If you collect Morgan dollars, you will have to memorize all dates and rarities because unlike Wheat cents and other common denominations, low mintage may not be the sole factor of value. You will have to factor these irregularities:
- Dates and numbers melted. The 1918 Pittman Act authorized the melting of up to 350 million silver dollars to support American mining interests and to provide silver bullion to Great Britain, facing a monetary crisis during World War I.
- Bags of Morgans released in last century. Millions of Morgans found in U.S. Treasury vaults in the 1960s and sold to the public at face value; dollar sales in the 1970s of leftover silver dollars, many of which bore “CC” mintmarks; and hundreds of thousands of “Redfield” hoards released to the market in 1976.
- Condition rarities. The reasons are many, but people neglected to save some uncirculated dates with high or reasonable mintages, meaning any found in low-mint state and above command ultra rarity prices.
- Different die varieties (catalogued as VAMs). This is an acronym for Van Allen and Mallis who cataloged varieties of U.S. Morgan and Peace dollars based on die markers distinguishing such features as doubling, die breaks, or clashed dies. If you are unfamiliar with VAMs, see Proxiblog’s “VAMs for Beginners.“
Silver Spot Price
Before we discuss the above Morgans, we should mention that the high price of silver in mid 2025 has increased values of all silver coins, especially silver dollars. At this writing, the spot price for silver is $52.60. You can expect that to fluctuate in the months and years ahead. (If you read this at a later date, that spot price will take on new meaning.)
But there is another wrinkle. How many Morgan dollars are being melted because prices are so high?
Now the law gets murky. You can melt silver coins for personal use, such as making jewelry. Melting silver coins for profit is not permitted because you will be fraudulently defacing or destroying currency, which is illegal under U.S. law. (Melting cents and nickels is illegal because their metal content can exceed their face value.) But that doesn’t mean people aren’t melting their culls and even valuable silver coins.
To give you an example of what is occurring behind the scenes, silver refineries are not paying the spot price because of skyrocketing financing costs, massive backlogs, and disruptions in the supply chain, making it uneconomical for them to process and refine silver. Refiners are overwhelmed with high-volume scrap, leading to halts in purchases, lower offers, and a growing gap between the physical and “paper” market price. This has created a “liquidity crisis” and a “physical freeze” in the market.
Now back to numismatics.
Melted Morgans
A handy resource about melted Morgans is Q. David Bowers’ “A Guide Book of Morgan Silver Dollars.” This comprehensive guide provides detailed information on the history, grading, and collecting of these coins. It covers every date and mintmark from 1878 to 1921 and includes melting estimates for each.
You will have to read this work or consult other guides, such as PCGS CoinFacts, which provides survival estimates for each year and mintmark (presumably factoring in the number melted).
Common date Morgans produced before 1904 were affected by the Pittman Act, while key-date coins were largely spared; however, in doing this, the Mint made those common date coins more valuable, because so many were melted.
That’s why you cannot look only on mintages for value. You will have to memorize. This article will help in that endeavor.
Bagged Morgans
Bags of Morgans released to the public drastically changed the values of Carson City dollars and other dates previously considered condition rarities, with the most famous being the 1903-O. Before the 1970s, collectors rarely saw one and considered it an ultra rarity. The exact number of 1903-O Morgan dollars released in bags in the 1960s is unknown, but it was in the hundreds of thousands, possibly over a million. Same goes for Carson City GSA dollars. Rarely were these seen in high mint state; and then, more than 3 million uncirculated ones were sold to the public. So uncirculated Morgans flooded the market, again affecting value.
In other words, you may have a rarity only to learn another hoard has been found or released to the public. Then your rarity is not so much anymore.
Condition Rarities
Top condition rarities include these dates below with images and values from PCGS CoinFacts:
1884-S. Mintage: 3,200,000. People just spent them, so there are precious few in mint state. Value: XF40, $135; MS65: $295,000.
1886-O. Mintage: 10,710,000. Most coins were melted under the Pittman Act. Value: XF40, $100; MS65, $285,000.
1892-S. Mintage: 1,200,000. For some reason, as in the 1884-S, people did not save uncirculated examples and spent them. Value: XF40, $600; MS65, $285,000.
1893-O: mintage, 300,000; 1895-O: mintage, 450,000; and 1895-S, mintage, 400,000. Although they had low mintages, again, people spent them with most surviving coins being circulated. 1893-O: Value: XF40 $950; MS65, $180,000. 1895-O: XF40, $900; MS65 $325,000. 1895-S: XF40, $1,900; MS65, $22,500.
1896-O. Mintage: 4,900,000. Many of these coins were melted so that high-grade pieces are scarce. Value: XF40, $85; MS65, $200,000.
1901-P. Mintage: 6,962,000. A relatively small number of these coins entered circulation, and the majority are thought to have been melted. Higher-grade examples are difficult to find. Value: XF40, $250; MS65, $325,000.
VAM Morgans
These are some of the most desired Morgan VAMs with images and markers from PCGS CoinFacts.
1887-P “Alligator Eyes,” VAM12A.
1888-O “Scarface,” VAM 1B.
1888-O “Hot Lips,” VAM4.
1891-CC “Spitting Eagle,” VAM3
1901-P “Shifted Eagle,” VAM3.
While these have been labeled the most popular, you should know the top 100 VAM Morgans, compliments PCGS.
This article has discussed the factors that make some Morgans more valuable than others. If you continue to study each date and mintmark in the series, in time, you will be able to make prudent purchases and, on occasion, score big.
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