 |
 |
Morgan Dollar Obverse |
Morgan Dollar Reverse |
Morgan DollarsMorgan dollars were minted from 1878 to 1904 and again for one more year in 1921. The Morgan Dollar was designed by George T. Morgan. Morgan's initials appear near Lady Liberty's neck on the obverse.
Morgan dollars were minted at five different mints. The Mintmarks appear underneath the tail feathers of the bald eagle on the reverse between the letters D and O in Dollar.
MintmarksBlank - Philadelphia Mint in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania CC - Carson City Mint in Carson City, Nevada D - Denver Mint in Denver, Colorado O - New Orleans Mint in New Orleans, Louisiana S - San Francisco Mint in San Francisco, California 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.
The Morgan dollar was created and minted in response to the Bland-Allison Act. 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. In 1878 Congress passed the Bland-Allison Act which required the Treasury Department to purchase large amounts of silver, and to strike it as coins. The Treasury chose to strike the silver as dollars For reasons of economy.
When the 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 intended to be used for trade in the Orient. The Trade Dollar also contained more silver than a standard silver dollar. As a result they weren’t used for commerce within the United States. The Morgan dollar was continuously minted until 1904 when the supply of 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, large quantities of Morgan Dollars have been melted. Melting has mostly occurred when silver prices escalated because these dollars 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. Many of these dollars were uncirculated and are called GSAs (named after the General Services Administration) and come in black plastic holders that mimic the holders used for proof silver Eisenhower dollars of the period. These have become collectible items within the GSA encapsulation. Collectors NotesDeep Mirror Proof Like (DMPL) and Proof Like (PL) coins are regular Morgan Dollars that were struck for circulation but have unusually frosted legends and devices and very reflective, mirror-like, fields on both the obverse and reverse.
Coins that are heavy Deep Mirror Proof Like, are very frosted/mirrored, and coins that are Proof Like are lightly frosted/mirrored are not completely frosted/mirrored. These coins occur most frequently during the pre-1883 run of San Francisco dollars. DMPL coins are worth much more than a regular coin by the same grade. Morgan dollars which have surfaces that are reflective but are not deeply mirrored enough to qualify for the Deep Mirror Proof Like designation are called simply Proof Like. Proof Like coins also carry a premium over Morgan Dollars with non-reflective surfaces.
The Morgan Dollar is known for many different varieties, called VAMs (Extensive research on the variations in the dies used to strike silver dollars was published 44 years ago by Leroy C. Van Allen and A. George Mallis. Their work centers on Morgan dollars that were minted by the United States Mint from 1878 through 1904 and the resumed again in 1921 and Peace Dollars issued from 1921 through 1935. The term VAM is an acronym for "Van Allen - Mallis."). There are about 6,000 or so known VAMs. Below are some of the most well-known ones:
1878-P: 7/8 Tail Feathers, VAM-44, "The King of VAMs" 1879-CC: Clear CC 1882-O over S 1887-O: 7 over 6 1888-O: ScarFace 1888-O: Doubled Obverse ("Hot Lips") 1900-O over CC 1901-P: "Shifted Eagle" Doubled Reverse 1903-S: Micro S The Top 100 Morgan dollar varieties were published by Dr. Michael Fey and Jeff Oxman in 1996. It was intended to re-focus collectors and dealers onto only the most significant VAMs known to overcome the problem of "micro-vamming" - aka the search for and collection of insignificant varieties. And what a success it has been. Many of these VAMs have entered the mainstream collecting of Morgan dollars; it has become unheard of to claim a complete Morgan dollar collection without including the most significant VAMs. 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. 1889-CC: 350,000 1893-S: 100,000 1895 Proof: 12,880 (880 Proofs + 12,000 Business Strikes) 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 the recognized theory that all circulation strike 1895 Dollars were melted shortly after their minting or never struck, a maximum number of 880 proof coins can be known to exist. The true number is probably lower as some coins for certain have not survived the test of time. This rarity has caused attempts to forge an 1895-P by removing a mintmark from an also rare 1895-O or 1895-S. |
Date |
Mintage for Circulation |
Mintage of Proofs |
|
1878 |
10,500,000 |
750 | |
|
1878-CC |
2,212,000 |
0 | |
|
1878-S |
9,774,000 |
0 | |
|
1879 |
14,806,000 |
1,100 | |
|
1879-CC |
756,000 |
0 | |
|
1879-O |
2,887,000 |
est. 12 | |
|
1879-S |
9,110,000 |
0 | |
|
1880 |
12,600,000 |
1,355 | |
|
1880-CC |
591,000 |
0 | |
|
1880-O |
5,305,000 |
0 | |
|
1880-S |
8,900,000 |
0 | |
|
1881 |
9,162,991 |
984 | |
|
1881-CC |
296,000 |
0 | |
|
1881-O |
5,708,000 |
0 | |
|
1881-S |
12,760,000 |
0 | |
|
1882 |
11,100,000 |
1,100 | |
|
1882-CC |
1,133,000 |
0 | |
|
1882-O |
6,090,000 |
0 | |
|
1882-S |
9,250,000 |
0 | |
|
1883 |
12,290,000 |
1,039 | |
|
1883-CC |
1,204,000 |
0 | |
|
1883-O |
8,725,000 |
est. 12 | |
|
1883-S |
6,250,000 |
0 | |
|
1884 |
14,070,000 |
875 | |
|
1884-CC |
1,136,000 |
3 known | |
|
1884-O |
9,730,000 |
Unique | |
|
1884-S |
3,200,000 |
0 | |
|
1885 |
17,787,000 |
930 | |
|
1885-CC |
228,000 |
0 | |
|
1885-O |
9,185,000 |
0 | |
|
1885-S |
1,497,000 |
0 | |
|
1886 |
19,963,000 |
886 | |
|
1886-O |
10,710,000 |
0 | |
|
1886-S |
750,000 |
0 | |
|
1887 |
20,290,000 |
710 | |
|
1887-O |
11,550,000 |
0 | |
|
1887-S |
1,771,000 |
0 | |
|
1888 |
19,183,000 |
832 | |
|
1888-O |
12,150,000 |
0 | |
|
1888-S |
657,000 |
0 | |
|
1889 |
21,726,000 |
811 | |
|
1889-CC |
350,000 |
0 | |
|
1889-O |
11,875,000 |
0 | |
|
1889-S |
700,000 |
0 | |
|
1890 |
16,802,000 |
590 | |
|
1890-CC |
2,309,041 |
0 | |
|
1890-O |
10,701,100 |
0 | |
|
1890-S |
8,230,373 |
0 | |
|
1891 |
8,693,556 |
650 | |
|
1891-CC |
1,618,000 |
0 | |
|
1891-O |
7,954,529 |
0 | |
|
1891-S |
5,296,000 |
0 | |
|
1892 |
1,036,000 |
1,245 | |
|
1892-CC |
1,352,000 |
0 | |
|
1892-O |
2,744,000 |
0 | |
|
1892-S |
1,200,000 |
0 | |
|
1893 |
378,000 |
792 | |
|
1893-CC |
677,000 |
est. 12 | |
|
1893-O |
300,000 |
0 | |
|
1893-S |
100,000 |
0 | |
|
1894 |
110,000 |
972 | |
|
1894-O |
1,723,000 |
0 | |
|
1894-S |
1,260,000 |
0 | |
|
1895 |
12,000 |
880 | |
|
1895-O |
450,000 |
0 | |
|
1895-S |
400,000 |
0 | |
|
1896 |
9,976,000 |
762 | |
|
1896-O |
4,900,000 |
0 | |
|
1896-S |
5,000,000 |
0 | |
|
1897 |
2,822,000 |
731 | |
|
1897-O |
4,004,000 |
0 | |
|
1897-S |
5,825,000 |
0 | |
|
1898 |
5,884,000 |
735 | |
|
1898-O |
4,400,000 |
0 | |
|
1898-S |
4,102,000 |
0 | |
|
1899 |
330,000 |
846 | |
|
1899-O |
12,290,000 |
0 | |
|
1899-S |
2,562,000 |
0 | |
|
1900 |
8,830,000 |
912 | |
|
1900-O |
12,590,000 |
0 | |
|
1900-S |
3,540,000 |
0 | |
|
1901 |
6,962,000 |
813 | |
|
1901-O |
13,320,000 |
0 | |
|
1901-S |
2,284,000 |
0 | |
|
1902 |
7,994,000 |
777 | |
|
1902-O |
8,636,000 |
0 | |
|
1902-S |
1,530,000 |
0 | |
|
1903 |
4,652,000 |
755 | |
|
1903-O |
4,450,000 |
0 | |
|
1903-S |
1,241,000 |
0 | |
|
1904 |
2,788,000 |
650 | |
|
1904-O |
3,720,000 |
0 | |
|
1904-S |
2,304,000 |
0 | |
|
1921 |
44,690,000 |
est. 250 | |
|
1921-D |
20,345,000 |
0 | |
|
1921-S |
21,695,000 |
Rumored to exist |
Grading Morgan Dollars | |
| VF20 Very Fine | Two-thirds of hairlines from top of forehead to ear must show. Ear well defined. Feathers on eagle's breast worn. |
| EF40 Extremely Fine | All hairlines strong and ear bold. Eagle's feathers all plain but slight wear on breast and wing tips. |
| AU50 About Uncirculated | Slight trace of wear on the bust shoulder and hair left of forehead and also on the breast and top edges of wings. |
| MS60 Uncirculated | No trace of wear. Has full mint luster but may be noticeably marred by scuff marks or bag abrasions. |
| MS63 Select Uncirculated | No trace of wear, full mint luster, few noticeable surface marks. |
| MS64 Uncirculated | Shows a few scattered contact marks. Good eye appeal and attractive luster. |
| MS65 Choice Uncirculated | Only light scattered contact marks that are not distracting. Strong luster, good eye appeal. |
Morgan Dollar Values | |
 | |