Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Rare Coins USA: Morgan Dollars

The US Morgan Dollar, one of the most popular and sought after USA old rare coins and silver dollars, is 90% silver and named for its designer George Morgan. Morgan dollars and all US silver dollars that are 90% silver contain a bit over three-quarters of an ounce of silver.

The Morgan Dollar was first struck in 1878 at four branches of the US Mint: Philadelphia, New Orleans, Carson City, and San Francisco. The series was struck by the US Mint continuously through 1904, and then in 1921 the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco branches of the US Mint struck Morgan dollars for the final time.


Some people consider the first five years of the San Francisco Morgan Dollar series to be special. These 1878-S through 1882-S Morgan dollar dates had many coins struck with a proof-like appearance and some with a deep mirror proof-like appearance (DMPL). Those beautiful specimens are highly sought after and worth considerably more than average regular strikes.

The so-called "King of the Morgan dollar series" is the ultra-rare 1895 proof struck at the Philadelphia branch of the US Mint. Since less than 1,000 pieces were struck, very few people can truly have a complete set of Morgan dollars.

The Carson City branch of the US Mint struck Morgan dollars starting from from the first year of issue in 1878 through 1885, and again from 1889 through 1893. The two rarest key dates in the Carson City Morgan dollar series are the 1889-CC and the 1879-CC, with the 1892-CC and 1893-CC ranking high among old USA rare coins also.

A number of other dates in the Morgan dollar are quite rare also, especially the 1892, 1893, and 1895 series from all branches of the US Mint.

As with almost all other series struck by the US Mint, you if at all possible want to get the highest graded and highest quality Morgan dollars you can, mint state if possible. The 1921 Philadelphia is the least costly in mint state, followed by the 1881 San Francisco.

Some people are fans of a Morgan dollar "mint mark set", 5 Morgan dollars, one from each of the branches of the US mint that struck Morgan dollars over the duration of the series. The Denver coin in the set would have to be a 1921 because that is the only year in the entire Morgan dollars series that any were struck at Denver, which only opened in 1906, two years after the last Morgan dollars were struck.

Solid mint state Morgan dollars are a joy to behold and some of the most popular rare coins of the USA.

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