Morgan Dollar Series Guide: Key Dates & What's It Worth?

The Morgan dollar (1878–1921) is America’s most-collected silver dollar: the 1893-S key brought over $2 million in top grade, while common dates trade near their silver value. This guide covers the series’ history, the key dates to know, and what drives premiums.

Series history

The Morgan dollar was authorized by the Bland-Allison Act of February 1878, which required the Treasury to buy silver for coinage; the first pieces were struck in Philadelphia in 1878 (Wikipedia).
The design — a Liberty head by assistant engraver George T. Morgan — gave the series its name; every Morgan dollar is 90% silver and 10% copper, weighing 26.73 g (412.5 grains) at 38.1 mm (Wikipedia).
Dies were sent to the western mints in April 1878, and the New Orleans Mint began striking silver dollars in 1879; the Denver Mint, established in 1906, struck Morgans for only one year, 1921 (Wikipedia).
The series ran 1878–1904, then returned for a final year in 1921 before the Peace dollar took over — the 1921 Morgan is the only Denver-issue Morgan dollar (Wikipedia).
Under the Pittman Act of 1918, hundreds of millions of silver dollars were melted for bullion (the Act authorized converting up to 350,000,000 dollars), which is why so few high-grade early dates survived (CoinWeek).
Treasury releases of bagged dollars in the 1960s and the GSA sales of Carson City dollars in the 1970s flooded the market with Mint State examples of some dates — and made unreleased dates like the 1904-S even tougher by comparison (Numismatic News).

Key dates

1893-O Morgan Dollar and 1894 Morgan Dollar — the early-1890s issues, when the Sherman Silver Purchase Act’s repeal crushed mintages; the 1893-S is the series key with the smallest business-strike mintage, just 100,000 (Stack’s Bowers).
1893-S — the undisputed key: lowest mintage of any business-strike Morgan at 100,000, and even heavily worn examples command strong prices; an MS-67 sold for $2,086,875 in 2021 (Wikipedia; Stack’s Bowers).
1895 Morgan Dollar — the “king of the Morgan dollar series”: the only proof-only date, with no business strikes ever made (Heritage; Numismatic News).
1889-CC Morgan Dollar — the last Carson City Morgan and the scarcest CC issue; 1878-CC Morgan Dollar — the first Carson City Morgan, and the natural entry point to the CC series.
1884-S Morgan Dollar, 1892-S Morgan Dollar, 1895-O Morgan Dollar — low-mintage San Francisco and New Orleans dates from the depressed 1890s that carry strong premiums in Mint State.
Condition rarities: dates like the 1904-S had mintages over 2.3 million but never appeared in the Treasury releases, so Mint State examples are far tougher than the mintage suggests (Numismatic News).

What drives the premium

Mint mark and date: Carson City (CC) issues carry the frontier-mint premium; the 1893-S and 1895 sit at the top of every want list (Stack’s Bowers; Heritage).
Grade: the spread is enormous — an 1893-S in VF trades for a fraction of the $2,086,875 MS-67 record (Wikipedia).
Originality: Treasury and GSA releases mean many Mint State Morgans exist with bright, original skin; cleaned or dipped coins are heavily discounted (Numismatic News).
VAM varieties: die varieties catalogued by Van Allen and Mallis carry their own premiums on top of date value — attribution can multiply a common date’s worth.
Strike: San Francisco issues are typically sharp, while some New Orleans dates are notoriously flat; a strong strike adds value at every grade (Stack’s Bowers).
Counterfeit risk: the 1893-S is one of the most counterfeited U.S. coins — buy certified (PCGS/NGC) once real money is involved (Wikipedia).

Specifications

Composition: 90% silver, 10% copper (Wikipedia; Heritage)
Weight: 26.73 g (412.5 grains) (Wikipedia)
Diameter: 38.1 mm (Wikipedia)
Edge: reeded (Wikipedia)
Designer: George T. Morgan (Wikipedia)
Years: 1878–1921 (no issues 1905–1920) (Wikipedia)
Mint marks: none (Philadelphia), CC (Carson City), S (San Francisco), O (New Orleans), D (Denver, 1921 only) (Wikipedia)

Collector notes

The Morgan dollar is the most widely collected U.S. series by date and mintmark — a complete set is 96+ pieces including major varieties, so most collectors start with a type set or a short set (1921 and the 1930s are absent, so “short sets” run 1878–1904).
Common-date circulated Morgans are essentially silver plays; the numismatic premium concentrates in the keys, high grades, and original Mint State pieces (Numismatic News).
GSA-holder Carson City dollars trade at a premium to the same coin cracked out — keep the government holder intact (Numismatic News).
Weigh before you buy raw: 26.73 g is the standard, so underweight or wrong-diameter pieces are immediately suspect (Heritage).