Melted, Bagged and VAM Morgans

Posted on October 22, 2025 by Michael Bugeja

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 $90. 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.)

So if you’re interested in silver melt value of your Morgan, do not think a cull has $90 of silver in it.

FORMULA FOR SILVER MELT PRICE: Morgans are 90% silver containing 0.7734 troy ounce. Multiply silver price by 0.7734: $69.60. Dealers usually pay 10% under melt. So that Morgan now is worth $62.

But there is another wrinkle. With the high price of silver, how many Morgan dollars are being melted?

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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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.

1880-CC Morgan Varieties

Posted on July 23, 2025 by Michael Bugeja

The 1880-CC Morgan Dollars have several varieties that occurred to save the Mint money. Dies for these coins were made at the Philadelphia mint. The Carson City Mint, like other mints at the time, frequently reused dies by repolishing and re-engraving them. This process led to overdates and different reverses.

This is a basic article without naming other VAM varieties (cataloging different die markers). Visit here if you want to learn about VAMs.

1878 and 79 Reverses

Let’s start with the two reverses, compliments PCGS CoinFacts, so that we can understand the role they play in the varieties.

Now let’s proceed to the varieties and overdates.

1880-CC Regular Strike

The 1880-CC, regular strike, has the rounded breast of 1879:

1880-CC Rev. 78 (Regular Strike)

The first variety, then, is the 1880-CC Rev. 78:

Now that we know how to distinguish which reverse, we move on them to the various overdates.

1880-CC “8 over Low 7” and “8 over High 7”

Below find markers for the 1880-CC 8 over Low 7 (Regular Strike [aka Reverse of 79]) and 8 over High 7 (Regular Strike).

If the coin is worn, you might not be able to identify what you have without a microscope, and even then you might not be able to see the low/high 7. Fortunately, many 1880-CC varieties are uncirculated from bags released by the Mint as well as GSA dollars (more on those later).

Here is a blow-up so you can tell:

Two distinctions. The 8 over Low 7 has a remnant of the 7 in the middle of the top loop of the 8 and what looks like a die chip with some space between it and the bottom of the 8; the 8 over High 7 has the remnant close to the top of the 8 and the remnant close and almost touching the bottom of the 8.

1880-CC 8/7 Rev. 78

As you now might have guessed, another variety is the 1880-CC 8 over 7 with the 78 reverse. Look for the remnant of the 7 in the top loop of the 8:

Here’s the obverse and reverse of the above coin to give you an idea of how faint the remnant is and why you might not see it in a worn version. (There are other die markers to identify which variety you have but are omitted from this article, focusing on the basics.)

1880/79-CC $1 Reverse of 1878 (Regular Strike)

Yet another variety. How did this one happen?

Dies originally intended for 1879 dated coins were repurposed for 1880 production by overpunching the date with “1880,” resulting in the visible “80/79” overdate. This practice of repurposing dies helped conserve resources at the time. The reverse die used was the “Reverse of 1878,” characterized by a flat eagle breast and parallel top arrow feather.

Values

Values for each of the varieties differ so you might want to focus on the rarer ones, especially if you have acquired GSA Dollars, which do not distinguish between the various varieties in their holders:

Here is a table with each variety’s retail worth at MS63 from CoinFacts:

VARIETY VALUE AT MS63

1880-CC Regular Strike	$875
1880-CC Rev. of 78	$1450
1880-CC 8 over High 7	$950
1880-CC 8 over Low 7	$900
1880-CC 8 over 7 Rev. 78	$1350
1880/79-CC Rev. of 78	$1450

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Online Bidding Basics

Posted on July 17, 2025 by Michael Bugeja

By Michael Bugeja

Every now and then we need to monitor the major online coin portals and share bidding basics.

Some general rules:

Never bid on raw coins unless you are an expert grader, trust the seller, can view excellent photos, and can return the coin if unsatisfied.
Never bid on coins in bottom-tier slabs unless you spot a mistake like a rare error or variation that isn’t listed on the label.
Do not bid on raw coins on Live Auctioneers, HiBid or Proxibid unless (a) you are an expert grader, (b) have read the terms of service, and (c) can afford the buyer’s fee and shipping.
If bidding on eBay, consider not wasting time on “Buy It Now” offers unless you need the coin or currency for your collection. (Note: If you find yourself in this situation on eBay, you may want to simply “watch” the coin [hit the “watch” tab] until the seller relists it and finally comes to his or her senses, dropping the price or going to “Make Offer” status.) You can always contact the seller and ask for a lower buy price.

Let’s focus now on eBay. Here’s why: eBay is a global commerce leader with a vast user base and a massive overall gross merchandise volume (GMV), including a substantial market for coins and collectibles, which drives a much higher sales volume than other venues. Live Auctioneers, HiBid and Proxibid are small in comparison, especially when it comes to coin sales. eBay has 134 million active buyers worldwide. Coin and collectible buyers account for $10 billion in annual sales.

We’ll begin with an example of “Buy It Now” on eBay concerning a common Morgan Dollar, 1878, 7 Tail Feathers, Reverse of 78. By the look of the coin, I give it a generous MS-63 grade (assuming there are no hidden flaws the photo doesn’t reveal). That means the retail price should be around $145. Instead, the seller is asking for the ridiculous price of $1,995.

If you know how to grade (I mean, really know how to grade) and want a coin or currency note for your collection, always check auction values rather than retail values. You can do that online via PCGS CoinFacts or Paper Money Values, which are free. Find the low and high auction prices for the coin or note and bid the low first.

You can bid as you like, of course, but my general rule for “Buy It Now / Make Offer” is to bid only on slabbed coins by top holdering companies (PCGS, NGC, ANACS, CAC and ICG).

You can score good values on eBay “Make Offer” lots if you know how to negotiate. Go through the same process as above, knowing retail and auction prices, and start with a low auction bid if you really want the coin or note. I only do this with lots that I need for my collection. To pay for them, I retrieve coins from my bank box so that I can afford the pricier items as illustrated here. For instance, I sold most of my Lincoln Wheat cents slabbed by PCGS to afford these two desired lots.

The first was a 1901 Buffalo note that is becoming increasingly difficult to acquire at lower than retail rates. Just as in coins with top holdering companies, I bid only on PCGS and PMG notes. Here is the lot that caught my interest, because it had good color and came with a “Make Offer” designation:

You’ll note that eBay states this lot sold for $1,199. It did NOT. That was the asking price. I bid $890, slightly below retail of $900, and wrote that I could buy the note in question at the same grade from my hometown coin shop, Chester’s Coins and Gifts, for $950. (And I usually get a discount because, well, I know the shop owner!) I also noted that all those other PMG 25 Buffalos were not selling at $950 but were being relisted.

I won the lot:

I had been looking for three years for a “round” $1 California fractional gold PCGS coin in an old green PCGS holder, as the “round” rather than “octagonal” $1 coins are difficult to find. Finally one appeared. But the asking price was way above retail:

Here’s the $2,000 retail price from PCGS at the time of purchase, 2017, for the coin in question:

In my offer of $1,625, I told the seller that the latest auction price was around $1,600. “Seems fair enough,” the seller stated, and I won the coin.

Once again, eBay’s record states the coin sold for the initial asking price. As in the 1901 Buffalo note, it decidedly did not.

If you like posts like this, subscribe to Proxiblog so you can be informed whenever there is a new article or column.

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.

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Numismatic posts about grading, identifying, buying, selling and bidding on coins

Tag Archives: Morgan dollars