Morgan Silver Dollar
1878 to 1921

	In 1878, the Liberty Head or Morgan dollar (for George T. Morgan, the designer) was put into circulation. This coin was to become the best known and perhaps the most respected silver dollar in the world. At 90% silver, 38.1mm in diameter, and weighing 412.5 grains, the coin was made in large quantities and did not wear easily, so that most can be had today in very fine condition for a reasonable cost. Minting was suspended in 1904 for a lack of silver but resumed in 1921 for just one year.
This is a 2021 Morgan that I purchased for the web site; it is certified by PCGS as MS 70 and it cost $210. It would be fun to think that the coins minted a hundred years ago looked like this but that is extremely unlikely.		This is the reverse of the coin at left; it is stored in the red box in SDB 508. The 2021 coins were advertised as legal tender but of course, nobody ever used any of them for that purpose. They were all bought by collectors.
This coin was purchased for the web site and is certified by ANACS to be MS 63 but I was quite disappointed when I got it and so I bought an MS 70 (above). This one cost me $69 and is stored in the red box.		This is the reverse of the coin at left
This coin was advertised as uncirculated by the seller and it may be that although it has not been graded by experts. The image is not quite perfectly round because I photographed it from an angle to accent the light from my window. This is one of the very common dates of the Morgan dollars, with more than 21 million examples minted and it only cost me $48.		This is the reverse of the coin at left.
There are two issues of this coin that are rare and expensive: the 1889 CC and the 1893 S. I have been fortunate in acquiring both of these issues for my collection and I currently own a complete set of all 95 Morgans that were put into circulation. My example above is from the Carson City mint, in uncirculated condition, and is worth about $550. Mintage was 2,309,041.		This is the reverse of the coin at left.
I also have a second Morgan dollar from 1878 that is slightly different from the one that is mounted in the Dansco album. That coin (in the album) has seven tail feathers on the eagle. When the coin was first minted, the eagle on the reverse sported eight tail feathers and this caused the purists of the time much annoyance because real eagles always have an odd number of tail feathers. So the mint quickly rectified the problem by changing the design and all future issues of the coin were made with 7 feathers on the bird. I now own an 1878 Morgan dollar in MS 63 condition with 8 tail feathers and it has been certifed and slabbed.		The is a closeup of the reverse of the coin at left.