Morgan Silver Dollars
Morgan Silver Dollars were produced by the U.S. Mint 1878 - 1904 and again in the year 1921. The Morgan Silver Dollars are named for the designer George T. Morgan.
The Obverse of Morgan Silver Dollars is the profile of Liberty. The Reverse is an eagle with spread wings.
There were many critics of the eagle design. The eagle was said to be "scrawny" and called them "Buzzard Dollars". Others called them "Cartwheels" because the Morgan Dollars are large and heavy. In short, Morgan Silver Dollars were not popular until about 1960 - 1970.
The U.S. Treasury had been selling Mint Condition Morgan Silver Dollars that had been minted years earlier at face value for silver certificates until 1964. The remaining coins were sold at Public Auction (Bid by Mail) between 1972 until about 1980 when supplies were nearly sold out.
There are so many date and die combinations of Morgan Silver Dollars that in 1979 Leroy C. Van Allen and A. George Mallis published a list of about 6,000 of them The Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of U. S. Morgan and Peace Silver Dollars.
Serious collectors of Morgan Dollars are familiar with the term "VAMS", which comes from an acrynym of the authors "Van Allen and Mallis".
It has been estimated that about 75% of all Morgan Silver Dollars minted have been melted down to recover the Silver.
