Silver Dollars of the USA

Lady Liberty, a resting eagle and a president. America's silver dollars are big, heavy and full of stories. Here's how they went from pocket change to collector favourites.

1878: The Morgan arrives

Mint engraver George T. Morgan put Lady Liberty on the front and an eagle on the back, and the result became a collector favourite that's still going strong. The Morgan ran from 1878 to 1904, then came back for one last year in 1921.

90% silver · 26.73 g · 38.1 mm · about 0.77 oz of silver

Dates to hunt

• 1893-S: only 100,000 made. One of the big keys of the series.
• 1895 (Philadelphia): known only as a proof, with about 880 struck.
• 1921: the last year of the original Morgan run.

1918: The great melt

The Pittman Act of 1918 sent 270,232,722 silver dollars to the melting pot. That's a lot of Morgans gone for good. Every one that survived is a little piece of history that dodged the furnace.

1921: The Peace dollar

After World War I, sculptor Anthony de Francisci designed a dollar to celebrate peace: Liberty on the front, an eagle at rest on the back. It ran from 1921 to 1928, then again in 1934 and 1935.

90% silver · 26.73 g · 38.1 mm · about 0.77 oz of silver

Dates to hunt

• 1921: the first year, struck in high relief.
• 1928 (Philadelphia): only 360,649 made, the key date of the series.

1971: The silver Ike, for collectors only

The Eisenhower dollar in your pocket was copper-nickel clad. But from 1971 to 1976 the Mint also struck 40% silver Ikes at San Francisco for collectors. Look for the S mint mark.

40% silver · 24.59 g · 38.1 mm · about 0.32 oz of silver

Fun fact: you won't find any Ikes dated 1975. The 1976 silver Bicentennial dollars carry the dual date 1776–1976 and were sold only in three-piece sets with a quarter and a half.

1983 on: Modern commemorative silver

Silver didn't disappear, it went collector. From 1983 to 2018 the Mint's commemorative silver dollars were 90% silver at 26.73 g, the same as a Morgan. From 2019 they switched to .999 silver. Every one marks a different person, place or event, so there's always a new story to chase.

2021: The Morgan and Peace come back

For the 100th anniversary of the 1921 switch, the Mint brought both designs back as .999 silver collector coins. The 2021 Peace dollar was struck only at Philadelphia, with no mint mark. The 2021 Morgan came in P, D and S versions, plus CC and O privy marks honouring the old Carson City and New Orleans mints.

Morgan, Peace or Ike?

Three dollars, three looks. Once you've held all three, you'll never mix them up.

	Morgan	Peace	Silver Ike
Years	1878–1904, 1921	1921–1928, 1934–1935	1971–1976 (collector)
Metal	90% silver	90% silver	40% silver
Weight	26.73 g	26.73 g	24.59 g
Size	38.1 mm	38.1 mm	38.1 mm
Silver inside	0.7734 oz	0.7734 oz	0.3162 oz

Morgans, Peace dollars and more: browse our US silver coins. Not sure if your coin is silver? Read Is It US Silver?