AboutMyCoin1880-S Morgan Dollar in AU50
An 1880-S Morgan dollar graded AU50 is that coin in one particular state of preservation — the date and the mint mark are already fixed, and AU50 is what a grader called the surface that survived. What that looks like on this coin is below. Where the grade sits against the rungs either side of it, and every way it is written on a slab, are in the table below.
What AU50 means
An 1880-S Morgan dollar in About Uncirculated (AU-50) circulated briefly and barely: the hair above Liberty’s ear and the cotton bolls in her cap are flattened where they stand highest, the eagle’s breast feathers and the tops of its wings show the same, some of the original mint lustre survives in the fields around them, and every other detail is as it was struck.
A slab, a dealer’s list or a price guide may write this grade AU-50. They are the same grade and the same 1880-S Morgan dollar.
Where this grade sits
The grades an 1880-S Morgan dollar is given run from PO1 to MS70. One step up from AU50 is About Uncirculated (AU-53). In general terms, the higher the grade the more the coin is worth.
How to check this yourself
Sold listings, not asking prices. The link below is already filtered to completed sales of an 1880-S Morgan dollar in AU50, which is the difference between what somebody paid and what somebody hoped for. Until this site has a researched figure for this grade, that search is the answer — take the middle of several recent sales rather than the highest.
The metal floor under it
$49.79
0.7734 troy oz silver × $64.38 per troy ounce
$64.38/ozt, based on spot prices at 23 September 2026 19:59 UTC
Whatever the market does, an 1880-S Morgan dollar cannot be worth less than the metal in it. That figure is what the premium for AU50 is measured against, and it moves with the metal price rather than with the coin market.
Not an appraisal. AboutMyCoin estimates from published specifications and does not authenticate or grade coins.
1880-S Morgan Dollar: every grade, the metal and the specification →