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Morgan Silver
Dollar
History of
the Morgan Silver Dollar
Perhaps no coin being collected today
conjures up visions of the old west like the
Morgan Dollar. Minted from 1878 to 1904 and then
for one more year in 1921, the changes that took
place in America during the span of the Morgan
Dollar are startling. And although collecting
Morgan Dollars is a favorite of most collectors,
the silver Morgan Dollar was not that popular of
a coin and ignored by collectors for decades
after its demise. It was not until the early
1960’s that collecting Morgan Dollars became
popular. During this time silver was near $1.29
per ounce. At that price, the silver metal value
of a silver dollar was worth a dollar. During
this time many banks still had bags and rolls of
silver dollars and all one needed to do was go
down to the bank and ask for them.
The Mint Act of April 2, 1792 provided for
decimal coinage. The largest being the dollar,
or 100 cents. From the first few thousand dollar
coins weakly stuck in 1794 and the many more
through 1873, the dollar enjoyed moderate
success. Dollars were coined on and off until
the Coinage Act of 1873 eliminated the dollar
and put in its place a slightly larger dollar
called the Trade Dollar. The Trade Dollar was
produced with the intent to export it for trade
with China. As such, very few made it into
general circulation in the US. Meanwhile, the
silver mining industry in the west had fallen on
hard times. As is the case even today,
industries in trouble look to the US government
for help and the silver industry was no
exception. An idea was put forward that the US
government buy silver bullion for its own
account to help support the market. Embracing
this cause in the mid-1870’s was Representative
Richard P. (“Silver Dick”) Bland of Missouri.
Other politicians jumped on the bandwagon with
the thought that a strong silver market would
benefit everyone west of the Mississippi. After
much discussion and debate, the Bland-Allison
Act was passed on February 28th, 1878. The
legislation was initially vetoed by President
Rutherford B. Hayes but congress overrode the
veto putting a new law in the books. The
legislation dictated that the US government
purchase $2,000,000 to $4,000,000 a month in
silver bullion with the specific purpose to
convert the silver into standard silver dollars
(90% silver and 10% copper). At the time, silver
was around $1.00 per ounce. At that price, the
government was purchasing millions of ounces of
silver each month.
Back in 1876, Mint Director Henry Richard
Linderman anticipated that legislation would
someday be passed to create another circulating
silver dollar and had Chief Engraver William
Barber fiddle with a new designs. The legal
tender status of the Trade Dollar had been
revoked and the country was without a dollar
coin. Like today though, but for different
reasons, there was not a demand for a silver
dollar. In 1877, it seemed like a sure thing
that legislation for a new silver dollar would
soon become a reality. A new design was needed
and Barber, assistant engraver George T. Morgan
and outside artist Anthony Paquet went into high
gear producing several different designs. On
February 21st, 1878, Linderman selected the
design. Although he thought Barber and Morgan
had high artistic taste, he selected the design
with the lowest relief requiring the lowest
power to strike. This of course was the design
created by Morgan. The portrait was modeled
after 19 year old Miss Anna Willess Williams.
Morgan had previously used Miss Williams on
several pattern half dollars in 1877. Several
years later Charles Barber, son of William
Barber, would basically copy this design for his
own coin designs which later became known as the
Barber Dime, Barber Quarter, and Barber Half. He
also “designed” the Liberty Nickel.
Just a week after the passing of the
Bland-Allison Act, the first Morgan dollars were
coined on March 7th, 1878. After several
adjustments of the dies, the Philadelphia mint
cranked out the first dollar coin. After close
examination of the coin, it was rejected and
sent to the melting room. The press was then
adjusted and 11 more coins were produced. The
last was rejected and this coin was also sent to
the melting room. These first coins were struck
on polished planchets, removed by hand and put
in numbered envelopes with the intent to deliver
the first coin to the President and the 2nd coin
went to Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman
and the 3rd to Linderman. After that, the press
began churning out 80 dollar coins a minute.
Within a few days, several other presses would
come online and dies would be delivered to San
Francisco, New Orleans and Carson City.
As mentioned before, the purchasing power of
a dollar back in the 1880’s was huge. Most
transactions were completed in smaller
denominations as large purchases were under a
dollar. Additionally, many people were still
bartering for goods (trading pigs for chickens,
etc). As such, the supply of silver dollars far
exceeded demand. Incredibility, with this
supply, The Bland-Allison act was modified by
the Sherman Silver Purchase Act which mandated
the US Government purchase 4.5 million ounces of
silver per month. The hitch was that these
purchases were to be paid with Treasury bonds
redeemable in either gold or silver. Since gold
was seen as the more valued metal, most bond
holders redeemed them for gold which depleted
the Treasury’s gold supply which then caused a
financial panic through the whole country in
1893. This led to the repeal of the Sherman
Silver Purchase Act. The result was a massive
slowdown in silver dollar production for the
years of 1893, 1894 and 1895. Not coincidently,
these years also contain some of the most
elusive key dates. Production picked back up in
1896 but it would be a few years before
production went back above the 10,000,000 mark
for any individual mint. In 1904, the supply of
silver was exhausted and the Morgan Dollar
ceased production, or so it seemed.
In 1918, Congress passed the Pittman Act and
recalled over 270 million silver dollars for
melting. Total mintage of the entire series
totaled nearly 657 million. If you subtract out
the high mintage 1921 dates of 86.7 million,
(these were made from the melted older dollars),
around 47% of Morgans dated prior to 1921 were
destroyed. These silver dollars had been sitting
in Treasury vaults for years just collecting
dust. The provision of the act, called for the
recall of these dollars for the purpose of
making new ones. So, in 1921, the Morgan dollar
was revived for one more year. Barber had died
four years before (February 18, 1917) and now
George T Morgan was Chief Engraver who you
recall designed the dollar. The Philadelphia
mint made over 44 million, the highest number it
had ever made, while the San Francisco mint made
over 20 million, which was more dollars in one
year that it had ever made. Also, this marked
the only year that the Denver mint made Morgan
Dollars. The New Orleans and Carson City Mints
had long ago ceased operations. Later that year,
the Peace Dollar would permanently replace the
Morgan Dollar.
With the paper dollar becoming more popular
for commerce, dollar coins vanished from
circulation and piled up in bank vaults. More
meltings occurred due to the War Time Silver Act
of 1942 and then in 1979-1980 when silver shot
up to near $50 per ounce. No doubt millions of
Morgans and Peace dollars were melted. Today, it
is estimated that only 15-17% of all Morgan
dollars produced still exist. Taking this into
consideration, low mintage dates are even
scarcer than their mintage would indicate making
this a very desirable coin to collect.
Morgan Dollar News
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