government if it could purchase American silver to enhance its own supply. To this day, the Morgan silver dollar is among the most collected and sought-after American coins in the world.Īs silver prices surged throughout World War I (supposedly due in part to India hoarding silver dollars in response to a rumor that the British government couldn’t redeem all the paper currency it had released), the British asked the U.S. The Morgan dollars, interestingly enough, were originally called Bland dollars in honor of the congressman who sponsored the bill proposing a brand new silver dollar. Each side of the Morgan dollar contains a stamped “M” in his honor on the trunk of Lady Liberty’s neck and on the reverse in the bow of the wreath. The reverse design came from his research on eagles and a personalized wreath and bow design. Her image became one of the most recognizable coins worldwide. He ultimately chose the image of Anna Willess Williams of Philadelphia for the design.

Morgan decided he wanted an American face to replace the Greek figure representing Lady Liberty’s image on the obverse of the coin. Morgan to design the new United States silver dollar. The correspondence led Linderman to hire Englishman George T. Fremantle, for help in finding new engraving talent. Henry Richard Linderman, reached out to the British Deputy Master of the London Royal Mint, C.

In 1876, the director of the United States Mint, Dr. The result however, produced an extremely remarkable coin. These presses however, proved insufficient for the task, requiring each coin be struck two times. When first minted in 1794, silver dollars used presses meant for cents and half dollars, which were the largest the mint owned.

Photos of all us liberty coins