Tag Archives: 1878 Morgan Dollar

“Long Nock”: Check Your 1878-S Morgans

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The 1878-S Morgan has a mintage of 9,774,000 and is valuable in higher grades, but a small detail on an otherwise even silver melt coin is a coveted variety. It’s called “Long Nock.”

Let’s define “Nock,” an uncommon word, except for archers, whose definition is a notch at either end of a bow for holding the string.

So right off the word leads us to the quiver of arrows held by the eagle on the reverse.

Morgan 1878-S “Long Nock” coin refers an extended length of the arrow shaft (the “nock”) in the eagle’s talon. This variety is a result of a design variation used on the first set of dies delivered to the San Francisco Mint.

Let’s compare a regular 1878-S reverse with a “long nock” one with this photo from PCGS CoinFacts:

The “long nock” feature extends the tip of the central arrow.

This variety has several specific variations in the VAM directory (named after the directory compiled by Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis):

These varieties happened because of an urgent need to produce Morgan dollars at various mints in 1878. The first 10 pairs of dies for the San Francisco Mint had the “long nock” design. When the US Mint asked engraver George T. Morgan to revise the design, reducing the relatively high relief (shortening die life), the nock was shortened and the number of tail feathers on the eagle were reduced from eight to seven.

Value for this variety is high but few ever exceed almost uncirculated levels. The top pop at PCGS is AU53.

At Very Fine 20, the coin retails for $275 and increases by about $100 each Sheldon grade higher up until AU53.

Nevertheless, you will find 1878-S Morgans everywhere–even in slabbed coins–with the owner or holdering company missing the variety. (If you submit a coin without identifying and paying for a variety, that designation will not be on the label.)

Happy hunting!

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You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.

Beginner’s Guide to VAMs

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Morgan and Peace Dollars are among the most popular and widely collected U.S. coins. While many collectors appreciate these coins for their history and beauty, fewer take the time to explore the fascinating varieties of each series. These varieties, known as VAMs, are named after Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis, the researchers who carefully studied and cataloged them by their die marriage.

Learning VAMs can feel like stepping into a whole new dimension of collecting. It’s a field that rewards patience and curiosity, often taking years to master variety attribution. Thankfully, new collectors don’t have to start from scratch! Resources such as the VAMWorld website provide a wealth of information, guides, and images that make this specialized area more approachable.

VAMWorld allows users to “contribute, edit and improve” its listings, continually updated with new discoveries, delisted varieties, renumbered varieties, and other important revisions! It is the most up-to-date listing for Morgan and Peace Dollar varieties. While the site includes a dedicated tab for new collectors, this section is often overlooked. For those just beginning their journey of studying VAMs, I strongly recommend first to read the Definitions and Attribution 101 pages as it will be needed to understand various design changes, date placements, mintmark locations, die clashing and other characteristics of variety attribution and terminology.

At present, VAMs aside, the hobby focuses on errors and varieties with newcomers, in particular, hunting ultra rarities such as 1992/1992-D Close AM or 1982-D Small Date 3.1 grams. Those types of varieties for Morgan and Peace dollars are catalogued in VAMWorld. But we go one step deeper. We not only identify that variety but also the various dies that might have created it and the popularity of those varieties within a variety.

Let’s see how Proxiblog’s Michael Bugeja uses VAMs to show all the various types of 1900-O/CC Morgans. The popularity and value of this Morgan is not only the variety, but the prominence thereof. VAMs 7 through 12 identify the difference in prominence of the overmintmark.

I often stress to newer collectors the importance of learning and understanding the reverse hub types for the Morgan Dollar series. This chart represents all of the reverse hub types used for the series in detail. It mentions only 1878 but is for the entire Morgan series from 1878-1921.

Granted, the above chart might intimidate hobbyists new to VAMs. Let’s simplify everything and show how three different VAM reverses for the 1878 8TF, replete with pickup points:

Developing a strong grasp of these distinctions is invaluable not only for attribution but also for detecting counterfeit pieces, as reverse hub diagnostics can quickly reveal inconsistencies.

In my very first article for Proxiblog, I used VAMs to discover a family of counterfeits that fooled collectors and grading services for decades. I wrote, “The ‘Micro O’ varieties have always been scarce coins to come by, and in 2005, these were deemed counterfeit by PCGS when 3 examples showed repeating circulation marks between the 1896 O VAM-4, 1900 O VAM-5, and 1902 O VAM-3.”

Navigating the VAMWorld website can feel overwhelming for newer collectors, but becomes much easier when utilizing the tools and resources provided. Each date specific page includes a set of guides.

Many collectors focus on the Top 100, Hot 50, and Hit List 40 varieties. These showcase the most popular and valuable varieties, minimizing what is known as “micro-vamming,” or listing insignificant types.

Introducing the Top 100, VAMWorld writes, “Many of these VAMs have entered the mainstream collecting of Morgan dollars; it has become unheard of to claim a complete Morgan dollar collection without including the 1882-O/S, Scarface, Hot Lips, and an 1900-O over CC example among several other varieties.”

Proxiblog emphasizes this with articles on each of those above and more. For instance, click the photo below to go to these VAM varieties that are viewed, simply, as desirable and valuable Morgans:

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You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.

5 Types of 1878 Morgans

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It all began with tail feathers. In 1878, the Morgan Dollar replaced the Trade Dollar with the initial die showing 8 tail feathers on the reverse eagle. Shortly after production began, the Mint altered the tail feathers, superimposing a 7 TF version over the 8 TF. You can believe or dismiss the stories, but the change may have been made because someone pointed out that eagles have one tail feather longer than the other. Dies were altered again to show 7 tail feathers.

Here is a depiction of all three types, compliments PCGS CoinFacts:

Turns out that eagles have 12 tail feathers, not 7 or 8. (Curiously, the 7/8 TF has 12 feathers if you count the doubling.)

The 1878 7/8 variety has two types, strong and weak, depending on the prominence of the doubling. Here’s an illustration:

After everyone agreed to the 7 tail feathers on the reverse, changes then were suggested for the breast of the eagle. One had the 1878 design and the latter, the design of the 1879 reverse. The 1878 has a flat breast; the 1879, a rounded one.

See this PCGS designation:

Now let’s view all of them in one nifty panel to help identification (right click to expand):

You can read a comprehensive article about the number of strikes per variety on PCGS CoinFacts.

As for value, here are current retail/auction prices for various grades, again from CoinFacts:

Values

VARIETYXF40AU55MS63MS65
1978 8TF$140$210$525$2,700
8/7 Strong$100 $175$525$3,500
8/7 Weak$100$140$250$950
1878 Rev. 78$85$125$225$800
1878 Rev. 79$72$150$450$2,000

Be especially careful when bidding on or buying raw coins of these varieties as sellers often misidentify these types.

Here’s a perfect example, an 1878-S (not 1878 Philadelphia) with no doubling on the tail feathers listed as 1878 7/8 TF Strong:

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Proxiblog also has thousands of followers on Facebook Coin Groups, YouTube and social media. To get the latest discussion and commentary, be sure to friend us by clicking here.

You can find more information about errors and varieties as well as buying and bidding on coins in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider purchasing the work for yourself or a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist website. Thank you.