While the term "Gilded Age" has become synonymous with an era of American history that extended from the early years of Reconstruction through the first decade of the twentieth century, many forget that Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner coined the term with the 1873 publication, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. The satire parodies political corruption and economic scandal in the United States, focusing on the exploits of Colonel Beriah Sellers and Senator Abner Dilworthy, tied together in a government railroad bribery scheme. Many of the characters in the book were barely disguised caricatures of mistrusted powerful political figures, such as William M Weed. The tale suggests that the ostentatious pursuit and display of wealth goes only so far to mask a society rife with scandal and corruption.
A substantial increase in population and wealth in the United States stemmed from the efficiency and higher production brought about by a second "Industrial Revolution". The corporation became the dominant form of business organization, and boards and companies were headed by industrialists and financiers of extreme wealth, such as George Pullman, J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and John D. Rockefeller.
The era also witnessed the rise of the modern industrial economy. National transportation exploded with the laying of new railroads, communications was improved with the proliferation of thousands of miles of telegraph wire, and the processes of mass production became well understood and better facilitated through the expansion and distribution of reliable electricity.
The gilded age was rife with the opulence and self-indulgence of extreme wealth, as well as the horror and struggles of abject poverty. Millionaires lived the most lavish lifestyles ever seen in the history of the world, literally living like kings, flaunting their money and building enormous houses filled with glittering art and bells and whistles. Often, such mountains of wealth were built upon the labor of the middle and lower classes. In the shadows of those mansions lived American workers who, if fortunate enough to be employed, made as little as $300 in a year - half that if female. Annual family income averaged nearly $800, but this was because everyone in the family had a paying job - including children. This was one reason families were so large at the turn of the century; child labor was a valuable commodity.
It is against this remarkable backdrop of two extremes of American society that the 1895 proof Morgan dollar was minted.
Only Americans with expendable wealth could afford to purchase proof coins from the mint, since a dollar represented at least a full day's wages in 1895, and that was for a better job in manufacturing, where the average worker spent 10 hours at his job six days a week. Thus, unlike proofs of the modern era, mintage was only 880 for each of the silver denominations, with cents and nickels seeing higher proof mintages, perhaps indicative of higher demand from those who could only afford the lower denominations.
One must consider the fact that 12,000 business strike coins were supposed to have been struck in Philadelphia in 1895, yet not a single known example exists today. Thus, in order to truly have an example of every possible date struck by every mint in the Morgan dollar series, an 1895 is required. This is the explanation most often given for the enduring value of this proof-only issue.
NGC has provided apt assessment of the present gem, grading it PF-65 CAMEO. Careful examination finds a coin that is practically without flaw, with no obvious hairlines, and certainly no offensive handling marks. Devices and lettering are all thickly layered with bountiful icy frost that bears no color whatsoever, nor do the amazingly reflective fields display even the slightest semblance of toning. Proof production had achieved a very high level of capability during this era, and as expected, pinpoint sharpness is apparent at every location, including those that give normal production coins trouble, such as above the ear at the peak of the cap, and the highest relief feathers on the eagle's breast. Every single segment in the eagle's talons is visible.
For those collectors inclined to look at certified population numbers as a gauge of rarity, NGC has graded 17 coins as PF-65 CAM with 34 grading higher (and PCGS has 9 at this grade with 7 higher). From another perspective, there have been 607 coins graded with no contrast, 158 with CAMEO contrast, and a paltry 31 coins with UCAM contrast. Perhaps most interesting of all is that from a total population perspective, very close to 800 1895 Morgan dollars appear in population reports, or 90% of the original mintage. Naturally, one expects many of the submissions are upgrade attempts, but ratio of these numbers is the key point.