Morgan Silver Dollar

Background

The Morgan Silver Dollar is an iconic silver coin that represents the westward expansion of the United States and industrial growth in the late 19th century. This coin was produced from 1878 to 1904, in 1921, and once again in 2021. Five different mints are responsible for the minting of this coin: Carson City, San Francisco, Denver, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. The reason this coin was produced was due to the largest silver deposit ever being discovered in 1859 in Nevada. In turn, the silver market was then flooded. This motivated the United States government to end the manufacture of silver coins due to the drop in value of silver. Congress then passed the Bland-Allison Act. This required the United States Mint to purchase certain amounts of silver to be struck into silver coins. This is when the creation and minting of the Morgan Silver Dollar began.

Design

The United States Mint Assistant Engraver, at the time, George T. Morgan came up with the design. The Morgan Silver Dollar features a profile of Lady Liberty on the obverse side of the coin. She is wearing a crown and flowers with “Liberty” inscribed on her crown. The date of the issue of the coin along with 13 stars and “E PLURIBUS UNUM” encircle her. As for the reverse side of the coin, with outstretched wings, an eagle is shown holding onto arrows and an olive branch with a wreath. There are also inscriptions of “ONE DOLLAR”, “IN GOD WE TRUST”, and “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”.

Morgan Silver Dollar Composition

This beautiful coin consists of 0.77 troy ounces of 90% pure silver, and 10% copper. The Morgan Silver Dollar coin minted from 2021, however, contains 99.99% pure silver. Although this coin has a face value of $1, the current silver spot price value of the coin is higher than that. Although the originally minted coins are not only silver and contain copper, they are still valuable for their silver content as well as its historical significance.