Design of the Coin

The obverse of this coin sows George Washington facing left in profile and was designed by sculptor John Flanagan and his initials can be found at the base of George Washington’s neck along with the date of minting, in this case, 1932. Both the phrases, ‘Liberty’ and ‘In God We Trust’, can be found at the top and to the left of Washington’s head respectively.

George Washington

The reverse of the coin was also designed by sculptor John Flanagan and features a bald eagle. On this edition of the coin, the mintmark appears below the eagle’s talons. This side of the coin bears the motto ‘E Pluribus Unum’, which translates to ‘one out of many’ and also appears on the great seal of the United States.

The honour of the original design was given to Laura Gardin Fraser who had designed the Oregon Trail commemorative coin. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon was unimpressed with the design which Ms Fraser had created and therefore decided there would be a second contest in which would decide the final design of the coin. Fraser again won. This was again ignored and the assignment was consequently handed to John Flanagan.

Struck between 1878 and 1904, and for one more year in 1921. The Morgan Dollar was minted from silver from the Comstock Lode in Nevada; with a fineness of .900 the Morgan Dollar contains over 24 grams of silver per coin.

The coin was authorized by the Bland-Allison act of 1878, This Act required the Treasury to purchase at market levels, between two million and four million troy ounces of silver bullion every month to be coined into dollars.

Designed by George T. Morgan in 1878, the obverse features a left facing portrait of Miss Liberty, and the reverse depicts an eagle perched upon 3 arrows. Some viewed the image of the eagle as ‘scrawny’, which led some to vilify the coin as a “Buzzard Dollar”.

In 1918 the Pittman act called for over 270 million coins to be melted for silver bullion for sale primarily to Great Britain, the funds were then used to purchase silver from American silver mines, in essence to act as a federal subsidy to the silver mining industry.

The 5 mints

The Morgan dollar was minted in 5 locations including Philadelphia, Denver, New Orleans, San Francisco and Carson City. The Carson City mint being the rarest due to the low amount minted at that location.

Four special coins were struck at the Denver Mint in 1921 over a San Francisco Mint die. These are known as the 1921 D over S Morgan dollars.

The Denver mint

Rarities of the series

Three dates/mints are the most difficult versions to find and are therefore the most valuable of the entire Morgan series. This is mainly due to their low mintage figures.

• 1889 – Carson City (200,346)
• 1893 – San Francisco (100,000)
• 1895 – Proof (12,880)

Of these the 1885 proof is one the most valuable coins of the series worth $100,000

In all, over 600 million Morgan Dollars where produced, although many hundreds of millions were melted down, whether it was due to the Pittman act or by private refiners since 1960, when silver prices rose. Due to the small amount used, huge stockpiles remained in bank vaults and treasury vaults nationwide in America. Which explains why so many Morgan Dollars are so well preserved today.

Today the Morgan silver dollar is one of the most collected American coins, with many collectors attempting to amass complete collection by year or mint. The Morgan silver dollar is a fine example of American coinage.

Features

Value: 1 USD

Mass: 26.73 grams

Diameter: 38.1 mm

Thickness: 2.4 mm

Composition: 90.0% silver 10.0% copper

Years of minting: 1878-1904; 1921

Walking Liberty Silver Half Dollars

A.A. Weinman was born in Karlsruhe, Germany but immigrated to the US, at the age of ten, in 1880. He perfected his skills as a student of the legend, Augustus Saint-Gaudens and by 1915, he was widely commended as one of the nation’s finest sculptors.
The design is considered to be so beautiful that when the U.S. Mint began issuing 1-oz Silver “Eagles” in 1986, they chose this design for its premier silver bullion issue as well! The coin also has a reeded edge; this was to prevent counterfeiting of the coin as well as clipping.

The Walking Liberty Half Dollar was sent to mint over a 31 year period between 1916 and 1947 and was made in three different mints. These were situated in the Philadelphia mint, (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), the Denver mint (Denver, Colorado), and in the San Francisco mint (San Francisco, California). Each mint placed its own marking on the coin. During 1916 and 1917, the markings were located on the obverse of the coin under ‘In God We Trust’. During mid 1917, the mintmark was moved onto the reverse of the coin where it was located on the lower left of the ‘half dollar’ along the rim of the coin.

This fantastic patriotic coin shows Miss Liberty wrapped in a flowing American flag walking towards the dawn of a new day whilst the reverse of the coin shows a Bald Eagle with raised wings. In recent times, a worldwide increase in collecting coins has led to astronomical demand for these fantastic vintage coins. Steeped in history along with its unique design and solid silver heft, these stunning coins have become one of the most coveted coins of all time.

Composition: .900 silver, .100 copper

Weight: 12.50 grams

Net Weight: .36169 ounce pure silver

Diameter: 30.6 millimetres

Edge: Reeded

In 1964 a special one year edition was released with an alternate image to that of the Voyageur design. This unique coin was the last regular issue “young head” coins in the series and as such quantities of this coin are limited.

Features:

Origin: Canada

Date Issued: 1963

Metal: Silver (.880 Fine Silver)

Denomination: $1 (can)

Grade: Uncirculated

Purity: .800

Weight: 23.327 Grams

Diameter: 36 MM

Mintage: 4,137,141

1990 Eisenhower Centennial Silver Dollar

Each coin from the GovMint has been certified, graded and encapsulated by the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America (NGC) or the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS), two of the country’s leading third-party grading services.

Features:

Date of Production: 1990

One Year Release Only

PR69 Condition

Weight: 26g

Composition: 90% Silver – 10% Copper

Coin Designers: John Mercanti & Marcel Jovine

Find out more about this coin at Gov Mint.

The UHR Gold Double Eagle will increase by $50 to $1,489, the newly released 2009 Gold Buffalo Proof Coins will jump $50 to $1,410 and First Spouse Gold Coins will rise $25 to $729 for the proofs and to $716 for the uncirculated options.

The US Mint uses a London Fix weekly gold average to determine whether to keep gold coin prices the same, or adjust them up or down. An upward adjustment seemed unlikely as the several day average as of Tuesday was well below the $1100 threshold that would trigger them. However, the Wednesday AM London Fix came in higher by over a dozen dollars to $1114.75 an ounce, which was exactly enough to tip the balance …