The Morgan Dollar is a silver United States dollar coin. These dollars were minted from 1878 to 1904 and again for one more year in 1921. The Morgan Dollar is named after its designer, George T. Morgan, who designed both the obverse and reverse of the coin. The dollar was authorized by the Bland-Allison Act of 1878. It has a fineness of .900(90%), giving a total silver content of 0.77344 troy ounces (24.057 grams) per coin.
HISTORY
The Comstock Lode, one of the greatest silver strikes in history, was discovered in Nevada in the late 1850s. The strike put downward pressure on silver prices worldwide. In 1878 Congress passed the Bland-Allison Act which required the Treasury Department to purchase large amounts of silver, and to strike it as coins. For reasons of economy, the Treasury chose to strike the silver as dollars.
When the dollar was minted in 1878, it was the first dollar issued for American commercial use since the last Seated Liberty Dollar of 1873. The Trade Dollar was minted during this time period but was intended to be used 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 melted 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. Melting has mostly occurred when silver prices escalated because these dollars yield silver bullion.
Caches of Morgan Dollars produced at the Carson City Mint were discovered and were sold to coin collectors by the federal government in the early 1970s. Many of these dollars were uncirculated and are called GSAs (named after the General Services Administration) and come in black plastic holders that mimic the holders used for proof silver Eisenhower dollars of the period. These have become collectible items within the GSA encapsulation.
MINTS
Mint marks appear underneath the tail feathers of the bald eagle on the reverse between the letters “D” and “O” in “DOLLAR”. Mint marks include:
- 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)
Note that the absence of a mint mark is indicative of a coin minted at the Philadelphia Mint in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Grading Morgan Dollars
VF20 Very Fine: Two-thirds of hairlines from top of forehead to ear must show. Ear well defined. Feathers on eagle’s breast worn.
EF40 Extremely Fine: All hairlines strong and ear bold. Eagle’s feathers all plain but slight wear on breast and wing tips.
AU50 About Uncirculated: Slight trace of wear on the bust shoulder and hair left of forehead and also on the breast and top edges of wings.
MS60 Uncirculated: No trace of wear. Has full mint luster but may be noticeably marred by scuff marks or bag abrasions.
MS63 Select Uncirculated: No trace of wear, full mint luster, few noticeable surface marks.
MS64 Uncirculated: Shows a few scattered contact marks. Good eye appeal and attractive luster.
MS65 Choice Uncirculated: Only light scattered contact marks that are not distracting. Strong luster, good eye appeal.
ArminVoigt Via ProBlogPartners™
June 5, 2010
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