1878 Morgan started it all

Collectors love Morgan dollars, and the 1878 is the one that started it all. An 1873 coinage law eliminated the standard silver dollar. Many people called it the “Crime of 1873” and blamed it for the depression that began the same year.

The standard silver dollar made a comeback in 1878, thanks to the Bland-Allison Act. It subsidized the silver industry and supported silver prices by requiring the government to purchase millions of ounces of silver each month. The mints used the metal to strike silver dollars. The government called them Liberty Head dollars. At first the public called them Bland dollars because of Congressman Richard “Silver Dick” Bland’s involvement. Collectors eventually named them Morgan dollars in honor of the designer, U.S. Mint engraver George Morgan. His artwork won an internal competition at the Mint. Mint Director Henry Linderman rigged the contest in Morgan’s favor because he disliked the work of the father and son Barbers, William and Charles.

The Morgan dollar’s Liberty head obverse and eagle reverse came from an 1877 pattern half dollar. Morgan reportedly used Philadelphia schoolteacher Anna Williams as the model for Liberty. Years later, when her role became known, the New York Mail and Express said Williams’ face was “known to more people than that of any other woman of the American continent.”

Full Article >>>