Production of U.S. gold coins, including Liberty double eagles, was strong in 1895 except for the quarter eagle, whose mintage of just 6,119 makes it scarce and worth a premium. Repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act drastically reduced output of silver dollars, however, especially at the Philadelphia Mint. Records show that 12,000 business-strikes and 880 proofs were made there in 1895, but no business-strikes have ever turned up. The 1895 dollar is the key to the series.

In general news of 1895:

• It was a hectic year for Irish poet-playwright Oscar Wilde. In February, Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest opened in London. In April, he lost a libel case against the Marquis of Queensberry, who accused him of homosexual practices. In May, he was sent to prison for two years for gross indecency.
• Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia.
• Volleyball was invented by William Morgan, director of physical education at the YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
• The moving picture projector was patented.
• George B. Selden was granted the first U.S. patent for a gasoline-driven car.
• In his last will, Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel left much of his sizable fortune to establish and endow a series of Nobel Prizes.
• German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays – a find that revolutionized medicine and won him the first Nobel Prize in Physics.
• Baseball immortal Babe Ruth was born.

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