The Morgan Silver Dollar is one particular of the most popular and most stunning of all classic United States coins. Initial minted in 1878, it was a coin that was connected with the “Wild West.” It was struck with silver from the Comstock Lode in Nevada (the most popular and most productive silver strike in American historical past), and it was respected everywhere due to the fact of its significant sizing and big quantity of silver. It also became identified as a “cartwheel” due to the fact of its big sizing.
Morgan silver dollar
The coin was named for its designer, U.S. Mint engraver George T. Morgan. The obverse portrays Lady Liberty wearing a slave’s cap (an ancient symbol of freedom), a ribbon inscribed with the word “Liberty,” and cotton and wheat as a tribute to America’s agricultural heritage. The reverse features an American eagle holding both the olive branch of peace and arrows of war.
Morgan was originally from England. He studied with the most renowned English engravers of the era ahead of coming to Philadelphia to function for the U.S. Mint. He claimed that the design for Lady Liberty was a statue in a Philadelphia museum, but it was quickly revealed that the type was, in simple fact, a Philadelphia teacher. When the truth grew to become recognized, the teacher lost her job – simply because becoming an artist’s design was regarded as “immoral”!
Each and every Morgan Silver Dollar contains over 3/4-ounce of pure American silver. The coins were definitely struck from 1878 to 1904 and once again in 1921. They had been struck at five different U.S.Mints: Philadelphia (no mint mark), San Francisco (“S” mint mark), New Orleans (“O”), Carson Town (“CC”), and Denver (“D”). Ironically, the Carson Metropolis coins are between the rarest in spite of the Mint being just a handful of miles from the Comstock Lode.
The Denver Mint opened in 1906, so the Denver coin was made only 1921. The mint mark on coins struck at branch mints is situated on the reverse, below the center of the wreath.