1878 Morgan Dollars 1878-1921 AU55

History

The silver dollar returned in 1878 through politics rather than public demand. Western silver interests, with Representative Richard "Silver Dick" Bland of Missouri leading the effort in Congress, pushed through the Bland-Allison Act on February 28, 1878, over the veto of President Rutherford Hayes, reversing the course set by the Fourth Coinage Act that silver advocates called the "Crime of '73." Treasury preparations began in November 1877, nearly four months before passage, with George T. Morgan already at work on pattern dollars. Of ten die pairs shipped to San Francisco on April 8, 1878, the coiner condemned three obverses and eight reverses as unusable, leaving only two serviceable reverses, and striking with them began April 18, which is how a non-standard long arrow shaft reverse entered production at all.

Details

George T. Morgan designed both sides of the coin, struck in an alloy of 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper at 26.73 grams and 38.10 millimeters with a reeded edge. The San Francisco Mint produced 9,774,000 business-strike dollars dated 1878, a figure covering the entire date rather than this variety; no mintage for VAM-27 itself has ever been published. The circulation strike is cataloged as PCGS #133846, and the variety is also tracked under separate numbers for prooflike and deep mirror prooflike surfaces.

Features

All 1878-S dollars, like all 1878-CC dollars, use the Second Reverse type with seven tail feathers, a parallel arrow feather and a concave eagle breast. The diagnostic for VAM-27 sits in the arrow bundle in the eagle's left claw, where the shaft extends conspicuously past the nock, the notch at the back of the arrow that seats the bowstring, giving the variety its alternate name of Long Nock. The mint mark appears on the reverse above and between the D and O of DOLLAR. Published counts of Long Nock varieties among 1878-S dollars range from three to nine, with VAM-26, VAM-27 and VAM-56 the long-established core of the group.

Notable facts

• The variety was discovered around 1977, roughly a century after the coins were struck.
• PCGS records an auction high of $1,410 for an AU55 example sold in September 2016.
• PCGS describes the Long Nock reverse as very rare with all examples seen in low grades, though an MS61 has been certified.
• The deep mirror prooflike designation for this variety, PCGS #40644, carries no auction record on file.
• PCGS commentary has noted that only a few specialists seek the variety.
• Some 1878 Morgan dollars show eight tail feathers, some seven, and some seven over eight, after Mint Director Linderman ordered the change early in production.