MORGAN SILVER DOLLARS

Morgan Silver Dollar 1878-1904 and 1921

The Morgan Dollar is a Silver United States dollar coin.  The dollars were minted from 1878 to 1904 and again for one more year in 1921.  The Morgan Dollar is named after its designer, George T. Morgan, who designed the obverse and reverse of the coin.  The dollar was authorized by the Bland-Allison Act of 1878.

The Comstock Lode, one of the greatest silver strikes in history, was discovered in Nevada in the late 1850s.  When the dollar was minted in 1878, it was the first dollar issued for American commercial use since the last Seated Liberty Dollar of 1873.

Caches of Morgan Dollars produced at the Carson City Min t were uncirculated and are called GSAs (named after the General Services Administration) and come in black plastic holders that mimic the holders used for proof Eisenhower dollars of the period.  These have become collectible items within the GSA encapsulation.