U.S. SILVER DOLLAR HISTORY

Congress authorized the first silver dollar on April 2, 1792. In 1795, silver coins, including the $1, were minted with the so-called "Draped Bust" design of Ms. Liberty. The Draped Bust coins did not have their denomination imprinted on the coins; instead, the value of each coin was discernible by its size with the $1 coin being the largest.

The Mint ceased regular production of silver dollars in 1803. Production resumed in 1834 with the so-called Gobrecht dollars which were named after its engraver, Christian Gobrecht. These included the now famous "Seated Liberty" dollars which feature a seated Lady Liberty on the obverse. The Gobrecht dollars were minted until 1873.

The Liberty Seated silver dollar followed in 1840 and continued until Congress eliminated coinage of the silver dollar in an act commonly referred to as the "Crime of '73". This Act, which moved the United States from a bimetallic standard (a monetary standard based upon gold and silver) to a gold standard was reviled by miners and the average American who had no ready means of converting their silver coins to gold.

Between 1859 and 1878, more than $400 Million worth of silver and gold ore was mined from the Comstock Lode (more than $500 billion in today’s dollars). By 1878, the silver market was so overly saturated that silver reached a low of $1.29 per ounce. Silver prices were further depressed by the Fourth Coinage Act of 1873 (labeled the “Crime of ’73” by silver mining interests and farmers), which “de-monetized” or eliminated silver coins as legal tender in favor of gold coinage.

To bolster silver prices, the major mining concerns along with bi-metalists convinced Congress to enact the Bland-Allison Act. This Act required the U.S. Treasury to purchase no less than $2,000,000 worth of silver per month for use in minting silver coins as legal tender.

Rather than resurrect the Seated Liberty silver dollar which was last minted in 1873 (at which time Congress banned silver coins as legal tender), the Mint selected designer George T. Morgan (some say in a fixed contest) to create a new silver dollar. The result was the Morgan silver dollar.

Hundreds of millions of Morgan silver dollars were struck between 1878 and 1904 (with one last mintage in 1921). In 1918, the Pittman Act authorized the melting of 270,000,000 silver dollars. With this single act, the Morgan silver dollar’s population was greatly reduced. Even more silver dollars were melted as the silver content of these coins exceed the dollar face value.

The Morgan silver dollar was ultimately replaced by the “Peace” silver dollar which was minted to commemorate the armistice following WWI. However, the coin has enjoyed great popularity. In fact, in a 1993 survey by the magazine Coin World, the Morgan silver dollar was named the most popular of the older United States coins series.

Silver continued to be the principal metal in many coins until the Coinage Act of 1965, which was enacted to reduce or eliminate silver in American coins.

Eisenhower dollars, minted from 1971-78, are composed of only 40% silver, but were only available directly for sale by the U.S. Mint.