Morgan Silver Dollar

The Morgan Silver dollar is a popular commodity among collectors. Many find coin collecting to be an enjoyable pastime and also provides the collector with increases in monetary value. Coins are collected both for their nostalgic and historical properties, as well as for investing reasons. The Morgan Silver dollar is rich in a history that can be likened to that of Cinderella, by way of a rags to riches tale. In order to fully understand the value of these coins, people must understand the history surrounding them. While past price appreciation never guarantees future growth, these silver dollar values have consistently trended upward over time.

George T. Morgan is credited with the design of the Morgan Silver dollar. He developed the obverse and reverse sides on coinage, this being the separate images that appear on both sides. On the obverse side of the coin is a portrait of 'Lady Liberty'. In fact, as the story goes, a woman by the name of Anna Williams sat for her portrait to be taken, and later gained national acclaim as 'Miss Liberty'. Near Lady Liberty's neck, Morgan's monogram can be seen. The reverse side of the coin bears the likeness of eagle that is grasping olive branches and arrows in each of its feet. Olive branches denote peace, arrows war, and both combined signified a new era for the United States, one that symbolized a time and peace and military prowess.

Morgan Silver Dollar

The Morgan Silver dollars have a precious metal content that roughly comes to 24 grams of the metal per coin. They were minted from 1878 to 1904, and then again for one year, 1921. The coins were not popular when they were first created, in fact, much criticism existed as people thought that the head of the eagle looked rather scraggly and in fact, looked like that of a buzzard, hence bestowing upon the coin the nickname of 'Buzzard Dollar'. The dollars were not authorized until the year 1878 with the passing of the Bland-Allison Act. This law required that the United States Treasury buy two to upwards of four million ounces of silver every month. The Treasury became the biggest buyer of the coinage, however, this also led to the coin's unpopularity as the act resulted in the production of half a million Morgan Dollars.

The metal dollars were commonly used in daily commerce both nationwide and around the world and in some cases became known as the Liberty Head dollar. A shortage of silver in 1904 brought about the end of production for the coins. Over two hundred million Morgan dollars were melted down into bars. This and subsequent melting contributed to the rarity of Morgan Silver dollars minted in certain years causing the collection appeal and value of the remaining dollars to increase exponentially. A small number of the dollars, seventeen percent to be exact, remained intact. The preservation of this seventeen percent is due to the passing of the Pittman Act in 1918. This law set up the prevention of melting coins down to bullion exceeding three million, and in fact due to this law almost that many silver dollars were, in fact, re-minted.

The value in Morgan Silver dollar prices are dependent on not only the quality of the coinage, but also on where the individual coins were minted. By looking at the reverse side, the one with the eagle, mint markers can be seen in between the D and O in the word dollar. A single letter denotes where the coin was minted, and if no letters can be seen, the coin was minted in Philadelphia. The most valuable and highest Morgan Silver dollar prices reside with those minted in Carson City, Nevada. This is due to the fact they are of low mintage. This was due to an error in production. Twelve thousand were scheduled to be minted and a mere 800 were actually recorded. This led to much speculation as to what happened to the missing twelve thousand, some even believed a romanticized notion that the coins had been lost at sea.

Morgan Silver dollar prices both rose and gained in public interest when over four hundred thousand dollars worth of the coins were found in the basement of the home of LaVere Redfield. This discovery enticed many collectors who vied over possession of the coins and eventually led to an auction, with the winner posting a bid of over seven million. Value by way of prices continue to rise as they are collected worldwide and valuable due to the precious metal content and beauty in design. Many investors believe there is a level of security in the investing of coins during times of economic unrest, and precious metals are an excellent investment due to a continual demand and short supply.

One of the main characteristics of the Morgan Silver dollar, despite containing the precious metal, are the fine detailing of the images that appear on both sides of the coins. The most valuable of the coins have almost a mirror like affect on both the obverse and reverse. Standard Morgan Silver dollar prices are around thirteen dollars per coin; however, different Morgan Dollars have different values. For example, one minted in 1887 in San Francisco can easily sell on the current market for around one hundred dollars, while a silver dollar minted in 1885 from Carson City can sell for over five hundred.

 Morgan Dollars