Why Collect Silver Dollars?
October 13, 2008
Silver dollars are a favorite of most US coin collectors. In fact, it is not unusual to find a silver dollar or two away by people who have no particular interest in coins at all. Why is this? What is it about silver dollars that makes people want to collect them or, just hang onto them?
Well, for one thing, they are really Big. And Heavy. And Beautiful,too. (Okay, big, heavy, and beautiful. We are just talking coins here, right? What else?) They are a piece of American History. (Well, I guess so, but what history do you mean?) Pretty much all of it. They were first made in the 1700s, not too long after independence. And they were really a big deal in the days of the Wild West. And how about gambling in Las Vegas? You used to be able to get them in your change there, even if you were just buying gas!
(I see. So why were they made of silver, anyway?)
Because, back when the mint started, in 1792, coins were actually worth the amount of money they stood for. A dollar was made from metal worth one dollar. Silver was the best metal to use, because that way the dollar would still be an easy size in your pocket. Copper would have weighed a ton (not really, but a dollar in copper would have made a better doorstop than a coin. And a gold dollar would be really tiny and easy to lose. (Actually, they tried that in the 1850s. People hated them. They said they were tiny and easy to lose. Go figure.)
The Morgan Dollar - 1878 to 1921
September 16, 2008
The Morgan Dollar is a United States Silver Dollar named after its designer, George T. Morgan. These were made from 1878 to 1904, and then again, in 1921, just for that year. He designed both sides of this coin and his personal monogram shows close to Lady Liberty's neck on the front side of the coin. Morgans design used Anna Willess Williams, who was a schoolteacher and, occasional model, from Philadelphia. The back of the coin showed what has been called a rather malnourished eagle.
The silver coin itself is large, 38.1 mm in diameter, weighs 26.73 grams, is made of .900 fine silver and has a reeded edge. The total silver content is .77344 troy ounces. Late in the 1850s, the Comstock Lode was discovered in Nevada. This had been called the biggest silver strike in history and had the effect of driving down silver prices all over the world. As a result of this strike, Congress initiated the Bland-Allison Act in 1878, which made it a requirement for the Treasury Department to buy great amounts of silver to make coins from. Therefore, the first Morgan Dollar was made on March 11, 1878.
