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Silver dollars have been part of the American experience for as long as the government has minted coins. There have been several iterations and designs during that time, including the famous Morgan dollar and its successor, the Peace dollar.
The collection of these pieces is a timeworn practice. However, not all silver dollars are created equal, and some of the rarest ones are worth orders of magnitude above their nominal face values.
This page is your guide to rare silver dollars that you might encounter or, at least, look for when you are trying to find new investments.
The list of the rarest and most valuable silver dollars is a surprising one because of a time gap. While it is no big shock that the earliest silver dollars tend to be the rarest, the next level of rarity is reserved for specific versions of the trade dollar, which was a special-issued version of the dollar issued between 1873 and 1888.
Usually, a list of rarest objects is just a list of oldest objects. However, as you’ll find out, silver dollars are much less predictable. Here are a few of the rarest and most valuable silver dollars:
1804 Class I – up to $12,500,000
The most valuable and rarest of silver dollars is the Class I version of the 1804 Draped Bust. Only eight of these coins are known to exist.
The interesting thing about these dollars is that they weren’t minted anywhere near 1804. The US Mint never produced silver dollars dated 1804 during the actual calendar year – the few that were minted during the year were stamped as 1803 pieces.
Instead, they were created as gifts to foreign dignitaries and were likely pressed in 1834. Their rarity, odd history, and the fact that the few remaining pieces are in excellent condition means that this coin can be purchased only by the wealthiest investors or collectors.
1794 BB-1, B-1 – up to $7,000,000
Though the proto-United States created a few coins prior to the Coinage Act of 1792, the reality is that some of the first coins ever created by the new US Mint were the 1794 Flowing Hair silver dollars. Within that group, there are approximately 120 coins still in existence that were stamped with dies BB-1 and B-1.
Experts can identify this die group due to some of the problems that Mint officials faced when pressing this run. For one thing, there appears to be a bit of misalignment. For another, the machine presses did not stamp with sufficient force – about 20% of the original batch of 2000 had to be destroyed because they didn’t pass quality control.
Even the most damaged of the 1794 BB-1/B-1s is worth tens of thousands of dollars, as each one is a genuine piece of American history. The few preserved in uncirculated or mint state are thought to be worth as much as $7,000,000.
1885 Trade Dollar (Proof) – up to $5,250,000
This coin might have had the lowest mintage number of any coin in American history. There are only five members of this coin known to exist, and, amazingly, they are thought to be the only ones ever minted.
Very little is known about the provenance of these coins. The best guess anyone has is that they were created in secret as a favor to Philadelphia coin shop owner William Idler, who was quite close with the superintendent of the Philadelphia Mint, Loudon Snowden.
In fact, these would likely be lost to history were it not for a coin collector and dealer named John Haseltine. Haseltine announced in 1908 that he’d found the five extant coins within the possessions of his father-in-law, who happened to be William Idler. It is quite likely that the five coins are the only ones of their type.
There are several other silver dollars that could be worth in excess of $1 million, and more still that could draw hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction. Some of those other coins include:
Though we touched on the reasons why each of the silver dollars above are so valuable and rare, you may be wondering what factors contribute to make a silver dollar rare. In the end, there are several attributes, and how a silver dollar answers those attributes determines its rarity and, usually, its value:
In the 250 years of the United States, there have been several different eras of the silver dollar. We’ve already mentioned a few of them, but some of these versions are somewhat rare as a class, and any of their members are worthwhile investments, if not astronomically valuable ones.
Flowing Hair (1794 – 1795)
You’ve already seen these come up as some of the most valuable. The Flowing Hair silver dollars are the very first dollars ever created by the US Mint. They are genuine pieces of American history, and are extremely valuable no matter their condition.
The dollars themselves derive their name from the depiction of Lady Liberty, whose bust faces right as her hair seems to blow in the wind. Their reverse features one of the first depictions of the bald eagle as a national symbol.
Because of their early mintage, there is some variation based upon the exact dies that the just-opened Mint used to create them. Certain combinations of dies can be more valuable than others, although we’re mostly splitting hairs here.
Draped Bust (1795 – 1804)
The replacement to the Flowing Hair silver dollar is only slightly less valuable. The Draped Bust silver dollars, so named because of the wrap that Lady Liberty now used as a garment on their obverse, were produced by the US Mint until 1804.
That last year of production is a bit of a misnomer. Amid criticisms for its quality controls, the US Mint only minted silver dollars into March 1804, then ceased production. All of the dollars minted during the first quarter of 1804 were stamped as 1803 silver dollars.
Somewhat confusingly, silver dollars bearing the year 1804 did appear – in 1834. President Andrew Jackson commissioned them to be gifts for foreign dignitaries as acts of goodwill.
Thus, the rarest and most desirable silver dollars from the first 10 years of the country’s history were not, in fact, minted during that period at all. 1804 silver dollars are vaunted pieces for all collectors, but are only feasible for those with a preponderance of budget and resources.
Gobrecht Dollar (1836 – 1839)
The Gobrecht dollar marked the US Mint’s reintroduction of the silver dollar to regular circulation. As there had been no silver dollars produced since 1803, the Gobrecht was meant to be a test run, rather than a long-lived series.
Like the Morgan dollar, the Gobrecht’s name was derived from its designer, Christian Gobrecht. Though the Gobrecht dollar was only minted for three years, its tradition carried on to the next series. The obverse of the Gobrecht is the exact same obverse that was used for the Seated Liberty.
Seated Liberty (1840 – 1873)
The Seated Liberty dollar was the silver dollar produced in the US for 33 years. As mentioned, its obverse was the same as the Gobrecht dollar, and the design came to be the namesake of the coin itself.
Though it was the dollar coin of the day, the Seated Liberty was minted in fewer numbers than even the Gobrecht. The truth of the matter is that silver dollars were primarily used as trade instruments overseas during this period.
For the most part, the US Mint returned the silver dollar to a dormant state after 1873. They were never circulated in great numbers, and the country found itself in greater need for foreign trade vehicles.
Trade Dollar (1873 – 1888)
So, the Mint issued the Trade dollar to perform that task. This coin was first designed as a way to facilitate trade in the Orient and Far East.
However, parties in those foreign regions largely rejected the Trade dollar as a vehicle for commerce. So, they were subsequently released to the public as a valid silver piece.
The Trade dollar’s value was also a bit muddled, as silver bullion owners could have their pieces pressed into coins worth as much as $5, though they retained the Trade dollar design. After the silver boom had fizzled and the Morgan dollar had taken over as the primary dollar piece, the Trade dollar became obsolete. Today, it is one of the rarest and most valuable dollar coins to own.
Morgan Dollar (1878 – 1904, sporadic to present)
The dollar that did catch on with the public was the Morgan dollar. The silver dollar returned from its five-year hiatus in 1878 with a design inspired by its namesake, George T. Morgan.
The coin’s timing intersected with many famous eras of the United States, including the Wild West, the Industrial Revolution, and World War I. However, its existence was also a commentary on the heated argument between gold supporters and silver supporters in the country.
Morgan dollars were authorized by the Bland-Allison Act, an 1878 piece of legislation that required the federal government to purchase an amount of silver each month from mines in the western US and mint said silver into silver dollars.
The Act’s purpose was to appease the vocal minority of interests who, either for financial or populist reasons (silver was thought to be the working man’s metal), wanted to arrest the country’s lurch toward the gold standard. The Act, which became law after overcoming a Presidential veto, paved the way for the Morgan dollar.
The Bland-Allison Act was repealed by the 1890 Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which upped the amount of silver to be purchased but, ironically, only allowed production of silver dollars for one more year. While the Sherman act was shortly repealed, the silver purchased under it formed a tremendous stockpile.
Congress eventually mandated that all remaining silver be minted into Morgan dollars. The stocks ran out in 1904, and that was the end of production for the Morgan. However, it remained the silver dollar of the day for the next 17 years, as the Mint had created hundreds of millions of them.
After a brief return in 1921, the Morgan gave way to the Peace dollar. However, both the Morgan and Peace dollars have reentered production as collectors items in modern times. Both have been available as new pieces, albeit with higher silver content, since 2021.
Peace Dollar (1921 – 1928, 1934 – 1935, sporadic to present)
The Peace dollar replaced the Morgan dollar as the silver dollar of the country in the 1920s. Its design sought to commemorate and capitalize on the end of World War I in 1918.
Peace dollars saw their design criticized, particularly with respect to its obverse. Designer Anthony de Francisci placed Lady Liberty on the front, but styled her to resemble his wife, Teresa, a bit too much.
These coins were also used primarily in the western United States. For the most part, they ended up stuck in bank vaults.
Their production run was interrupted by the onset of the Great Depression, and despite a brief resurgence in the mid-1930s, they never really returned afterwards.
However, as mentioned, they are back in production as collectors’ items as of 2021.
Eisenhower Dollar (1971 – 1978)
The last silver dollar produced by the US Mint was the Eisenhower dollar. It was also the last major coin that the Mint issued with any significant silver in it.
Where all previous silver dollars had been minted with 90% silver, the Eisenhowers had only 40% fine silver in their composition. Given how hard the government had turned against using silver in coins anymore, the Eisenhower dollar was fortunate to have any.
Nevertheless, the Eisenhower is a unique piece in the landscape of American coinage. Sometimes, it pays to be last.
Silver dollars aren’t always purchased in coin shops or online. They can be family heirlooms or part of an inheritance. They can even be a coin forgotten in a grandparent’s attic or garage. So, if you find one, you might be unsure what to do with it. Here’s a handy step-by-step guide to walk you through it:
The good news is that we are more than happy to buy your silver dollar from you. We will offer you an excellent deal and make sure that you get as much value for your coin as possible.
On the flip side, we also maintain a selection of rare silver dollars for you to peruse and purchase. All of our coins have been graded and authenticated independently and are available to you at competitive prices.
We are available to you regardless of the time of day or the day of the week. Our trained counselors can answer your inquiries via email, live chat, or phone. We have aided millions of customers since 2011 and have hundreds of thousands of positive reviews from satisfied clients.
