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Morgan Silver Dollar
Apr
Overview
As one of the most popular coins in American history, the Morgan Silver Dollar has had a superb track record in appreciating in value and is consistently ranked as one of the most collected coins in the country each year.
- Obverse: profile portrait representing Liberty
- Reverse: eagle with outstretched wings
- Years: 1878-1904 and 1921
- Mints: S, O, P, CC and D
History
In 1878, five years after the mints ceased producing the Seated Liberty Dollar, the Morgan Silver Dollar was minted for the first time as a result of the Bland-Allison Act. The act, vetoed by President Rutherford B. Hayes but passed by Congress, required the U.S. Treasury to purchase between 2 million and 4 million ounces of silver at market value each month in order to be minted into silver dollars. Thus the Morgan Silver Dollar was born. The coin was designed by and is named after the United States Mint Assistant Engraver, George T. Morgan.
For the next 12 years the U.S. Treasury was purchasing the minimum amount of silver each month required by the Bland-Allison Act, but the silver miners’ interests lobbied that the minimum was not sufficient. Therefore, Congress passed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1890 which stated that the U.S. Treasury was to buy an additional 4.5 million ounces of silver each month on top of what was required by the Bland-Allison Act.
Due to the discoveries of large supplies of silver around the world at this time, the spot price of silver plummeted to $1.16 an ounce. The demand for silver dollars fell accordingly and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act wound up being repealed in 1893, therefore the U.S Treasury went back to buying the minimum amount of 2 million ounces of silver each month. It was also decided to slow down the production of the Morgan Silver Dollars between 1893 and 1895. Some of the rarest dates and mint mark combinations are from these years. Silver continued to fall and eventually hit $0.60 an ounce. The Carson City Mint (CC) produced less Morgans than the other mints and wound up closing down in 1895 resulting in this being the rarest and most highly sought after mint mark.
In 1898, it was decided that all the remaining bullion from the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was to be minted into silver dollars and the supply was eventually depleted in 1904. Congress approved the coinage of silver dollars again in 1918 and the Morgan Silver Dollars were minted one last time in 1921. This was the only year they were produced at the Denver Mint. These 1921 Denvers are the most common and least valuable of the Morgans. In all, well over 600 million Morgan Silver Dollars were minted and hundreds of millions have also been melted down.
Even though the hobby of collecting numismatics was growing in the 1930’s and 1940’s, the Morgans did not start receiving serious attention by collectors until the 1960’s. This was due in part to the rising spot price of silver in conjunction with big collectors buying hordes of Morgan Silver Dollars from the U.S. Treasury’s vaults. This led to a tremendous increase in trading and circulating of the Morgan Dollars. Now fast forward to present day and almost every single coin collector has bought Morgan Silver Dollars at some point in their life and they are sure to continue to increase in value.
At Tri-State we have access to a wide range of Morgan Silver Dollars with a variety of dates and mint marks.
