The Morgan dollar coin was minted from 1878 to 1904, and again in 1921.
It is named for its designer, U.S. Mint Assistant Engraver George T.
Morgan. The obverse depicts a profile portrait representing Liberty,
while the reverse depicts an eagle with wings outstretched. The Coinage
Act of 1873, which stopped the minting of silver dollars, was reversed
by a series of laws supporting production of the Morgan dollar. The
Bland–Allison Act of 1878 required the Treasury to purchase between
two and four million dollars' worth of silver at market value to be
coined into dollars each month. In 1890 that act was repealed by the
Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which required the Treasury to purchase
4,500,000 troy ounces (140,000 kg) of silver each month, but this act
too was repealed, in 1893. An 1898 law required all remaining bullion to
be coined into silver dollars, and when those reserves were depleted in
1904, production of the Morgan dollar ended. The Pittman Act, passed in
1918, authorized the melting and recoining of millions of silver
dollars, and the Morgan dollar resumed mintage for one year in 1921,
before its replacement by the Peace dollar later the same year.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_dollar>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1843:
Eta Carinae flared up to become the second brightest star in
the night sky.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eta_Carinae>
1851:
Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto was
first performed at La Fenice in Venice.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigoletto>
1946:
Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration
camp, was captured by British troops.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_H%C3%B6ss>
1978:
After hijacking a bus north of Tel Aviv, members of Palestine
Liberation Organization faction Fatah engaged in a shootout with the
Israel Police, resulting in the deaths of 38 civilians and most of the
perpetrators.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastal_Road_massacre>
2006:
Michelle Bachelet was inaugurated as the first female President
of Chile.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Bachelet>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
propitious:
1. Favorable; benevolent.
2. (archaic) Favorably disposed towards someone.
3. Advantageous.
4. Characteristic of a good omen; auspicious.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/propitious>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Scientific progress on a broad front results from the free play of
free intellects, working on subjects of their own choice, in the manner
dictated by their curiosity for exploration of the unknown.
--Vannevar Bush
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush>