How to Evaluate Morgan Silver Dollars

Evaluating Morgan Dollars

• 1

  Familiarize yourself with Morgan dollar basics. The coins contain 0.77344 troy ounces (24.057 grams) of silver. In fact, the coin's entire reason for being is its silver content, since creating it was the U.S. government's response to the vast production of silver in the West in the late 1800s, not public demand for a dollar coin. That circumstance has a bearing on its status as a collectible today, since demand for the coin was never as high as supply, and thus many Morgans were never circulated--a highly desirable condition for collectors.

• 2

  Determine the exact year and mint mark on your Morgan dollars. The year is on the obverse (front), directly under the head of Liberty. The mint mark is a little harder to spot but nevertheless visible on the reverse (back) directly under the wreath under the eagle, and above the space between the letters "D" and "O" in the word DOLLAR. No mint mark means it was made in Philadelphia; CC stands for Carson City, Nev.; O stands for New Orleans; S stands for San Francisco; and D stands for Denver (only 1921 coins were minted there). Because different mints produced different numbers of coins during different years, knowing the date and mint mark is essential to judging the rarity of a Morgan dollar.

• 3

  Ascertain whether your Morgans have been professionally graded or not. Professional grading means that a specialist in coin grades (its condition, in terms of wear) has examined a coin in great detail and determined a grade for it based on strict criteria, and on a scale of 0 to 70, with 0 being barely a coin at all and 70 being never-seen perfection. After grading, the company seals the coin in a container with the grade written on it (the coin is "slabbed," coin pros say).

• 4

  Remember that not all grading companies are equally conscientious. Generally speaking, the top two are NGC and PCGS. Grading by those two companies is very conservative, and their grading is widely if not universally accepted among numismatic specialists. Precise grading is quite important in fixing value among Morgans, especially the higher-grade, more expensive varieties.

• 5

  Learn about other ways of grading for Morgans that aren't "slabbed." One possibility is to ask a few coin dealers their opinion of a particular coin's grade. For years and mint marks that aren't particularly rare, it's also reasonable to make ballpark estimates of a Morgan's grade yourself, especially after some study about what to look for in terms of wear, lost luster and other features that determine grade. Grading coins is something of an art, but not an impossible one.