The “Morgan” silver dollar contains .7874 oz of pure silver, was minted from 1878 to 1904, and again in 1921. It’s a beautiful coin, designed by George T. Morgan, a Brit, who was only 30 at the time, but who eventually became the U.S. Mint’s Assistant Engraver. The obverse has the face of a woman, who is supposed to represent Liberty. Morgan’s friend, Thomas Eakins, suggested his friend Anna Willess Williams’ face be used for the coin, since she seemed to have a classic American type face. He had five modeling sessions with the girl, and a very close model of her face is on the Morgan. (She still looks a bit Roman though). The reverse uses the familiar wing spread bald eagle as on the half dollar coin, with changes to a dollar rather than a half dollar. In the Morgan’s original coinage, it was noticed that the bald eagle had eight tail feathers, whereas the real eagle only has seven. The dies were changed, and I have no idea of whether any of the original eight feathered bald eagles remain, as I am not a coin collector.
Morgans were first struck at the Philadelphia Mint, which still exists, but eventually U.S. mints in San Francisco, New Orleans, and Carson City were used. Based on today’s silver spot of $15.36, as I write this on Friday, the Morgan has $12.09 worth of silver in it, so it isn’t much of a value. You can find them on e-bay for a dime, with six days remaining on them for bidding, so I assume they will go for maybe $30, more or less, usually plus shipping of $3.95, and real good ones, maybe for $5 more. I’ve got as few hundred of them which I bought from our supplier many years ago, and I can’t remember what I paid for them, but they’re uncirculated, and they’ll stay in my safe.
The “Peace Dollar” was introduced in December, 1921, and while it has the same copper-silver ratio as the Morgan – 90% silver and 10% copper, it has a bit less silver, with .7734 oz of pure silver in it, so today as I write this, the peace dollar has $11.87 worth of silver. It is called ‘peace’ because it was commemorating the treaty signed between the Allied Forces and Germany and Austria after WW I. Production ceased in 1928, but began again in 1934 for two years. It was designed by Anthony de Francisci, whose monogram can be found on the obverse under the neck of the ‘Liberty’ face. The ‘liberty’ woman’s face isn’t the same woman as is on the Morgan, and on the reverse, there’s a standing bald eagle, but it isn’t the beautiful wings on the Morgan by a long shot. The Pittman Act of 1918, required the mint to strike silver dollars, which it began doing December 28, 1921, the first batch of peace dollars being a million coins.
Many tens and possibly hundreds of millions of both Morgan and Peace silver dollars were minted and used in America, with a few million possibly still being in existence, but no one knows how many. Their value in silver is well below spot, whereas the Silver Eagle, Silver Maple Leaf, Silver Krugerrand and others we have, all have one ounce of pure silver in them, and go for as little as 50 cents over spot, or a bit more for a government minted coin. That’s why we don’t deal in silver dollars. Any numismatic value is more than eaten up by having them ‘slabbed,’ or having their condition certified, which costs more per coin than they are worth! We do non-numismatic (bullion) silver and gold for 1% over what we pay, including shipping, and can do it with no advertising, and no TV lies, which are so omnipresent. They make me ill when I see them, so utter fraudulent are they. don@coloradogold.com