1878 Silver Dollar

1878 Morgan Silver Dollar Overview

Additional Info: With nearly 10 million of the 1878 S Morgan Silver Dollars minted these are the 2nd most widely minted of the Morgans. With prices ranging from $30+ to $300+ dollars each these Silver Dollars are both affordable and a must have for any serious coin collector.

1. Price and other details may vary based on size and color. 1878 S Morgan Silver Dollar BU $1 Brilliant Uncirculated. 5.0 out of 5 stars5. (1878-1904) Morgan Silver Dollar (BU) $1 Brilliant Uncirculated. 4.6 out of 5 stars140.
2. Your 1878 Morgan silver dollar value is a minimum of $26.77 each. Many are worth a significant premium due to collector demand often raising the value far above silver bullion price. Of interest to collectors, 1878 is the first year of the popular Morgan dollar series.

Five years after the Coinage Act of 1873, the use of silver in coins made a bold return with the appearance of the Morgan silver dollar, now a valuable and highly sought-after coin.

In response to the 1873 discontinuation of free silver coinage, the Bland-Allison Act, passed in 1878, required the U.S. Treasury to purchase between two and four million dollars’ worth of silver each month to be used for minting coins.

With this act, the Morgan silver dollar was born. Mint Director Henry P. Linderman sought a design for the new coin from an assistant, George T. Morgan. Morgan’s design, though initially controversial, was accepted.

On the obverse of the coin is a large profile bust portrait of Liberty. Above her head, along the upper rim, is the motto “E PLURIBUS UNUM,” and below her head is the year of mintage.

On the reverse, in the center is an eagle with outspread wings, perched on an olive branch and a bundle of arrows and surrounded by a wreath. Just above the eagle’s head is the motto “In God We Trust,” and wrapped around the upper portion and of the rim is “THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.” At the bottom of the rim is the denomination “ONE DOLLAR.”

Both sides feature a denticled rim, a rim composed of a ring of small bumps.

The Morgan silver dollar was minted until 1904, when a shortage of silver caused production to be ceased. A final mintage was produced in 1921.

History of the 1878 Morgan Silver Dollar

1878 was the first minting of the Morgan silver dollar, and it was a turbulent first year for production.

In order to fulfill the quota laid out by the Bland-Allison act, the Philadelphia Mint shut down production on all other coins and worked overtime.

The central difficulty with production, however, was Morgan’s reverse design. Whereas eagles traditionally had only seven tail-feathers, the first version of Morgan’s eagle had eight tail-feathers, an issue which caused a great deal of controversy.

Some of these were taken back and restruck with a corrected seven-tail-feather design, but the original feathers are still partially visible on these coins.

In the same year, corrected designs were minted with only seven tail-feathers. There are two varieties of these new designs: one with parallel arrow feathers and one with slanted arrow feathers. Examples of all four designs (eight tail-feathers, seven tail-feathers, and seven over eight tail-feathers) survive.

In 1878, 10,500,000 Morgan silver dollars were minted at Philadelphia, 9,774,000 at San Francisco, and 2,212,000 at Carson City.

The 1878 Morgan silver dollar has a diameter of 38.1 mm and a mass of 26.73 grams. Compositionally, the coin is 90% silver and 10% copper.

Valuing the 1878 Morgan Silver Dollar

There are three main factors that contribute to the value of an 1878 Morgan silver dollar: the grade, the mint mark, and the variety.

As always, the value of your coin depends largely on its grade or condition. As these coins are 140 years old, coins with high grades are not easy to come by and, therefore, fetch a higher price.

That said, no matter what the grade of your 1878 Morgan silver dollar is, the melt value (how much the silver itself is worth) is $12.79.

The mint mark, which signifies where the coin was minted, also plays a large role in the value of the 1878 Morgan silver dollar. The mint mark is located just below the base of the wreath, right above the “D” and “O” in “ONE DOLLAR.”

A coin minted in San Francisco, signified by an “S,” is worth $29 in Good condition and $35 in Very Good. This increases to $39 in Fine, $45 in very fine, and $323 in uncirculated (MS-65)!

Coins minted in Carson City (marked by “CC”) are more valuable. Because the Carson City mint was not in operation for very long, mintings from here are rare. In Good and Fine grades, this coin is worth $109 and $119, respectively. This increases to $145 in Extremely Fine and $172 in About Uncirculated. For Uncirculated (MS-60), the value is $311, but higher grades of Uncirculated may be worth up to $1,709!

Of those coins minted in San Francisco (no mint mark), there are four varieties, as discussed in the above section. The four varieties differ largely in value above the Extremely Fine grades, as demonstrated by the below table. Pay special attention to the value of the proofs!

1878 Silver Dollar Mint Mark

Source: https://www.usacoinbook.com/coins/dollars/morgan/