Morgan dollar
Morgan Dollar A silver dollar coin issued by the United States government, equal to 100 cents. Morgan Dollars were minted from 1878-1904 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 this coin. Morgan's monogram appears near Lady Liberty's neck on the obverse. The dollar was made law by the Bland-Allison Act of 1878.
Specifications
- Obverse design: Lady Liberty
- Reverse design: A Bald Eagle holding arrows and an olive branch
- Edge: reeded
- Weight: 26.73 g
- Diameter: 38.1 mm
- Composition: 90% silver, 10% copper
- Silver Content: 0.77344 troy oz (24.057 g)
History
When the dollar was minted in 1878, it was the first dollar issued for American commerical 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 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 destroyed 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 Carson City Dollars were discovered and were sold to coin collectors by the federal government in the late 60s. These dollars were uncirculated and are called GSAs and come in holds that mimic the holds used for Proof, Silver Eisenhower Dollars.
Mints
Mintmarks appear underneath the tail feathers of the bald eagle on the reverse between the letters D and O in Dollar. Mintmarks include:
- Blank (P - 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 and a western connection. All proofs for the Morgan series were minted at Philadelphia but proof 1921-S coins are known to exist
Deep Mantle Proof Like (DMPL)
DMPL coins are regular Morgan Dollars that were struck for cirulation but have unusally white legends and very relective, mirror-like, background fields. There coins that are heavy DMPL meaning that they are very white/mirrored and coins that are light meaning they are not completely white/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.
Special Varieties/Errors
The Morgan Dollar is known for many different varieties called the VAM 100. Below are the most common ones:
- 1878-P: 8 Tail Feathers
- 1879-CC: Clear CC
- 1882-O over S
- 1887-O: 7 over 6
- 1888-O: Doubled Obverse - Hot Lips
- 1901-P: Doubled Reverse
Rarities
Sometimes when it comes to Morgans, mintage does not determine value. Some coins with a higher mintage have more value. There are also years in which there are weakly struck coins which make better grades over Extremely Fine difficult to find. Below is a list of rarities:
- Any Carson City Coin
- 1883-S: Uncirculated Grades are Scarce
- 1884-S: Uncirculated Grades are Scarce
- 1892-S: Uncirculated Grades are Scarce
- 1893-S
- 1895-P
- 1885-O
- 1885-S
- 1896-S
- 1899-P
- 1901-P: Uncirculated Grades are Scarce
- 1903-P
- 1903-O
- 1903-S
- 1904-S
1889-CC, 1893-S, and 1895-P
These three dates/mints are the most difficult to find and valuable of the entire Morgan series. This is mainly due to their low mintage figures.
- 1889-CC: 350,000
- 1893-S: 100,000
- 1895-P: 12,880
Of these, 1895-P is the most valuable with an MS-60 coin worth $27,500 according to the 2005 Red Book. It is supposed that none of the 1895-P were released for circulation but were all the coins are the proofs of that year. If they are only proofs, there are only 880 1895-P coins that have survived. This rarity has caused attempts to forge a 1895-P by removing a mintmark from an also rare 1895-O or 1895-S.
References
- Yeoman, R.S. A Guide Book of United States Coins Atlanta: Whitman Publishing, 2004
- Edler, Joel and Harper, Dave U.S. Coin Digest Iola: Krause Publications, 2004