08-03-2021

Morgan Coin

Morgan Silver Dollars Today. The Morgan Dollar continues to be one of the most popular coins today for a variety of reasons. Although it is not a particularly rare coin, it is crafted with beautiful and intricate detail and offers a rich historic value. In addition, the Morgan Dollar is composed of 90% silver.

  • Morgan Silver Dollars Arguably the most coveted and collected vintage United States Silver Coin of all time, Morgan Silver Dollars are always in demand. And no wonder: this is a coin steeped in American history, minted from the era of the Wild West to the first shout of the Roaring Twenties.
  • NGC's Coin Price Guide for Morgan Dollars (1878-1921).

Proof coinage dates back to English coinage of the 18th century, struck specifically for royalty (although special presentation pieces were struck long before that). Proof coins are struck on special presses with high pressure using highly polished dies on polished planchets. Using this method the special Proof coins show highly polished fields, full detail and excellent eye-appeal, bringing out the coin design as it was meant when it was created. These pieces were handled with much more caution than the circulation strike coins, which are generally thrown in bins and eventually end up in circulation.

Proof production in the United States started sometime in the 1830’s when restrikes where made of older coinage as well as proof strikes of the contemporary coinage. The 1834 King of Siam set with an 1804 Silver Dollar and 1804 Liberty Eagle is a well-known example. These Proof coins, like in England, were mostly meant for dignitaries and were unavailable to collectors. Sales to the latter group would not start until the late 1850’s after coin collecting had become much more popular, and proof coins were regularly produced and sold at a premium.

1878 Morgan Dollar (CC)

Coin

By the time the Morgan Dollars came around, in 1878, Proof coinage generally saw mintages of around a thousand pieces for the minor coins, and perhaps several dozen for the higher gold denominations (which were too expensive for all but the wealthiest collectors). Throughout the new series of silver dollars, proof coins would be struck for collectors. Mintage varied but in most years fluctuated somewhere around 800 coins, although some years saw production numbers in excess of 1,250 pieces. Most of these went into complete Proof sets of the minor coins, although collectors could also order the dollar denomination individually.

All Proof Morgan Dollars (Buy on eBay) were minted at the Philadelphia Mint and sold to collectors out of that building, although a few so-called branch Mint proofs have been identified from the other Mints as well. By 1878 quality of the Proofs had much increased compared to earlier Proof strikes. Most now featured full strikes, with reflective fields and outstanding eye-appeal. Most of the devices are noticeably frosted, a feature that stands out and can be quite appealing on the design of the Morgan Dollar. Depending on the extent of the contrast between the design elements and the fields, the major grading services can either certify a Proof Morgan Dollar as Cameo or Deep-Cameo (PCGS), or Cameo or Ultra-Cameo (NGC). For some years cameos are considered to be rare such as the later years from 1902-1904 when the dies were fully polished.

Even though the average Proof Morgan Dollar is well produced, there are still examples that do not have fully frosted devices. In addition to that some were produced with the dies too far apart from each other, resulting in weakness usually noted in the central part of the design above Liberty’s ear on the obverse and the eagle’s breast on the reverse. Other than that, many coins have been mishandled over the last century, resulting in many small scratches in the fields (hairlines), hits from contact with other coins, or even wear from circulation, as many proof dollars were spent in commerce during hard times.

The most famous Proof Morgan Dollar is without a doubt the 1895. Even though Mint records indicate that 12,000 circulation strikes were made at the Philadelphia Mint none are known to exist, leaving the numismatic community with the extremely limited number of 880 proof pieces that were produced. This is neither an extremely high or low number among proofs, however because of the lack of business strikes, demand and premiums for the proof coins are high, especially for pieces that show pristine fields and cameo contrast. Once again there are also a number of circulated pieces known, which are still recognized as Proofs no matter what grade simply because no circulation strike has ever been identified of this date.

The last date of the series, 1921 is a special case when it comes to Proofs, as none were recorded as having been struck at the Philadelphia Mint that year. Production of Proof coins had ceased after diminishing sales during the past decade, and would not resume until 1936, by which time the Morgan Dollar design was long gone. Yet, many pieces are available on the marketplace as Proofs. The first type, called Zerbe Proofs, were made for Philadelphia coin dealer Farran Zerbe, who requested them. Although these pieces display prooflike fields, they are simply nothing more than coins struck from regular dies that had been polished, produced under the same conditions as circulation strikes and thus often lacking eye-appeal and having bagmarks. These pieces are still in demand as the “next best thing” after the Chapman Proofs, named after coin dealer Henry Chapman. These are virtually identical to earlier Proofs (there is a Mint invoice known dated 1921 selling ten 1921 Proof Dollars to Chapman). These are generally recognized as Proofs although their true history is unknown. It seems likely that Henry Chapman had them made on his request with the sole purpose of selling them to the numismatic community. Mintages of both types are unknown, although mintages close to 200 for the Zerbe Proofs and 30 for the Chapman Proofs both seem to be a reasonable number.

Morgan County Indiana

In addition to the Proofs struck at the Philadelphia Mint there are also a few branch-Mint Proofs known to exist. Most have mintages of less than a dozen and are extremely rare. While not up to the Philadelphia standards (because of the inexperience with Proofs at the other Mints) they are generally easily identifiable as Proofs because of their high detail and reflective fields. It appears that often the Proofs were considered to be showpieces which were created with the utmost care by the Mint employees proud of their work. Dates that are known in Proof format include the 1879-O, 1883-O, 1884-CC-, 1884-O and 1893-CC, although other dates no doubt were struck as well (1921-S Proofs are reported to have been struck but none have been seen).

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.

Current Prices: Key-Date Morgan Dollars
Date
Very Fine-20
About Unc-50
Mint State-63
Proof-40
Proof-63
1878-CC
$100
$165
$450
n/a
n/a
1879-CC
$275
$2,000
$7,000
n/a
n/a
1880-CC
$200
$310
$600
n/a
n/a
1881-CC
$375
$450
$590
n/a
n/a
1882-CC
$100
$135
$225
n/a
n/a
1883-CC
$100
$140
$225
n/a
n/a
1884-CC
$130
$150
$230
n/a
n/a
1885-CC
$500
$575
$800
n/a
n/a
1889-CC
$1,100
$7,500
$45,000
n/a
n/a
1890-CC
$100
$180
$850
n/a
n/a
1891-CC
$100
$180
$750
n/a
n/a
1892-CC
$275
$700
$2,350
n/a
n/a
1892-S
$130
$1,500
$60,000
n/a
n/a
1893
$200
$425
$1,000
n/a
n/a
1893-CC
$600
$2,200
$8,000
n/a
n/a
1893-CC (Proof)
n/a
n/a
n/a
$50,000
$90,000
1893-O
$300
$700
$7,250
n/a
n/a
1893-S
$5,000
$20,000
$220,000
n/a
n/a
1894
$900
$1,250
$5,000
n/a
n/a
1895 (Proof Only)
n/a
n/a
n/a
$15,000
$45,000
1895-O
$300
$1,000
$45,000
n/a
n/a
1895-S
$650
$1,500
$6,000
n/a
n/a
1899
$175
$200
$300
n/a
n/a
1902-S
$130
$250
$600
n/a
n/a
1903-S
$200
$1,550
$6,500
n/a
n/a
1904-S
$75
$450
$5,500
n/a
n/a

*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.

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!

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

Morgan Coin Collection

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.

Morgan Coin Dates

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.

Morgan Silver Dollars For Sale

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