Morgan Dollar

Infobox Coin
Country = United States
Denomination = Dollar
Value = 1
Unit = U.S. Dollar
Mass = 26.73
Diameter = 38.1
Thickness = 3.1
Edge = Reeded
Composition = 90.0% Ag
10.0% Cu
Years of Minting = 1878–1904; 1921
Catalog Number = -
Obverse = Morganfront.jpg
Obverse Design = Lady Liberty
Obverse Designer = George T. Morgan
Obverse Design Date = 1878
Reverse = Morganback.jpg
Reverse Design = Eagle holding arrows and olive branch
Reverse Designer = George T. Morgan
Reverse Design Date = 1878
:"For the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team, see Morgan-Dollar Motorsports."The Morgan Dollar is a silver United States dollar coin. The 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 the obverse and reverse of the coin. Morgan's monogram appears near Lady Liberty's neck on the obverse. The dollar was authorized by the Bland-Allison Act of 1878. It has a fineness of .900, giving a total silver content of 0.77344 troy ounces (24.057 grams) per coin.

History

The Comstock Lode, the greatest silver strike 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

Mintmarks appear underneath the tail feathers of the bald eagle on the reverse between the letters D and O in Dollar. Mintmarks include:
*Blank (Philadelphia Mint in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
*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)

Of all of these mints, the dollars from Carson City hold more value because of their usually low mintages, as well as a western connection. All proofs for the Morgan series were minted at Philadelphia but proof 1921-S coins are known to exist.

Mintages

Deep Mirror Proof Like (DMPL)

DMPL coins are regular Morgan Dollars that were struck for circulation but have unusually frosted legends and devices and very reflective, mirror-like, fields on both the obverse and reverse. There are coins that are heavy DMPL, meaning that they are very frosted/mirrored, and coins that are light DMPL, meaning they are not completely frosted/mirrored. These coins occur most frequently during the pre-1883 run of San Francisco dollars. Even with these examples, these coins are worth much more than a regular coin by the same grade. Morgan dollars which have surfaces that are reflective but are not deeply mirrored enough to qualify for the Deep Mirror Proof Like designation are called simply "Prooflike." Prooflike coins also carry a premium over Morgan Dollars with non-reflective surfaces.

pecial Varieties/Errors

The Morgan Dollar is known for many different varieties, called VAMs (Extensive research on the variations in the dies used to strike silver dollars was published 44 years ago by Leroy C. Van Allen and A. George Mallis. Their work centers on Morgan dollars that were minted by the United States Mint from 1878 through 1904 and the resumed again in 1921 and Peace Dollars issued from 1921 through 1935. The term VAM is an acronym for "Van Allen - Mallis."). There are about 6,000 or so known VAMs. Below are some of the most well-known ones:

*1878-P: 7/8 Tail Feathers, VAM-44, "The King of VAMs"
*1879-CC: Clear CC
*1882-O over S
*1887-O: 7 over 6
*1888-O: ScarFace
*1888-O: Doubled Obverse ("Hot Lips")
*1900-O over CC
*1901-P: "Shifted Eagle" Doubled Reverse
*1903-S: Micro S

The Top 100 Morgan dollar varieties were published by Dr. Michael Fey and Jeff Oxman in 1996. It was intended to re-focus collectors and dealers onto only the most significant VAMs known to overcome the problem of "micro-vamming" - aka the search for and collection of insignificant varieties. And what a success it has been. Many of these VAMs have entered the mainstream collecting of Morgan dollars; it has become unheard of to claim a complete Morgan dollar collection without including the most significant VAMs.

1889-CC, 1893-S, and 1895 Proof

These three dates/mints are the most difficult to find and the most valuable of the entire Morgan series. This is mainly due to their low mintage figures.

*1889-CC: 350,000
*1893-S: 100,000
*1895 Proof: 12,880 (880 Proofs + 12,000 Business Strikes)

Of these, the 1895 Proof is one of the most valuable with a PF-65 coin worth $66,000 according to the 2007 Red Book. If the recognized theory that all circulation strike 1895 Dollars were melted shortly after their minting or never struck, a maximum number of 880 proof coins can be known to exist. The true number is probably lower as some coins for certain have not survived the test of time. This rarity has caused attempts to forge an 1895-P by removing a mintmark from an also rare 1895-O or 1895-S.

References

*Yeoman, R.S. "A Guide Book of United States Coins" Atlanta: Whitman Publishing, 2007
*Edler, Joel and Harper, Dave "U.S. Coin Digest" Iola: Krause Publications, 2004

External links

* [http://www.pcgs.com/prices/frame.chtml?type=date&filename=morgan_regular PCGS Price Guide for Morgan Dollars]
* [http://coinfacts.com/silver_dollars/morgan_dollars/morgan_silver_dollars.html Morgan Dollars Mintages at coinfacts.com]
* [http://www.vamworld.com VAMworld Morgan & Peace Dollar VAMs and varieties reference site]
* [http://www.bestcoin.com/Top-100-Morgan-Dollar-Varieties.htm Morgan Dollar Vam 100 Varieties]
* [http://www.coinpage.com/Morgan%20Dollar-coin-pictures.html Morgan Dollar pictures]
* [http://www.thestujoecollection.net/viewtopic.php?t=33 Morgan Dollar - Price, Value, History, and Grade Information]