Morgan Silver Dollars - A Staple For Silver Dollar Collectors

September 23, 2008 · Print This Article

First minted in 1874, the Morgan Silver Dollar was produced for 30 years, ending production in 1904. After almost 20 years of not being produced, the US Mint did a production run of 1921 Silver Dollars and thus the coins finally ceased production after 1921, never to be produced again. Oddly enough, and unlike many other silver dollar coins, the Morgan Silver Dollar was not named after a famous politician or businessperson, but was named after the designer of the Morgan Silver Dollar.

Prior to the Morgan Silver Dollar was the Seated Liberty Silver Dollar and Silver trade coins which were used mainly for trade with the orient. Morgan Silver Dollars were made of 0.77344 troy ounce of silver and were produced around the same time as a large silver strike in Nevada. Because the availability of silver was so large, the US government resumed production for one year to produce the now famous 1921 Morgan Silver Dollar.

One interesting story comes to mind regarding the fate of the 1921 Silver Dollars. An old farmer by the name of Lavere Redfield began to accumulate a huge supply of them. He was a savvy investor and lived as though he had nothing. At the time of his death in the 1970's, he left an estate valued at over 100 million dollars. Among his assets were a cache of Morgan's so large that no one had ever come across such a large hoard. It seems that over the years Redfield would visit a bank and buy bags of 1000 Morgan Silver Dollars at one time, driving them home in his old pickup truck. At the time he was able to purchase the coins for only $1 each. Upon his death, a mountain of silver coins were found in his basement, to the tune of 400 bags. 400 bags of coins with each bag containing 1000 coins. Even at face value would have been $400,000, however the coins went to auction and fetched over 7 million dollars!

Since their issue in the 1920's the Morgan coins have been an important part of many coin collections. Among the most valuable of the Morgan Silver Dollars are the coins marked with "cc", which is an indication that these coins were made at the Carson City facility. In terms of high value, there are 3 years of Morgan's that stand out as being rare: the 1889-CC, the 1893-S and the 1895 Morgan Silver Dollars. Of all Morgan Silver Dollars, these are the most sought after. If you happen to be the owner of one of these coins, you may be pleasantly surprised with the worth of the coin.

Blake Hygate is the webmaster of SilverDollarCoinStore.com which helps buyers find the best deals on Morgan Silver Dollars and other US, Canadian and international silver dollars.

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