How many Morgan Dollars are there?

ambro51

Whats the survival number, roughly?

291fifth

Huge.

DDR

100 to 200 million, according to Q. D. Bowers in his 1993 Silver Dollar Encyclopedia. Total mintage was 657 million.

BillJones

Over 270 million Morgan Dollars were melted under the Pittman Act of 1918. Beyond that there have been smaller meltings for other reasons, including the Manhattan Project during World War II. Still a lot of Morgan dollars sat in treasury vaults for many years, and far from all of them were BU pieces that didn’t see the light of day almost a century. These coins did not circulate very well, and the survival ratios are high relative to other U.S. coins. I think that Bowers’ estimate of 100 to 200 million is accurate.

The Morgan Dollar is a very common coin overall and even the key dates like the 1893-S is not rare or even scarce. They are always available for a price. You can argue condition rarity effectively for some dates, but there is no real overall rarity for the series. But they are the most popular collector coin among those who have real money to spend on their collections so far that reason the prices for many date and mint combinations are strong.

kevinstang

<< <i>100 to 200 million, according to Q. D. Bowers in his 1993 Silver Dollar Encyclopedia. Total mintage was 657 million. >>



Throw in another 20 to 50 million copies of Chinese and other origin as well now days.

RWB

As of Dec 31, 1955 the Treasury and Mints held 253.5 milion silver dollars. Approximatly 2/3 were Peace type issued to replace the coins melted under the Pittman Act and another 10-12 million melted for domestic recoinage in 1919-1920.

[See NARA-CP RG104, entry 300, NN3-104-00-001, box 23.]

Billet7

Millions and billions, trillions and zillions...baaada-ba, ba, pa, pa!! (Must be read with a tune in your head!)

tahoe98

...in what grade?

johnny9434

ill go with the 200 million still out there. who cares about the grade, there plentiful in any grade ( just about )

pakasmom

Circ statehood quarters for those below the poverty line and true rarities for the wealthy. Morgan's are the "middle-class-collector's" coin.

And since the shoe fits... I'm okay with that.

LindeDad

I think there are probably enough in slabs for us all to have a box or two. I have four blue boxes and working on the fifth.

tahoe98

<< <i>ill go with the 200 million still out there. who cares about the grade, there plentiful in any grade ( just about ) >>



...hmmm. me thinks not.

Wolf359

<< <i>

<< <i>100 to 200 million, according to Q. D. Bowers in his 1993 Silver Dollar Encyclopedia. Total mintage was 657 million. >>



Throw in another 20 to 50 million copies of Chinese and other origin as well now days. >>



My goodness that is way over-stated. Are you confusing Morgans with Trade dollars? Maybe 1 in several hundred is Chinese.

dizzlecc

Approximately 4 million have been certified by the top two grading companies. Estimate 8-10 million have been ceritified, once the secondary grading companies are included.

If the 100 - 200 million holds true that means that market has room to grow with only 10%-20% of the population currently certified.


I wonder how many mint state coins remain in the raw.

Overdate

<< Over 270 million Morgan Dollars were melted under the Pittman Act of 1918. Beyond that there have been smaller meltings for other reasons, including the Manhattan Project during World War II. >>

A bunch more were melted in the 1979-80 silver price runup. I read that even some uncirculated bags perished in the melt.

Not counting the 1921's, I think the number of surviving Morgans is well under 100 million.

If the silver price continues upward, we may see some more melting of lower-grade Morgans.

ctf_error_coins

there are a lot of widgets out there

thus the reason for my collecting one-of-a-kind major mint errors

ProofArtworkonCircs

According to Treasury records, the total stock of silver dollars was 484,719,600 on June 30,1971. This is the same number as reported on Dember 31, 2009 when you count the 2,937, 600 silver dollars transferred to the GSA in December 1971. (There was a big fuss about monetizing the 1933 $20 gold piece. These GSA dollars sound like they were demonetized - no longer counted.)

The total Peace dollars minted were 190,577,779. Subtracting that from the total above gives 294,142,321 surviving Morgans, subject to 3 errors in counting here.

1) I have to subtract out pre Morgan dollars which I assume is a small number.

2) The 1938 dollar total was 547,079,506. 62,359,906 of which were melted by June 30, 1971. How many of these were Peace dollars?
I have to add that number back into the Morgan count.

3) How many Morgans have been privately melted? Maybe Cladking will chime in with an estimate.


edit: I had to correct a really BIG mistake here. I assumed all new dollars minted under the Pittman Act were Peace dollars. But 86,730,000 were 1921 Morgans. Numbers have been corrected.

kevinstang

<< <i>

<< <i>

<< <i>100 to 200 million, according to Q. D. Bowers in his 1993 Silver Dollar Encyclopedia. Total mintage was 657 million. >>



Throw in another 20 to 50 million copies of Chinese and other origin as well now days. >>



My goodness that is way over-stated. Are you confusing Morgans with Trade dollars? Maybe 1 in several hundred is Chinese. >>



Not really, I am a small time buyer in upstate NY and I have probably over 20 such pieces in just about the last 5 years of actively buying (been collecting for over 30)-some are crude, some of the newer ones are better. As far as trade dollars- there are probably more.I've even picked up quite a few seated lib dollars for the record quite as well. Just cruise the bay lately- you can pick up a complete set of fakes that are supposed to be marked copy-I'm pretty sure they won't be.

TwoSides2aCoin

<< <i>Circ statehood quarters for those below the poverty line and true rarities for the wealthy. Morgan's are the "middle-class-collector's" coin.

And since the shoe fits... I'm okay with that. >>



To me, you're part of the "UBER CLASS"

seemyauction

I own one morgan.........its a common date with pretty tarnish....................

RWB

According to Treasury records, the total stock of silver dollars was 484,719,600 on June 30,1971. This is the same number as reported on Dember 31, 2009 when you count the 2,937, 600 silver dollars transferred to the GSA in December 1971. (There was a big fuss about monetizing the 1933 $20 gold piece. These GSA dollars sound like they were demonetized - no longer counted.)

You completely lost me on this..... Where did 484,719,600 on June 30,1971 come from? There were only 253.5 million in 1955.

shorecoll

I remember seeing rolls of 93-S for sale in the late 1980's...true they were AG-VG...but they were still roll quantities.

relicsncoins

I probably have 40 or 50 Morgans, and only 2 of them are certified. Well, 4 if you count old Anacs photo certificates as being certified.

kimber45ACP

<< <i>100 to 200 million, according to Q. D. Bowers in his 1993 Silver Dollar Encyclopedia. Total mintage was 657 million. >>



Wow, that sure puts the coin vault's numbers up for question, because they CONTINUALLY say that 90% were melted by the Pittman act.
That would only leave 65.7 million available for collectors not 100-200 million.

I knew they were just popping off some ridiculous number to make Morgan and Peace dollars seem
more rare than the actually are.

etexmike

Counting the Morgan I just won in auction I own 33 if that helps with the final tally.


Mike

ProofArtworkonCircs

<<As of Dec 31, 1955 the Treasury and Mints held 253.5 milion silver dollars. Approximatly 2/3 were Peace type issued to replace the coins melted under the Pittman Act and another 10-12 million melted for domestic recoinage in 1919-1920.

[See NARA-CP RG104, entry 300, NN3-104-00-001, box 23.] >>

Roger, please note your total does not include silver dollars held by the Federal Reserve System nor those in circulation.
Silver dollars in circulation in 1953 were 202 million.
Silver dollars in the FRB System was 9,642,274 on Nov 30, 1962.
Total silver dollars in 1955 was 490,347,400.


The complete breakdown for Nov 30, 1960 per the Circulation Statement of United States Money (my earliest modern copy):
Total silver dollars were 487,668,100
Treasury had 160,803,252. 113,552,542 were backing for silver certificates and Treasury Notes of 1890. 47,250,710 were "other".
FRB banks and agents had 9,642,574
In circulation outside of the Treasury and FRB were 317,222,274

gratefulgreg

I've got 88 of em, all raw... like this

BaseballAbs

More than i can count that's why i don't collect them.

ProofArtworkonCircs

On page 1 of this thread are my calculations to estimate the number of surviving Morgans. I made a really big mistake in initially countimg 86,730,000 1921 Morgans minted under the Pittman Act as Peace dollars. I have corrected my post.

RWB

Thanks! Now I undestand where your numbers came from.

fiveNdime

<< <i>If the silver price continues upward >>


over the weekend i sold 10 for $21 ea
their box of 'silver dollars' was still marked $22

homerunhall

At least 100 million, maybe as many as 200 million. I know that I have personally seen about 10 million in the past 40 years with my own little peepers. I have seen bags and bags and bags of uncirculated silver dollars. The GSA sold 3 million Carson City dollars. The Redfield hoard was about 500,000 mostly scarce date S-Mints. The Continental Illinois Bank hoard was huge. But the hoards pale in comparison to all the dollars that have been out there for a long time. AT LEAST 100 MILLION!

hrh