Coin Collecting & Precious Metals Information

1878-1904 & 1921

The Morgan Silver Dollar, which was named after its designer, George T. Morgan, was minted from 1878-1904 and then again for one year in 1921. Each Morgan Dollar has a finesse of .900 which gives it 0.77344 troy ounces, or 24.057 grams of silver.

The coin was commissioned after the Bland-Allison Act was passed; which called for the US Treasury Department to buy large amounts of silver, and strike it into coins. This was at a time when the cost of silver was very low due to the Comstock Lode silver strike in Nevada; which to this day is the largest silver strike in history.

The Morgan Dollar was minted up to 1904 when there was a large supply of the dollars in circulation and a shortage of silver bullion. Finally in 1918 the Pittman act was passed which required 270 million of the coins to be melted down for their silver content. The Treasury Department would mint the coin one more time in 1921 before it was replaced by the Silver Peace Dollar.

The coin features George T. Morgan’s rendition of Lady Liberty on the obverse side of the coin and an Eagle holding arrows and an olive branch on the reverse side. The mintmarks of the coin are located below the tail feathers of the eagle on the reverse side of the coin between the D and O in Dollar. The mintmark on the coin can be either blank, CC, D, O, or S. Of all the mintmarks the CC mark is considered to be the most valuable as they had the lowest mintages, as well as holding a connection to the west having been minted in Carson City, Nevada.

The most collectable varieties include:

• 1878-P: The eagles has 8 tail feathers
• 1879-CC: Contains a clear CC
• 1882-O: The O is stamped over the S
• 1887-O: The 7 in the date is stamped over a 6
• 1888-O: Double obverse sides
• 1900-O: The O is stamped over CC
• 1901-P: Double reverse sides

As for the value of the Morgan dollar, a regular specimen will carry a value anywhere from $30 up into the low thousands. If you are lucky enough to get your hands on an 1895 Proof of the Silver Morgan Dollar you will be looking at approximately $66,000 according to the 2007 Red Book.

Morgan Silver Dollar Specifications:

Minted: 1878-1904 & 1921
Diameter: 38.1 mm
Weight: 26.73 g
Composition:  90% silver 10% copper
Silver Content: 24.057 g
Edge: Reeded
Designer: George T. Morgan

Written by Mike Barton for Coin Collector Guide, Copyright 2008