Purchasing American Silver Dollars - A Basic Guide
The American Silver Dollar is probably one of the most well known coins in the world. Much has been written about the history of the silver dollar and how it came to be. In this video we shall dive into what silver dollars to search for and buy in today’s market.
Although many millions of silver dollars have been minted since the late 1800’s, there have been times where production has been low or coins have been melted down and the silver content reused. This occurred, for example, in 1918 when the Pitman Act legislated that silver coins be melted down and converted into silver bars. This meant that 270 million Morgan dollars were melted down leaving us with some rare dated coins as a result. In 1921, Morgan coins were again minted, but replaced that year by the Peace Dollar - making the Morgan Silver Coins of that date rare as well.
In 1960, when the price of silver rapidly rose, more silver Morgan coins were melted. It has recently been estimated that only 17 or 18 percent of the total number of silver Morgan coins remain today.
Silver dollars often have a mint mark to indicate which mint they were struck. All silver dollars were minted at the following mints:
Philadelphia 1793-present - Flowing Hair, Capped Bust, Sitting Liberty, Trade, Morgan, Peace, Eisenhower, Silver Eagle (no mint mark or 'P')
New Orleans 1846-1904 - Sitting Liberty, Morgan ('O' mint mark)
Carson City 1870-1893 - Sitting Liberty, Trade, Morgan ('CC' mint mark)
San Francisco 1859-1992 - Sitting Liberty, Trade, Morgan, Peace, Eisenhower, Silver Eagle ('S' mint mark)
Denver 1921-1934 - Morgan, Peace ('D' mint mark)
West Point 1995, 2001-present - Silver Eagle ('W' mint mark)
The most popular collectable silver dollars are the Morgan 1878-1921, Peace 1921-1935, and Silver Eagles 1986-present.
When looking for silver dollars there are a few important dates to look out for. These coins command the best prices and have the most value:
Carson City 1889 and 1893
New Orleans 1893, 1895, and 1903
San Francisco 1893, 1894, and 1895
Philadelphia 1893, 1894, 1895, 1899, 1921 and 1928
West Point 1995
This is an area of coin collecting that demands study, or a truncated advisor. The rewards, however, of collecting rare silver dollar coins can be most satisfying!
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