins were discovered to be from other mints, and coins ranged in condition from heavily circulated to uncirculated.

During the first two years of the sale, approximately 1.96 million coins were sold for about $55 million - the largest volume of rare coins ever sold worldwide.

The uncirculated non-CC GSA coins come in a plastic holder that labeled them as "Unites States Silver Dollars" instead of the standard "Carson City Silver Dollar," and can also be found in soft packs as well. The GSA hoard contained up to 84% of the entire mintage of some CC dollars.

The U.S. government had five mail bid sales between October 31, 1972 and June 30, 1974. The sales limited collectors to the purchase of only one of each date per household.

The 1879, 1890 & 1891 coins sold out rather quickly and the rest met mild enthusiasm. As of the last sale date in 1974, the government still had about one million CC coins left. They lay dormant until 1979, when the president signed legislation to authorize the sale of them at a set price.

In early 1980, this set price was retracted just a month before the coins were scheduled to sell in another round of mail bids, due to a runup in the silver market.

Originally, the 1980 sale limited the amount of coins per customer to 500 pieces. However, just 13 days before the sale began, the number was dropped to 35 coins per customer. The sale ended in July of 1980 after a hectic few months. After the sales, the coins began to show up at coin shows around the country. Many were cracked out of their original holders by coin dealers because they considered them too bulky to transport between shows.

At this time, there were so many coins on the market that they did not carry a premium in the original holders. The sounds of dealers breaking coins out of holders could be heard at most major shows, as dealers begun to pack for their trips home.

It was also reported that people saw trashcans full of broken GSA holders at shows as the dealers packed. With the introduction of third party grading, even more coins were cracked out of their original holders and sent in for encapsulation.

The GSA hoard contained many attractively toned and high grade coins. Many of them were also cracked out of their original holders and encapsulated.

All three of the major grading services attribute GSA coins in the holder. ANACS and NGC attribute them using a system where the original holders are stickered. Both companies either currently or in the past have labeled GSA dollars as “GSA Hoard” pieces in their standard holders. Both also grade and encapsulate GSA coins in the soft packs. PCGS encloses the coin in a larger, plastic holder with the GSA plastic holder tucked inside.

For more information on The VIEW, see:
www.vamsandmore.net

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW BOOK: LAVERE REDFIELD: SILVER DOLLAR KING (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n47a06.html)

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