For American numismatists, there are a great number of U.S.-minted coins that are greatly sought after. From gold American Eagles to silver America the Beautiful coins, there are numerous coins for which collectors can seek out through forums, antique stores, and more. One of the most interesting coins—ones of particular interest for American coin collectors—is the Morgan Silver dollar.
The Origins of the Morgan Silver Dollar
Minted by the official United States Mint from 1878 to 1904, and then again in 1921, the Morgan Silver dollar was the first, and foremost, silver dollar minted following the end of production of the Seated Liberty dollar. Prior to 1873, the Seated Liberty Dollar was the primary dollar coin struck by the United States Mint in the mid-1800s. However, in 1873, the 42nd United States Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1873, which ended the bimetallic period in the United States, abolishing the rights of silver bullion holders to have their metal struck into legal tender and placing the country on the gold standard.
While the striking of silver bullion into legal tender coins came to an end during this time, which many referred to as “The Crime of ‘73,” the House of Representatives began introducing new bills in 1876 to reintroduce bimetallism. The House eventually was able to pass such a bill in 1878, which came to be known as the Bland-Allison Act. The passed act required the U.S. Treasury to purchase anywhere from two to four million dollars’ of silver per month from citizens, purchasing it to turn it into silver dollars at a market value of 16:1 to gold—one ounce of gold would be monetarily equal to sixteen ounces of silver.
During this time, the Director of the Mint, Henry Linderman, attempted to find a distinguished artist to create a new design for U.S. silver coins. After talking to people at various international Mints, Linderman had the 30-year-old George Morgan recommended to him. The young assistant engraver began an apprenticeship at the Philadelphia Mint in late 1876, studying and preparing the Morgan Silver dollar design over the next year.
It was about a week after the passage of the Bland-Allison Act that the Philadelphia Mint successfully produced the first acceptable Morgan Silver dollar, which was given to President Rutherford B. Hayes.
Morgan Silver Dollar Design
When attempting to recreate the design of Lady Liberty, Morgan used local Philadelphia teacher, Anna Willess Williams, as his model. The left side of Williams’ face was used to present the face of Lady Liberty on the obverse side of the silver dollar, while the reverse portrayed a thin-looking eagle, which some believed to resemble a buzzard, earning the coin the nickname of the “buzzard dollar.”
The coin featured some notable marks that made it stand out: Morgan initialed each side of the coin with an “M,” furthering the Morgan name, and the first 1878 minted coins featured an eagle that had eight tail feathers rather than seven, requiring the coins’ design to be updated.
Sherman Silver Purchase Act and Panic of 1893
While the passage of the Bland-Allison Act made for the steady production of Morgan Silver dollars following 1878, this slowed in 1890 due to the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. The act, which called for the government to begin purchasing 4.5M troy ounces of silver per month, was passed because officials believed the increase in purchases would increase in inflation, which would help to alleviate the financial woes of the nation’s farmers and lower class. However, because the U.S. had already been minting all purchased silver since 1878, an ever-increasing surplus was created, causing silver to be used to mint smaller denominations.
Eventually, the effects believed to take place—inflation—backfired, causing numerous industrial firms to go bankrupt, resulting in what became known as the Panic of 1893, which led to the government repealing the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in late 1893. Buying of silver bullion ceased, and the government continued minting silver coins until the reserves ran out in 1894, thus leading to the end of the Morgan Silver dollar’s printing. It was only in 1921 that the Morgan Silver Dollar was officially minted again, this time at the Denver Mint. During World War I, the U.S. ended up melting down silver dollars and dies within the reserve, which meant that the original Morgan Dollar die no longer existed. For this reason, Morgan created a new master die, thus making another highly valuable, low-minted coin.
While there have been other commemorative Morgan coins produced since this time, the coins produced from 1878 to 1904 and 1921 were the only ones produced with Morgan’s very own dies, making them noteworthy and valuable coins for collectors.
