AboutMyCoinCheat sheet
Every date, variety and error in this series worth a second look. No prices: which of these are scarce has been settled for a century, and what they fetch is true for a week.
Dates and mint marks5
- 1893-S
- 1889-CC
- 1894
- 1895
- 1892-S
Read the date and the mint mark. No magnification, no judgement — either it says 1932-D or it does not.
Varieties4
- 1878 seven over eight tail feathers
- 1888-O doubled die obverse, the “hot lips”
- 1900-O over CC
- Branch-mint proofs, mainly 1879-O, 1883-O and 1893-CC
Look at one specific feature under magnification and decide what you are seeing. Most candidates are not.
The series at a glance
- Struck
- 1878–1921
- Designer
- George T. Morgan
- Composition
- 90% silver, 10% copper
- Obverse
- Liberty facing left in a Phrygian cap, wearing cotton and wheat
- Reverse
- An eagle with wings spread, holding arrows and an olive branch, within a wreath
- Edge
- Reeded
Mints and mint marks
On the reverse, below the wreath and above the DO of DOLLAR. No mark at all means Philadelphia.
| Mint mark | Mint | Years | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | Philadelphia | 1878–1904, 1921 | |
| CC | Carson City | 1878–1885, 1889–1893 | The scarcest mint of the series and the one collectors chase |
| O | New Orleans | 1879–1904 | |
| S | San Francisco | 1878–1904, 1921 | |
| D | Denver | 1921 | One year only |
Key dates
These are the issues worth conspicuously more than the rest of the run, and every one of them is identified by reading the date and the mint mark rather than by judging the coin. Mintages are the mint’s own published figures. No prices: which dates are scarce has been settled for a century, and what they fetch is true for a week.
| Date | Mintage | Why it is scarce |
|---|---|---|
| 1893-S | 100,000 | The lowest circulation mintage of the series and the key date in every grade. Most were spent rather than saved, and it is heavily counterfeited by altering a 1893-O or adding an S. |
| 1889-CC | 350,000 | The scarcest Carson City dollar, and the one most often faked, because CC dollars of other dates are common enough to donate a host coin. |
| 1894 | 110,000 | The lowest Philadelphia mintage of the series, struck in a year the Mint had almost no silver to work with. |
| 1895 | 880 | Proofs only, as far as anyone can demonstrate: 12,000 circulation strikes were recorded and not one has ever been confirmed. The 880 proofs are the entire surviving date. |
| 1892-S | 1,200,000 | Inexpensive worn and one of the great American rarities uncirculated, because essentially the whole mintage went into circulation. |
Varieties
A variety is not a key date. A key date is read off the coin with no judgement at all; a variety asks you to look at one specific feature and decide what you are seeing, which is why each row below says what to look at rather than what to look for in general.
| Variety | What to look at |
|---|---|
| 1878 seven over eight tail feathers | The tips of the earlier eight feathers showing through beneath the seven, on a first-year Philadelphia dollar. |
| 1888-O doubled die obverse, the “hot lips” | Heavy doubling on Liberty’s lips, nose and chin, strong enough to read without a loupe. |
| 1900-O over CC | The remains of a CC mint mark showing underneath the O on the reverse.The Carson City mint had closed by 1900; this is an old die reused, not a Carson City coin, and it is priced as the variety rather than as a CC dollar. |
| Branch-mint proofs, mainly 1879-O, 1883-O and 1893-CC | Fully mirrored fields, frosted devices and sharp square rims on a coin from New Orleans or Carson City, neither of which sold proofs to collectors.Fewer than a dozen of each are thought to have been struck and the experts disagree about which dates count at all. Ordinary dollars from those mints are often prooflike from fresh dies and look much the same to the eye, so nothing here can be settled by looking; a coin that might be one is worth certifying before it is worth valuing. |
Not an appraisal, and not an authentication. A coin worth four figures because of a variety or an error is worth certifying by a grading service before it is worth anything at all. Each one is a specialty with its own literature behind it.