US Silver Dollars

Two Centuries of American Silver

From the Coinage Act of 1792 to the Last Peace Dollar

US silver dollars have captivated collectors since the Coinage Act of 1792 authorized the new nation's first large silver coins. The early Flowing Hair and Draped Bust dollars — struck from 1794 through 1803 — laid the commercial and symbolic foundation of American coinage, establishing the dollar as the central unit of the nation's monetary system. These early issues, produced in modest quantities at the fledgling Philadelphia Mint, are among the most historically significant coins in American numismatics and command extraordinary prices when they appear at auction today.

Their successors — the Seated Liberty dollars of 1840–1873, the Morgan dollars of 1878–1921, and the Peace dollars of 1921–1935 — built on that foundation across nearly a century of American expansion, industrialization, and global conflict. The Morgan dollar became the most famous of all US silver dollars, widely used across the American West and minted in massive quantities at five facilities. Its successor, the Peace dollar, commemorated the armistice ending World War I with a bold Art Deco design that remains one of the most artistically admired in American numismatic history.

The U.S. Mint Facilities Behind Every Dollar

Philadelphia, Carson City, New Orleans, San Francisco & Denver

Understanding US silver dollars — especially Morgans — begins with the mint facilities that produced them. Each location contributed uniquely to the nation's coinage history, producing coins with distinct mint marks that allow collectors to identify exactly where and when a piece was struck. The Philadelphia Mint struck the majority of all silver dollars and carries no mint mark through most of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The branch mints tell equally compelling stories: New Orleans (O), San Francisco (S), Denver (D), and the legendary Carson City Mint (CC) each produced coins with distinct characteristics and collector premiums.

The Carson City Mint — The Crown Jewel of CC Coins

Frontier Silver, the Comstock Lode & the Most Prized Mint Mark in Numismatics

Among all US silver dollars, those bearing the CC mint mark from the Carson City Mint hold a special prestige that no other issue can match. Operated from 1870 to 1893 in Carson City, Nevada — just miles from the Comstock Lode silver deposits — the mint was established specifically to convert regional silver into coinage. Carson City Morgan dollars were produced in relatively modest quantities compared to Philadelphia issues, and many circulated heavily in Nevada mining towns and frontier commerce before being spent into near-oblivion. The combination of lower original mintages, high circulation rates, and the romance of the frontier West has made CC Morgans the most universally prized subset of the entire Morgan dollar series.

U.S. Silver Dollar Mint Marks at a Glance

What Each Mark Means — and Why It Matters for Value

Major U.S. Silver Dollar Series

A Collector's Overview from the Earliest Issues to the Last Classic

Morgan Dollar (1878–1921)

America's Most Collected US Silver Dollar — Key Dates, Mint Marks & Values

The Morgan dollar is the most widely collected of all US silver dollars and one of the most collected coins in the world. Designed by George T. Morgan and first struck in 1878, the series ran through 1904 before being revived for a final production year in 1921 under the Pittman Act. Five mint facilities — Philadelphia, Carson City, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Denver — struck Morgan dollars across the series' lifetime, creating a vast landscape of date-and-mint combinations that collectors have pursued for over a century. The series contains everything from genuinely common dates worth $25 in circulated condition to supreme rarities worth hundreds of thousands at auction.

Morgan dollars were produced in enormous quantities to absorb the silver bonanza flowing from western mines under the Bland-Allison Act of 1878 and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890. Many were stored in Treasury and Federal Reserve vaults for decades, eventually released through the famous GSA sales of the 1970s — which brought hundreds of thousands of uncirculated Carson City Morgans to the collector market for the first time. That release fundamentally shaped the modern Morgan dollar market and explains why some CC dates that seem scarce by mintage figures are actually available in gem grades today.

Morgan Dollar Key Dates & Values

Peace Dollar (1921–1935)

America's Art Deco US Silver Dollar — Key Dates, Design History & Collector Values

The Peace dollar replaced the Morgan in 1921, authorized by the same Pittman Act that had revived Morgan production. Designed by Anthony de Francisci — who modeled Liberty after his wife, Teresa — the Peace dollar features one of the most artistically sophisticated portraits in American numismatic history. A bold right-facing Liberty wears a radiate crown inspired by classical Greek and Roman prototypes; the reverse shows a perched eagle holding an olive branch inscribed PEACE, a deliberate contrast to the more martial Morgan eagle. The coin was widely acclaimed on its release as a fitting tribute to the armistice ending the First World War.

The Peace dollar series comprises 24 date-and-mint combinations across three facilities — Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Denver — produced from 1921 through 1935 with a gap from 1929 to 1933. The series is shorter and more completable than the Morgan dollar, making it a popular choice for collectors building a full date-and-mint set. Condition is critical throughout the series: Peace dollars were struck from heavily used dies that often produced weakly detailed high points, and finding a well-struck gem specimen of even a common date requires patience. The 1928 stands alone as the supreme key date, with only 360,649 struck at Philadelphia — the lowest regular-issue mintage in the series by a wide margin.

Building a US Silver Dollar Collection

Where to Start, How to Grade & What to Buy First

Building a US silver dollar collection begins with understanding grading, because condition affects value in this series more dramatically than in almost any other area of U.S. numismatics. A common-date Morgan in Fine condition might bring $30 — its approximate silver melt value. The same date in MS65 might bring $500. The same date in MS67 might bring $5,000 or more. PCGS and NGC certification provides trusted, third-party grade evaluations that protect buyers from overgraded raw coins — essential for any silver dollar purchase above $200.

New collectors often begin with common-date Morgan and Peace dollars in circulated condition — Beautiful Fine through Extremely Fine examples that present well without requiring significant investment. These coins offer immediate access to the series' history and artistry while building the collector's eye for quality. The perennial collector's advice applies directly here: buy the coin, not the holder. A common-date Morgan in a genuine MS65 with exceptional luster, strong strike, and clean surfaces is always worth more than a weakly struck, baggy MS65 with a premium label.

A Legacy Preserved Through Mint Marks

Reading History in the Small Letters Beneath the Eagle

The mint mark on a US silver dollar is far more than a simple letter of origin — it is a window into the economic geography of an era. A CC on a Morgan dollar speaks to silver miners, frontier saloons, and the transcontinental railroad that connected Nevada's wealth to the nation's commerce. An O on a New Orleans Seated Liberty dollar invokes antebellum cotton commerce and the economic engine of the pre-Civil War South. An S on an 1859 Seated Liberty dollar places that coin in Gold Rush-era San Francisco, where the new branch mint was processing Pacific Coast silver into federal currency for the first time.

Whether identifying a scarce Carson City Morgan, a high-quality San Francisco strike, or a rare New Orleans Seated Liberty, the mint mark transforms a coin from a piece of metal into a primary historical document. That is ultimately why US silver dollars remain a cornerstone of American numismatics — not just for their silver content or their rarity, but for the irreplaceable stories they carry.