Morgan Dollar

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.

The Morgan dollar ceased production in 1904 when the supply of silver authorized by Congress ran out. The United States Treasury melted approximately 270 million silver dollars in 1918 to loan the metal to Great Britain. In 1921, additional Morgan dollars were struck to build up the reserve of coins needed to back paper Silver Certificates. Buy Morgan Silver Dollar Coins for Sale. Find rare Morgan 5-Coin Mint Sets, Morgan 95-Coin Complete Sets, Morgan 28-Coin Date Sets and more!

Morgan Dollar Prices

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.

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.

Morgan Dollars For Sale

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.

As any Morgan dollar enthusiast could attest, there are many key dates in this silver dollar series! Count the myriad rare varieties listed by numismatic authors Leroy C. Van Allen and A. George Mallis as published in their 1971 work Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan and Peace Dollars, and the number easily crosses into the hundreds.

Indeed, entire volumes can be written about rare Morgan dollars. However, in this review, we’ll look at the most widely regarded and popular regular-issue key dates. These are coins which are scarce or rare regardless of grade.

Morgan Dollar Key Dates & What They're Worth

The price chart below includes all of the key-date Morgan dollars.

*Prices are for coins that aren’t cleaned or exhibit other signs of damage and are typical representatives of their grade.

Collecting Morgan Dollars & The Key Dates

1921 Morgan silver dollar

If you would like to build a Morgan dollar collection, you’ll see here that the prices of some coins in the series are truly astronomical. This may dissuade some collectors at first glance. Yet many hobbyists decide to pursue the series regardless.

The Morgan dollar is what many collectors refer to as a lifetime coin collection. That is, it's a goal that is tackled over the course of many decades. Some of the best Morgan dollar collections around are the culmination of many years of hard work. When taken as a long-term objective, building a complete Morgan dollar collection can be a financially obtainable goal—though one for which several dates may require saving your money for many months, even years.

Some of the ways a collector may assemble a set of Morgan dollars is to arrange them in folders, albums, or holders. Also popular these days is collecting Morgan dollars certified by third-party grading services. These coins can then be included in a registry set.

Morgan Dollar Diameter

A registry set is essentially an inventory of coins in one’s collection that is published online and made available for public viewing. These sets are given grade-point averages based on the coin’s labeled grade. The sets with the highest grade-point averages are usually recognized with awards presented by the respective grading company. This can be a highly competitive and fun way to build a collection of Morgan dollars or any other coin series.

There are generally two approaches to building a set of Morgan dollars. One is to buy all the least expensive, most common dates first to fill as many holes (literal or figurative) in the set. Then you save the rarest, priciest coins for last.

The other approach is to buy the most expensive coins first and then save the common ones for later. There are advantages to each strategy.

The former approach provides plenty of instant gratification to the collector who wants to see her album fill up with silver dollars. The latter gets the most valuable coins out of the way before they possibly become too expensive to afford.

Disadvantages? The first approach means buying the expensive dates in the future, when they may cost way more to buy. The second tack will likely leave a lot of empty holes in the collection—gaping holes that may remain so for a very long time.

Of course, if you’ve got deep pockets and loads of ambition, you might just work as quickly as possible on building a complete set of Morgan dollars, keys and all. The only thing that stands in the way of that method is finding the right coins. That can sometimes prove quite difficult, even if you’ve got all the money in the world.

The toughest dates are sometimes extremely challenging to come by and, when they do appear in the marketplace, they may not carry the quality or eye appeal you want for your collection. So goes the joy, challenge, and mystique of collecting Morgan dollars! It’s little wonder why this beloved series has lured generations of collectors and continues appealing to numismatists of all ages!

Morgan Dollar Mintage

More About the Morgan Silver Dollar

Few would argue with the claim that Morgan dollars are the most popular United States collectible coin, aside from Lincoln cents.

This hefty silver coin has enthralled American coin collectors for generations. Minted from 1878 through 1921, it was originally and officially called the 'Liberty Head Dollar' per the United States Mint. The coin has since been dubbed the 'Morgan' dollar as an homage to the coin's celebrated designer, George T. Morgan.

The Morgan dollar holds great mystique for collectors. Many have been intrigued about the identity of the woman who appears on the obverse of the coin. While serving as a symbolic depiction of Miss Liberty, the lady on the coin is none other than Anna Willess Williams. Williams was a 20-year-old Philadelphia teacher whom Morgan used as his model for the coin.

Anna Willess Williams, the model for the Morgan dollar design

Then there are the numismatic curiosities about Morgan dollars, including its connections with the Old West, a time and place romantically depicted in Western TV shows, movies, and novels. The Morgan dollar was widely used in the expanding American frontier during the turn of the century. It has been frequently featured in these Western stories ever since.

Only further epitomizing the Morgan Dollar’s Old West connections is the fact that the coin was produced at the Carson City Mint in Nevada. Many of these so-called “CC” mint Morgan dollars from Carson City are among the rarest of all the coins in the series. They, along with several other issues, comprise the litany of Morgan dollar key dates. The key dates are highly scarce, quite valuable, and very much in demand.

While most every Morgan dollar is conditionally rare in the better Mint State grades, there are several dates that are scarce, even elusive, in any grade. These key-date Morgan dollars are the coins that are listed above, along with prices and other important information.

Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez is a journalist, editor, and blogger who has won multiple awards from the Numismatic Literary Guild. He has also authored numerous books, including works profiling the history of the United States Mint and United States coinage.

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