Morgan Dollars: Why America's Most Collected Coin Still Captivates

The Coin That Has Everything

The Morgan Dollar is the most widely collected U.S. coin series, and it's not hard to see why. Large size, beautiful design, silver content, accessible price points for common dates, legendary rarities for advanced collectors, and a romantic backstory tied to the Old West, the Comstock Lode, and Treasury vault hoards.

The Morgan dollar — George T. Morgan's iconic 1878 design remains America's most collected coin series over 140 years later

British-born George T. Morgan used Philadelphia schoolteacher Anna Willess Williams as his model for Liberty. The Bland-Allison Act mandated the Mint purchase millions of ounces of silver monthly, leading to massive production — hundreds of millions of dollars sat in Treasury vaults in canvas bags of 1,000 coins for decades.

The 1893-S (mintage 100,000) is the key date. The 1895 Philadelphia is proof-only — no business strikes were ever released. And Carson City Morgan Dollars carry a mystique all their own, especially after the GSA Treasury hoard releases of the 1970s introduced thousands of pristine CC-mint dollars to the market.

Then there's the Peace Dollar — Anthony de Francisci's youthful Liberty, modeled after his wife Teresa, symbolizing hope after World War I. The 1921 High Relief is a sought-after type coin, and the legendary 1964-D (316,076 struck but almost all melted) is a modern rarity.

Join the Conversation

• Morgan or Peace — which silver dollar series do you prefer?
• What's your favorite Carson City Morgan?
• VAM collecting — do you track die varieties, or collect by date and mint only?
• The modern Morgan and Peace Dollar revivals (2021+) — do they capture the magic of the originals?

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Explore in the NumisDex Catalog

Related varieties and errors from the NumisDex database:

• 1876 Misplaced Date WMPD-001
• 1878 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-001
• 1878 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-001
• 1878 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-002
• 1878 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-002