Morgan Silver Dollar Coins

Morgan Silver Dollar

Quick Fact: None of the circulation strikes for the Morgan 1895 coins have been seen; experts believe they were all melted down.

The Morgan Dollar is a silver United States dollar coin. The dollars were minted from 1878 to 1904 and again for one more year in 1921. The Morgan Dollar is named after its designer, George T. Morgan, who designed the obverse and reverse of the coin. Morgan's monogram appears near Lady Liberty's neck on the obverse. The dollar was authorized by the Bland- Allison Act of 1878. It has a fineness of .900, giving a total silver content of 0.77344 troy ounces (24.057 grams) per coin.

Morgan Silver Dollar History

The Comstock Lode, the greatest silver strike in history, was discovered in Nevada in the late 1850s. The strike put downward pressure on silver prices worldwide. The greatest silver strike in history was followed by the greatest coinage boondoggle in history. In 1878, to protect the interest of the western states, Congress passed the Bland-Allison Act which required the Treasury Department to purchase large amounts of silver, and to strike it as coins. For reasons of economy, the Treasury chose to strike the silver as dollars. The mintage was far more than was needed in circulation. These excess silver dollars quickly began piling up. Some original mint bags of Morgan dollars remained in treasury vaults until the 1960s. This strange past has led to one of the greatest collectible series in American coins providing collectors with many dates and mint marks readily obtainable in mint state condition along with challenging rarities.

When the Morgan Dollar was minted in 1878, it was the first dollar issued for American commercial use since the last Seated Liberty Dollar of 1873. The Trade Dollar was minted during this time period but was for trade in the orient. The Morgan Dollar was continuously minted until 1904 when the supply of Morgan Dollars in circulation was high and there was an absence of silver bullion. Then in 1918, the Pittman Act called for over 270 million coins to be melted for silver content. In 1921, the coinage of the Morgan Dollar resumed for that year and was replaced by the Peace Dollar commemorative that would become standard issue. Since 1921, many Morgan Dollars have been melted, mostly when silver prices escalate and they yield silver bullion.

Caches of Morgan Dollars produced at the Carson City Mint were discovered and were sold to coin collectors by the federal government in the early 1970s. These dollars were uncirculated and are called GSAs (named after the General Services Administration) and come in holds that mimic the holds used for proof silver Eisenhower dollars.

Morgan Silver Dollar Mints:

Mintmarks appear underneath the tail feathers of the bald eagle on the reverse between the letters D and O in Dollar. Mintmarks include:

Of all of these mints, the dollars from Carson City hold more value because of their usually low mintages, as well as a western connection. All proofs for the Morgan series were minted at Philadelphia but proof 1921-S coins are known to exist.

Morgan Silver Dollar Mintages:

    Year Mint mark Mintage Year Mint mark Mintage
  • 1878 8TF 750,000 1890 S 8,230,373
  • 1878 9,759,550 1891 8,694,206
  • 1878 CC 2,212,000 1891 CC 1,618,000
  • 1878 S 9,774,000 1891 O 7,954,529
  • 1879 14,807,100 1891 S 5,296,000
  • 1879 CC 756,000 1892 1,037,245
  • 1879 O 2,887,000 1892 CC 1,352,000
  • 1879 S 9,110,000 1892 O 2,744,000
  • 1880 12,601,355 1892 S 1,200,000
  • 1880 CC 591,000 1893 378,792
  • 1880 O 5,305,000 1893 CC 677,000
  • 1880 S 8,900,000 1893 O 300,000
  • 1881 9,163,984 1893 S 100,000
  • 1881 CC 296,000 1894 110,972
  • 1881 O 5,708,000 1894 O 1,723,000
  • 1881 S 12,760,000 1894 S 1,260,000
  • 1882 11,101,100 1895 O 450,000
  • 1882 CC 1,133,000 1895 S 400,000
  • 1882 O 6,090,000 1896 9,976,762
  • 1882 S 9,250,000 1896 O 4,900,000
  • 1883 12,291,039 1896 S 5,000,000
  • 1883 CC 1,204,000 1897 2,822,731
  • 1883 O 8,725,000 1897 O 4,004,000
  • 1883 S 6,250,000 1897 S 5,825,000
  • 1884 14,070,875 1898 5,884,735
  • 1884 CC 1,136,000 1898 O 4,440,000
  • 1884 O 9,730,000 1898 S 4,102,000
  • 1884 S 3,200,000 1899 330,846
  • 1885 17,787,000 1899 O 12,290,000
  • 1885 CC 238,000 1899 S 2,562,000
  • 1885 O 9,185,000 1900 8,830,912
  • 1885 S 1,497,000 1900 O 12,590,000
  • 1886 19,963,886 1900 S 3,540,000
  • 1886 O 10,710,000 1901 6,962,813
  • 1886 S 750,000 1901 O 13,320,000
  • 1887 20,290,710 1901 S 2,284,000
  • 1887 O 11,550,000 1902 7,994,777
  • 1887 S 1,771,000 1902 O 8,636,000
  • 1888 19,183,832 1902 S 1,530,000
  • 1888 O 12,150,000 1903 4,652,755
  • 1888 S 657,000 1903 O 4,450,000
  • 1889 21,726,811 1903 S 1,241,000
  • 1889 CC 350,000 1904 2,788,650
  • 1889 O 11,875,000 1904 O 3,720,000
  • 1889 S 700,000 1904 S 2,304,000
  • 1890 16,802,590 1921 44,690,000
  • 1890 CC 2,309,041 1921 D 20,345,000
  • 1890 O 10,701,000 1921 S 21,695,000

Deep Mirror Proof Like (DMPL)

DMPL coins are regular Morgan Dollars that were struck for circulation but have unusually frosted legends and devices and very reflective, mirror-like, fields. There are coins that are heavy DMPL, meaning that they are very frosted/mirrored, and coins that are light DMPL, meaning they are not completely frosted/mirrored. These coins occur most frequently during the pre-1883 run of San Francisco dollars. Even with these examples, these coins are worth much more than a regular coin by the same grade.

Morgan Silver Dollar Special Varieties/Errors

The Morgan Dollar is known for many different varieties, called VAMs. Below are the most common ones:

Morgan Silver Dollar Rarities

As with any coin series, when it comes to Morgans, original mintage does not always determine value. Some coins with a higher mintage have more value due to less coins having survived to the present day. Below is a list of rarities:

1889-CC, 1893-S, and 1895 Proof

These three dates/mints are the most difficult to find and the most valuable of the entire Morgan series. This is mainly due to their low mintage figures.

Of these, the 1895 Proof is one of the most valuable with a PF-65 coin worth $66,000 according to the 2007 Red Book. If they are only proofs, there are only 880 1895 Proof coins that have survived. This rarity has caused attempts to forge an 1895-P by removing a mintmark from an also rare 1895-O or 1895-S.

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