Morgan dollar coin, 1878

The coin

This piece is an 1878 Morgan dollar photographed in a holder that reads 1878-CC, 1 dollar, PCGS MS60, Morgandollar, and 7495.60/72833930. The obverse shows Liberty facing left, in a Phrygian cap with cotton and wheat, the band LIBERTY, E PLURIBUS UNUM, thirteen stars, and the date 1878. The reverse carries the eagle with spread wings, arrows and an olive branch, IN GOD WE TRUST, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, and ONE DOLLAR. The type’s CC mint mark sits under the wreath, above DOLLAR; in these photographs the plastic and a reverse reflection keep that letter from reading as clearly as the obverse date. PCGS CoinFacts numbers the 1878-CC business strike 7080. 7081 is the PL designation. This holder’s label prints 7495.60, which is not the CoinFacts number for that coinage. This record transcribes the label and does not treat 7495 as a confirmed variety. The type is 900-fine silver, 26.73 g and 38.10 mm, with a reeded edge: those are issue standards, not a weight or a caliper reading of this example. The photographs do not show the edge. The 1878-CC type uses the second reverse: seven tail feathers, a concave breast, and a parallel top arrow feather. That is an issue fact; these photographs are not enough to count the feathers or to assign a VAM. PL and DMPL are not assigned either. The type carries an M for Morgan on the neck truncation and on the reverse bow; these photographs do not show that letter clearly enough to record it. The piece is not in a GSA case.

Legends

Obverse

E PLURIBUS UNUM · LIBERTY on the band · thirteen stars · 1878.

Reverse

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA · IN GOD WE TRUST · ONE DOLLAR · CC mint mark under the wreath (type; the plastic does not let it read with certainty).

History

The coinage act of 1873 dropped the standard silver dollar. On 28 February 1878 Congress overrode the veto and passed the act that authorizes it again, known as Bland-Allison: each month the Treasury bought not less than two million dollars of silver, and not more than four, and coined it into those dollars. The United States Mint places the weight and fineness at those of the act of 18 January 1837 — 26.73 g, 90% silver and 10% copper — and attributes the design to George T. Morgan. The first pieces are dated 1878, at Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Carson City. The Q. David Bowers text that PCGS reprints places the shipment of ten die pairs and six collars to Carson City on 16 April 1878; the Carson City Morning Appeal of 17 April notes those dies and a few samples struck that day. All known 1878-CC dollars are of the second reverse, with seven tail feathers: Philadelphia did not send the third reverse to that house. PCGS and Numista give the 1878-CC a mintage of 2,212,000. The 1878 with no mint mark, the 1878-S, and the Philadelphia eight-feather varieties are other pieces. This record publishes no price.

Scarcity and type

PCGS CoinFacts (7080) publishes the Carson City mintage: 2,212,000. Numista (N# 1492) lists the same figure on the 1878 CC line. Bowers, on that record, places 60,993 examples held back for the 1972–1974 GSA sales, apart from Treasury payouts in the 1940s and 1950s. That figure is a distribution count, not the provenance of this coin, which keeps no GSA holder. PCGS estimates 295,000 survivors in all grades, 195,000 in MS60 or better, and 7,000 in MS65 or better. Those are expert estimates — they include raw pieces and coins certified by any service — not a certificate census and not the state of this example. This record publishes neither an MS60 census nor a price. The 1878 with no mint mark and the 1878-S are other coinages.

Certification

The piece is in a holder that reads PCGS MS60 and 7495.60/72833930. This module carries no serial number. The identity of this record is the photographed object — date 1878, a holder with that number — not a confirmed PCGS lookup. CoinFacts identifies the regular 1878-CC as 7080; 7495 is not confirmed here as that issue’s number. The lookup for certificate 72833930 was not available when this record was written. MS60 is a transcription of the label, not a grade assigned by this page. No VAM, PL, or DMPL is assigned. The weight and diameter are the type standards, not a measurement of this piece. There is no documented GSA provenance.

Related pieces

Another piece in the United States collection.

• Morgan dollar · San Francisco · 1884
• Gold dollar · United States Mint · 1856
• Morgan dollar · Carson City · 1883
• 2.50 dollars · United States Mint · 1912