These beautiful silver coins are something of an icon among collectors and dealers. They’re instantly recognizable and are a popular choice for new and experienced collectors alike. If you’ve just taken delivery of your own Morgan dollars from Golden Eagle Coins, then you’ll probably be wondering if there’s anything you need to know about them. You’ve most likely already read quite a bit about them, but here are some other interesting and important facts about these very special discs.
The Morgan dollars are officially known as Liberty Head dollars
The model for Lady Liberty on this dollar was Anna Willess Williams, a teacher from Philadelphia.
The designer was George T Morgan
Morgan was an assistant engraver at the US Mint at the time he designed these dollars. He later became the chief engraver.
They had quite a good run
The Morgan dollars were minted every year from 1878 to 1904, with another production run in 1921.
Five different production places
The coins were minted at five separate branches of the US Mint – Philadelphia, New Orleans, Denver, San Francisco and Carson City. The Carson City dollars are the most sought after.
Coins with a purpose
The Morgan dollars were originally designed and minted to make use of the silver from the biggest strike in US history, the Comstock Lode in Nevada, which was discovered in 1859.
Local circulation
The Morgan dollars were only widely circulated in the west of the US.
It didn’t catch on
The Morgan dollar wasn’t too popular with the public because it was deemed too heavy and large to handle easily. It ended up with another nickname because of this – “The Cartwheel”.
Yet another nickname
Another nickname the Morgan dollar earned was “Buzzard dollar” because people felt that the eagle on the front looked more like the humble buzzard.
Tell-tale grooves
The Morgan dollars have a reeded edge – the closely-spaced parallel lines around the edges. This reading is a useful way for people to spot fakes as any silver plating tends not to cover all the grooves.
Busy designer
George T Morgan designed six more coins as well as the Morgan dollar – the Columbian half dollar and the “Schoolgirl dollar”.
Under close examination
If you look very closely at the front of the Morgan dollar with a magnifying glass, you’ll be able to see George’s initial “M” on the ribbon tying the wreath together.
Perfect allegiance
The Morgan dollar is composed of two metals, silver (unsurprisingly) and copper. The proportions are 90% silver and 10% copper. The coin weighs 26.73 grams and this weight is another good way to tell if it’s genuine or not.
Waste not, want not
When the US Mint decided to run the 1921 pressing, it melted down more than a quarter of a million of the older coins to reclaim the silver.
Peaceful retirement
The Morgan dollar was replaced after 1921 with the Peace Dollar, which was to be the last US coin made from silver to be struck for general circulation.