Each Morgan or Peace dollar contains 0.7734 troy oz of pure silver, and that sets the lowest price the coin should bring. What lifts a dollar above that line is its date and mint mark read together with its condition. A worn 1921 Morgan or a common 1920s Peace dollar usually trades near melt, while scarcer dates, CC coins and sharp uncirculated pieces bring collector premiums.
Morgan or Peace: telling the two apart
The two designs are easy to separate once you know the faces. The Morgan shows Liberty in profile wearing a cap, with an eagle and spread wings inside a wreath on the back. The Peace dollar shows Liberty wearing a crown of rays, and its eagle rests on a rock with the word PEACE.
The dates help too. Morgans run from 1878 to 1904 and then return for one last year in 1921. Peace dollars start in 1921 and end in 1935. A 1921 dollar can be either design, so check the portrait before you sort it.
Both series are 90% silver and weigh 26.73 grams, so the metal is identical from one pile to the other. Sorting by design still matters, because collectors treat the two as separate series, each with its own scarce dates.
To work out the silver floor yourself, multiply 0.7734 by the day's silver spot price. A stack of 20 worn common dollars holds about 15.47 troy ounces of pure silver, which gives you a starting figure before any collector premium is added.
| Detail | Morgan dollar | Peace dollar |
|---|---|---|
| Years struck | 1878 to 1904, and 1921 | 1921 to 1935 |
| Silver | 90%, 0.7734 troy oz | 90%, 0.7734 troy oz |
| Weight | 26.73 grams | 26.73 grams |
| Mints | Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco, Carson City, Denver | Philadelphia, San Francisco, Denver |
| Denver coins | 1921 only (plus the 2021 collector issue) | Several years |
| Where the mint mark sits | Back, under the wreath | Back, lower left, near the eagle's wing |
The 1921 dollars and the Denver D
1921 is the one year Denver and the Morgan dollar overlap. The Denver Mint began striking coins in 1906, two years after the original Morgan run ended, so the only Morgan from the original series with a D is dated 1921. The Mint's 2021 collector Morgans include a D coin too, but those are modern .999 silver issues. The Peace design took over later that year, and Denver went on to strike Peace dollars in several years after that.
Local sellers often hope a 1921-D Morgan is rare because of the hometown letter. It does have fans among Colorado collectors, but 1921 Morgans from every mint that struck them are among the easiest silver dollars to find. A worn 1921-D usually sells near its silver. An uncirculated one with clean surfaces earns a premium for its condition.
Denver Peace dollars follow the same logic. Date, mint mark and grade have to be read as a set. Some Denver Peace dates are harder to find than others, and an uncirculated coin from one of the harder dates belongs in its own envelope.
A D on a Morgan dated anywhere from 1878 to 1904 is a warning sign. Denver struck none of those, so a D on an 1880s or 1890s Morgan was put there after the coin left the Mint, and that coin is altered.
Carson City and the other mint letters
Five mint marks show up on silver dollars. No letter means Philadelphia. O is New Orleans, S is San Francisco, and CC is Carson City, Nevada, which struck coins from 1870 to 1893. D is Denver.
CC dollars get pulled out of every stack we sort. Carson City struck Morgans in only some of its years, and western collectors want them for the history as much as the scarcity. A CC Morgan with heavy wear often still carries a premium over its silver, so keep any you find out of the common pile.
New Orleans and San Francisco dollars range from common to hard to find, depending on the year, and Philadelphia dates do too. Price guides list every date and mint as its own line for that reason, and our written offer does the same.
Because CC coins bring more, some common dollars have had a CC added or a mint mark tooled into a different letter. Under magnification an added mark may sit in the wrong spot, show a seam or glue line at its base, or have a different color from the metal around it. We check every CC coin for that before it goes on the list.
Reading wear on a silver dollar
Grade is often the biggest swing in a silver dollar's price. The Sheldon scale runs from 1 to 70. Any dollar with circulation wear grades under 60, while a mint state coin sits at 60 or above and climbs as marks get fewer and luster gets better.
Wear starts on the highest parts of the design. On a Morgan, check Liberty's cheek, the hair over her forehead and the eagle's breast feathers. For Peace dollars, study the hair near Liberty's temple and the top of the eagle's wing. When those spots are flat and smooth, the coin spent years in circulation.
Hold a dollar under a single lamp and tilt it slowly. Original luster moves across the surface as a band of light. A cleaned or polished coin looks flat, too bright or covered in fine hairline scratches, and collectors mark it down for that. Cleaning lowers a coin's grade, so leave tarnish and toning alone.
Where a mark sits matters as much as how many there are. A nick on Liberty's cheek or in the open field in front of her face pulls a grade down more than the same nick buried in her hair or on the back of the coin, because that is where a collector looks first.
| What you see | Rough condition | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|
| Smooth cheek, little hair detail, worn letters | Heavily circulated | Near silver value for common dates |
| Most hair detail visible, light wear on high points | Lightly circulated | A modest premium for common dates, more for scarcer ones |
| No wear, plenty of contact marks, good luster | Lower uncirculated | Collector premium |
| No wear, few marks, bright luster | Higher uncirculated | Strongest premium, sometimes worth grading |
Mistakes that cost silver dollar sellers
Most of the money people lose on silver dollars goes missing in how the coins are handled or sold, before anyone talks price. These are the habits we see most often.
Families sometimes hand out one dollar to each grandchild before anyone reads the dates. If a better coin goes to someone who spends it or sells it at a pawn counter, it is gone, so list the coins first and divide them after.
- Cleaning, polishing or dipping coins to make them shine
- Selling a roll or a sack at one price per coin, with nobody reading the dates and mint marks
- Pulling coins out of old holders or albums and dumping them into a loose pile
- Writing off a holed or bent dollar, which still holds its full 0.7734 troy oz of silver
- Rubbing a thumb across the face to read the date, which wears the high points
- Splitting a set among heirs before anyone has listed what is in it
What to expect when you bring dollars to us
Sort what you can at home: Morgans in one group, Peace dollars in another, and any CC coins or 1921-D Morgans off to the side. Anything you are unsure about can sit in its own group. Coins still in a bank wrapper, an old tube or a canvas bag should stay that way until the appointment, and we open them with you.
At the appointment we read the date, mint mark and grade of every dollar in front of you and look at eye appeal. A non-destructive metal test and a calibrated scale confirm the silver. Worn common dollars are priced from the live silver spot price, and collector coins from current collector demand, so a better date never gets lumped in as bullion.
The offer comes to you in writing, one line per coin. Say yes and you are paid during that visit, in cash, by check, or by wire when the sale is large. Say no and you keep every dollar and the list, which makes it easy to compare with another buyer or to divide a collection fairly among family.
Silver dollars in Denver estates
Silver shaped early Colorado. Leadville's boom in the late 1870s and 1880s lined up with the first years of the Morgan dollar, which began in 1878, and the silver crash of 1893 hit the state hard. Silver dollars from those years and the decades after still come out of Denver estates in cloth bags, cigar boxes and bank tubes. The Denver Mint on West Colfax Avenue added its own D dollars starting with the 1921 Morgans.
The mix changes from house to house. A Highlands or Capitol Hill home that stayed in one family for generations might give up a run of worn Morgans from the 1880s and 1890s, a few CC coins and a 1921-D or two. Suburban estates in Lakewood, Littleton or Centennial more often hold Peace dollars and coins a grandparent tucked away in rolls. Every coin gets read on its own, since a scarce date in a sack looks almost the same as the common ones beside it. Boulder and Golden estates sometimes hold dollars kept by miners' and ranchers' families since before the Mint here struck its first coin.
Silver dollars are heavy, and a few hundred of them is a lot to haul across town on I-25 or C-470. For larger collections, ask about a home visit. Otherwise we set a private meeting place when you book, anywhere from Boulder to Castle Rock and from Golden to Aurora. Call 303-401-0104 and you will hear back the same business day. A government-issued photo ID is needed if you decide to sell.