Morgan Dollar (1878-1921)

The Morgan Dollar was minted continously from 1878 to 1904 and then again in 1921.

History
The Bland-Allison Act was authorized on February 28, 1878. It called for a new dollar coin design. The Treasury had to buy between 2 to 4 million troy ounces of silver to be minted into silver dollars.

George Morgan was in charge of making pattern dollars 4 months before the Act was passed. The best design was used for the actual coin. The mint hadn't decied to resume the production of silver dollars, so Morgan also made designs for the Half Dollars.

The Obverse features Lady Liberty facing (viewer's) left. Some people disliked the "scrawny" eagle on the Reverse of the coin and called the coin the "Buzzard Dollar". Morgan's intinals are on the neck of Miss Liberty. There were four mintmarks: O, S, D, and CC (Philadelphia does not have one).

In early production, someone noticed and stated that the eagle should have seven tail feathers, instead of eight. Linderman demanded this be changed, and it was. The eight tail feathers variety is only on 1878. 1879 to 1921 have seven tail feathers.

The Carson City mint had relativly low mintages. They started to make Morgan Dollars in 1878 and stopped in 1885. They resumed production in 1889, but that Mint closed in 1893.

In all, about 657 million Morgan Dollars were produced from 1878 to 1921. There are 96 date and mint combinations. Sadly many Morgans have been melted in the Pittman Act, the Silver Act of 1942, and by silver refiners since the 1960s, making the Morgan Dollars go up in value.

In the 1960's, silver started to go up in value. People traded in Silver Certificates for Morgan Dollars.

In 1972, the General Services Administration (GSA) made a mail-bid sale for many scarce Morgan Dollars they found in the government vaults. This generated profit for the government and grew interest in Morgan Dollars.

Some major keys are: 1895, 1895-O, 1893-S, 1889-CC, 1892-S, 1884-S, and 1879-CC. Proofs were made in all years. Proof-like Morgans are very popular. They are either considered Proof-like (PL),                Deep Proof-like (DPL), and Deep Mirror Proof-like (DMPL).

Year-By-Year
1878, 8 Feathers-EST. 749,500   1878, 7 Feathers-EST. 9,759,300   1878-CC-2,212,000

1878-S-9,774,000

1879-14,806,000     1879-CC-756,000     1879-O-2,887,000     1879-S-9,110,000

1880-12,600,000     1880-CC-591,000     1880-O-5,305,000     1880-S-8,900,000

1881-9,163,000       1881-CC-296,000     1881-O-5,708,000     1881-S-12,760,000

1882-11,100,000     1882-CC-1,133,000  1882-O-6,090,000     1882-S-9,250,000

1883-12,290,000     1883-CC-1,204,000  1883-O-8,725,000     1883-S-6,250,000

1884-14,070,000     1884-CC-1,136,000  1884-O-9,730,000     1884-S-3,200,000

1885-17,787,000     1885-CC-228,000     1885-O-9,185,000     1885-S-1,497,000

1886-19,963,000     1886-O-10,710,000  1886-S-750,000

1887-20,290,000     1887-O-11,550,000  1887-S-1,771,000

1888-19,183,000     1888-O-12,150,000  1888-S-657,000

1889-21,756,000     1889-CC-350,000     1889-O-11,875,000  1889-S-700,000

1890-16,802,000     1890-CC-2,309,041  1890-O-19,701,000  1890-S-8,230,373

1891-8,693,556       1891-CC-1,618,000  1891-O-7,954,529    1891-S-5,296,000

1892-1,036,000       1892-CC-1,352,000  1892-O-2,744,000    1892-S-1,200,000

1893-378,000          1893-CC-677,000     1893-O-300,000       1893-S-100,000

1894-110,000          1894-O-1,723,000    1894-S-1,260,000

1895-None Known    1895-O-450,000       1895-S-400,000

1896-9,976,000        1896-O-4,900,000    1896-S-5,000,000

1897-2,822,000        1897-O-4,004,000    1897-S-5,825,000

1898-5,884,000        1898-O-4,440,000    1898-S-4,102,000

1899-330,000           1899-O-12,290,000  1899-S-2,562,000

1900-8,830,000        1900-O-12,590,000  1900-S-3,540,000

1901-6,962,000        1901-O-13,320,000  1901-S-2,284,000

1902-7,994,000        1902-O-8,636,000    1902-S-1,530,000

1903-4,652,000        1903-O-4,450,000    1903-S-1,241,000

1904-2,788,000        1904-O-3,720,000    1904-S-2,304,000

1921-44,690,000      1921-D-20,345,000  1921-S-21,695,000

Proof Year-By-Year Guide
1878, 8 Feathers-500     1878, 7 Feathers-250     1879-1,100     1880-1,355     1881-984     1882-1,100

1883-1,039   1884-875   1885-930    1886-886     1887-710        1888-833        1889-811     1890-590

1891-650      1892-1,245 1893-792   1894-972     1895-880        1896-762        1897-731     1898-735

1899-846      1900-912    1901-813     1902-777        1903-755        1904-650      1921-15-24 Known

Resources
PCGS Photograde (Images)

Coin Community (Information)