The History of the Morgan Silver Dollar
- Minted from 1878 – 1904, 1921 and beginning again in 2021
- Named for the designer George T. Morgan – US Mint Assistant Engraver
- Contains 412.5 grains of 90% pure silver
- First standard silver dollar minted since the passage of the Coinage Act of 1873
- Ended the free coining of silver and the production of the previous silver dollar design, the Seated Liberty Dollar
Morgan Design Features
- The obverse depicts a profile portrait representing Liberty, modeled by Anna Willess Williams, while the reverse depicts an eagle with wings outstretched. The mint mark, if present, appears on the reverse above between D and O in “Dollar”.
Controversial Reverse
- The American Eagle on the coin’s reverse was the focus of this controversy.
- There was general consensus that the Eagle should be depicted by an unequal number of tail feathers, and while the number of tail feathers on previous US coins was uneven, Morgan’s eagle had eight.
- Consequently, the U.S. Mint changed the eagle’s tail from eight to seven tail feathers in response to public demand.
- As a result, three varieties of the 1878 Morgan silver dollar were produced: 8 Tail Feathers, 7 Over 8 Tail Feathers, and the first 7 Tail Feathers coins – all without a mint mark. Later in 1878, the 7-feather coins were struck at both of the western mints – Carson City, Nevada, and San Francisco, California – making five distinct varieties of Morgans during its very first year of issue!
- Others felt the eagle depicted on the reverse was gaunt and nicknamed the coin the “Buzzard Dollar”.
End of Production
- In November 1893, Congress repealed the Sherman Act and required the mints to use up remaining silver supplies. Dollar coinage became smaller and no more bullion was purchased for silver dollar production.
- Silver supplies ran out in 1904, temporarily ending the minting of Morgan silver dollars.
- No one at the U.S. Mint expected the Morgan silver dollar to ever again be minted. The dies were ordered destroyed.
- In February 1921, after a lapse of 17 years, three U.S. Mints began to strike Morgan dollars again.
- Both the Philadelphia and San Francisco Mints had struck these coins previously. But Denver had opened in 1906, and this year marked first and only time Morgan silver dollars would bear the “D” Denver mint mark.
- The Morgan silver dollars, though briefly revived a final time in 1921, were struck for less than a year and then their production was ceased permanently. They were replaced in 1921 by Anthony de Francisci’s Peace dollars.
Discovering Forgotten Hoards
- Although relatively few people used silver dollars (particularly in the East where paper money was favored), the government continued to produce them due to political pressure from silver-mining interests.
- Consequently, millions of the coins were stored away in government vaults.
- They remained there until 1918, when the Pittman Act sent millions of them to the melting pot to help finance the military effort during World War I.
- In the early 1960s, when the U.S. Mint stopped producing coins in .900 fine silver and stopped redeeming paper money in silver dollars, the government made an accounting of silver dollars still in storage.
- To everyone’s surprise, a hoard of Uncirculated Carson City Morgan silver dollars was discovered in a forgotten corner of the main Treasury building in Washington!
- Since the coins were scarce and in great demand among collectors, the government decided to seal them in special holders and sell them to the public.
- A 400-bag hoard (about 400,000 coins) was discovered in the home of the deceased collector, LaVere Redfield in 1977, selling for $7.3 million dollars.
- In the early 80s, the Continental Bank released a hoard of 1.5 million Morgans, further distributing them among eager numismatists.
The New 2021 Morgan
- The 2021 Morgan Silver Dollar with S Mint Mark marks the 100th anniversary of the first Morgan Silver Dollar.
- The 2021 Morgan Dollar is rendered in lustrous 99.9% 0.858 troy oz. silver.
Key Dates: 1878 – 1881
- 1878 P 8 Tail Feathers
- 1878 CC
- 1879 P
- 1879 CC *Clear CC*
- 1879 CC *CC over CC*
- 1879 O
- 1879 S Reverse of 78
- 1879 S
- 1880 P
- 1880 P 80/79
- 1880 CC 80/79 Reverse of 1878
- 1880 CC 8/79 Reverse of 1878
- 1880 CC reverse of 1879
- 1880 CC 8/7 High. reverse of 1879
- 1880 CC 8/7 Low. Reverse of 1879
- 1880 O
- 1880 O 80/79
- 1880 S
- 1880 S 80/79
- 1880 S 0/9
- 1881 P
- 1881 CC
- 1881 O
- 1881 S
Key Dates: 1882 – 1888
- 1882 P
- 1882 CC
- 1882 O
- 1882 O/S
- 1882 S
- 1883 P
- 1883 CC
- 1883 O
- 1883 S
- 1884 P
- 1884 CC
- 1884 O
- 1884 S
- 1885 P
- 1885 CC
- 1885 O
- 1885 S
- 1886 P
- 1886 O
- 1886 S
- 1887 P
- 1887 P 7/6
- 1887 O
- 1887 O 7/6
- 1887 S
- 1888 P
- 1888 O
- 1888 O DDO Hot Lips
- 1888 S
Key Dates: 1889 – 1896
- 1889 P
- 1889 CC
- 1889 O
- 1889 S
- 1890 P
- 1890 CC
- 1890 CC Tail Bar
- 1890 O
- 1890 S
- 1891 CC
- 1891 O
- 1891 S
- 1892 P
- 1892 CC
- 1892 O
- 1892 S
- 1893 P
- 1893 CC
- 1893 O
- 1893 S
- 1894 P
- 1894 O
- 1895 P PROOF
- 1895 O
- 1895 S
- 1896 P
- 1896 O
- 1896 S
- 1897-1904, 1921
Key Dates: 1897 – 1904, 1921
- 1897 P
- 1897 O
- 1897 S
- 1898 P
- 1898 O
- 1898 S
- 1899 P
- 1899 O
- 1899 S
- 1900 P
- 1900 O
- 1900 O/CC
- 1900 S
- 1901 P
- 1901 P DDR
- 1901 O
- 1901 S
- 1902 P
- 1902 O
- 1902 S
- 1903 P
- 1903 O
- 1903 S
- 1904 P
- 1904 O
- 1904 S
- 1921 P
- 1921 D
- 1921 S
