Morgan Dollar Silver Content

1878 “7TF” Morgan Silver Dollar in circulated condition showing signs of normal wear

In the 1870’s the United States had just passed through a silver panic that had caused the price of silver to plummet. Old coins that had been hoarded because of their silver value were now worth more as “ordinary money” at face value, so a flood of old and worn coins were now making their way into circulation.

In Congress a new law was about to be passed that was intended to benefit the struggling silver mines of Nevada and other western states, and the U.S. Government was about to be required to purchase between two and four MILLION dollars worth of silver every month and convert it into silver coins.

Henry Linderman, the Director of the U.S. Mint, saw that the country had an urgent need for a new silver dollar coin, so he staged a competition between William and Charles Barber, the father and son team who had worked at the Philadelphia Mint for years, and George T. Morgan, the young new engraver that Linderman had brought over from England. Both the Barbers and Morgan came up with a design featuring a Liberty head, but Linderman preferred Morgan’s design, and the Liberty Head dollar (more commonly known as the Morgan dollar or the Morgan Silver Dollar) was born.

The first production runs of the new coin were characterized by problems. There is a story that an expert on birds complained to the Mint that the eagle depicted on the reverse side of the coin had the wrong number of tail feathers. According to the expert, eagles always have an odd number of tail feathers, but Morgan’s eagle had eight.

1885 P Morgan Dollar: Coin Value Prices, Price Chart, Coin Photos, Mintage Figures, Coin Melt Value, Metal Composition, Mint Mark Location, Statistics & Facts. Buy & Sell This Coin. This page also shows coins listed for sale so you can buy and sell. Feb 01, 2021 Morgan Silver Dollar Values. Popular and always in demand, minimum Morgan silver dollar values begin at. $26.90 for a heavily worn example. Many date and mintmark combination are worth well above minimum value. We’re pleased to offer Morgan Silver Dollars for sale from our collection dating back to the coin’s inception in 1878. Mint Assistant Engraver George T. Morgan, all U.S. Morgan dollar coins feature a profile of the Statue of Liberty’s face on the obverse and a bald eagle with wings outstretched across the reverse. Morgan dollar specialists from around the world usually meet at every major coin show to discuss new finds and attend educational presentations. The all-inclusive book titled The Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan and Peace Dollars by Leroy C. Van Allen and A. George Mallis started a new coin collecting craze by encouraging. Morgan Dollars are among the most popular of all United States coinage. The series was introduced in 1878 and minted continuously until 1904, and again in 1921. The coins were generally struck in large quantities at a total of five different nationwide Mints.

Morgan Dollar Diameter

Another problem was that the original hubs (a relief or raised image of the coin) to produce the coin were made a little too shallow, so that the resulting coins were not as sharp in detail as they should have been.

To correct both problems, new hubs were created in which the eagle has seven obvious tail feathers. The dies used to create the coins were ground down before the new hubs were used to create the design, but unfortunately the dies were not ground down completely and some of the new coins showed faint impressions of some of the tail feathers in the original design “underneath” the feathers of the new design. Coin collectors call these coins “7/8TF” dollars.

This second set of hubs still had too low a relief, so a third set was created late in 1878. Coins minted from these hubs have a few variations from the earlier design, such as a different angle in the fletching (feathering at the top) of the arrows clutched in the eagle’s talon, or in the additional detail on the eagle’s breast.

Morgan Silver Dollars are very popular with collectors today, but they were not very successful with the general population at the time. People in the Northeast tended to prefer paper money anyway. In the West and the South people liked to use coins because it seemed more like “real money,” but the Morgan dollar was criticized because it was so large and so heavy. (It was given the nickname “the Cartwheel” because of its size and weight.) Even the design of the Morgan dollar was subject to criticism. Some people said that Lady Liberty actually looked a little overweight, and many people complained that the eagle on the reverse side looked more like a buzzard than an eagle (hence the nickname “Buzzard dollar”).

One strange characteristic of the Morgan dollar production run is that many of the earlier Morgan dollars were actually melted down and reminted into the later Morgan dollars in 1921 (which is why many of the earlier dates are now so scarce).

Interestingly, the large size and weight of the Morgan dollar made them very popular as props in Western movies and television shows. They also were used from the 1950’s into the 1970’s at the casinos of Las Vegas.

1878 Morgan Dollar (CC)

Most of the Morgan dollars in collectors’ hands today are from the various hoards of the coins by banks and other financial institutions who could not keep the coins in circulation because they were so unpopular with customers. Since the hoards were stored in bank vaults in bags, the characteristic markings on these coins from the coins knocking together are known as “bag marks.” Another significant source of the coins was LaVere Redfield, a Reno, Nevada resident who had hoarded more than seven million dollars worth of Morgan dollars. His hoard was sold at auction in 1976.

Morgan dollars were originally issued every year starting in 1897 through 1904, with one reissue in 1921. The following year the Peace Dollar replaced the Morgan dollar as the Mint’s standard silver dollar design, and the production of the Morgan dollar passed into history.

Morgan Dollar Mintage