There is probably no more popular a coin series than the Morgan dollar.
United States Morgan silver dollars were first minted in 1878 and remained a regular entry in United States coinage circulation until the last of these giant silver coins was produced in 1921.
Designed by George T. Morgan, this famous dollar coin features a large bust of a woman representing Miss Liberty. The design itself being modeled after Anna Willess Williams, who sat for Morgan and whose face has been immortalized on this silver dollar coin.
The allure of the Morgan dollar lies mainly in that the coin represents the United States during a romantic period in its history. It was a time when the country was expanding westward, and the hopes and dreams of the people often lay mainly just behind the horizon upon which the sun sets. With wagon trains pulling heading west and lives being rooted in the hills of the Rockies and the deserts of the Southwest, the Morgan dollar became a staple currency of the frontier.
Rare Morgan Dollars
While tens of millions of Morgan dollars were made, not all are considered common.
The passing of legislation in 1918 known as the Pittman Act resulted in the melting of millions of Morgan dollars. Unfortunately, there is no known record of precisely what dates and how many of each year were melted.
Today, numismatists can only go on anecdotal clues — such as the difficulty of finding certain dates — to decipher a rough estimation as to how many of a certain date is still in existence.
What is known is that certain Morgan dollars started off relatively rare (due to low mintages) and remain hard to find today.
Even when hoards of Morgan dollars were found in U.S. Mint vaults during the 1960s, some dates became relatively more common than previously thought. Still, many dates of the Morgan dollar series remain tough to find.
Historic Values Of Morgan Dollars
To get some idea of the monetary value coin collectors and investors have placed on Morgan silver dollars, you only need to look at a chart of the rare Morgan dollar values.
Stepping back in time to the 1960s, you can see that many Morgan dollars were already commanding healthy premiums.
By the 1980s, those values had swelled to even great proportions.
By the 2000s, many Morgan silver dollar values had stabilized — though some continued to spiral upward as demand continued to outstrip supply.
What follows is a rundown of the scarcest dates in the Morgan dollar coin series and values from the 1965, 1985, and 2005 editions of A Guide Book of United States Coins, by R.S. Yeoman and Kenneth Bressett.
1878-CC $3.50 (1965) $35.00 (1985) $75.00 (2005)
1879-CC $7.50 (1965) $75.00 (1985) $135.00 (2005)
1880-CC $20.00 (1965) $70.00 (1985) $150.00 (2005)
1881-CC $15.00 (1965) $95.00 (1985) $250.00 (2005)
1882-CC $7.50 (1965) $35.00 (1985) $100.00 (2005)
1883-CC $7.50 (1965) $35.00 (1985) $100.00 (2005)
1884-CC $14.00 (1965) $35.00 (1985) $100.00 (2005)
1885-CC $22.50 (1965) $175.00 (1985) $300.00 (2005)
1886-S $7.50 (1965) $25.00 (1985) $50.00 (2005)
1887-S $3.25 (1965) $17.00 (1985) $20.00 (2005)
1888-S $9.00 (1965) $30.00 (1985) $75.00 (2005)
1889-CC $80.00 (1965) $325.00 (1985) $1,500 (2005)
1889-S $17.50 (1965) $30.00 (1985) $45.00 (2005)
1890-CC $4.00 (1965) $35.00 (1985) $75.00 (2005)
1891-CC $6.00 (1965) $35.00 (1985) $90.00 (2005)
1892-CC $9.50 (1965) $50.00 (1985) $125.00 (2005)
1892-S $5.00 (1965) $50.00 (1985) $50.00 (2005)
1893 $7.00 (1965) $55.00 (1985) $125 (2005)
1893-CC $10.00 (1965) $150.00 (1985) $350.00 (2005)
1893-O $7.50 (1965) $100.00 (1985) $150.00 (2005)
1893-S $95.00 (1965) $1,750 (1985) $4,000 (2005)
1894 $50.00 (1965) $350.00 (1985) $800.00 (2005)
1895-S $15.00 (1965) $150.00 (1985) $275.00 (2005)
1896-S $5.00 (1965) $35.00 (1985) $50.00 (2005)
1899 $12.00 (1965) $45.00 (1985) $45.00 (2005)
1902-S $9.00 (1965) $55.00 (1985) $100.00 (2005)
1904-S $2.50 (1965) $60.00 (1985) $60.00 (2005)
*Values are for coins in the grade of Very Fine unless otherwise noted.
I’m the Coin Editor here at TheFunTimesGuide. My love for coins began when I was 11 years old. I primarily collect and study U.S. coins produced during the 20th century.
I’m a member of the American Numismatic Association (ANA) and the Numismatic Literary Guild (NLG) and have won multiple awards from the NLG for my work as a coin journalist. I’m also the editor at the Florida United Numismatists Club (FUN Topics magazine), and author of Images of America: The United States Mint in Philadelphia (a book that explores the colorful history of the Philadelphia Mint). I’ve contributed hundreds of articles for various coin publications including COINage, The Numismatist, Numismatic News, Coin Dealer Newsletter, Coin Values, and CoinWeek.
I’ve authored nearly 1,000 articles here at The Fun Times Guide to Coins (many of them with over 50K shares), and I welcome your coin questions in the comments below!
