Silver content of Morgans

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by sweet wheatz, Sep 4, 2009.

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  1. sweet wheatz

    sweet wheatz Senior Member

    I once heard the the earlier Morgans have a higher silver content than the newer ones. Is that true?
     
    sweet wheatz, Sep 4, 2009
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  3. CamaroDMD

    CamaroDMD [Insert Clever Title]

    No, all Morgan's are 90% silver and 10% copper.
     
    CamaroDMD, Sep 4, 2009
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  4. bruce 1947

    bruce 1947 Support Or Troops

    The amount of silver in a morgan dollar is .7735 hope this helps.

    Bruce.
     
    bruce 1947, Sep 4, 2009
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  5. chip

    chip Novice collector

    That means that thirteen morgans equals roughly 10 ounces of silver, with silver at 16 an ounce the intrinsic value of a morgan is roughly 12 dollars and 30 cents, I feel pretty good buying rough shape morgans for 14. That means that I am still good buying silver at a bit over 18 an ounce.
     
    chip, Sep 4, 2009
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  6. bruce 1947

    bruce 1947 Support Or Troops

    bruce 1947, Sep 4, 2009
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  7. Paddy54

    Paddy54 Well-Known Member

    I have heard that CC morgans had a better quality of silver due to the fact the ore came from the comstock mine.....but nope they are 90 /10 % make up
     
    Paddy54, Sep 4, 2009
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  8. itsallngoodtime

    itsallngoodtime Beachhunter

    Yes 90% Silver and 10% copper.
    Bob
     
    itsallngoodtime, Sep 5, 2009
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  9. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    While all Morgans had the same amount of silver, our earliest dollars had a tiny bit more, .7737 oz ASW vs .7736 oz ASW for the later coins. The Trade dollar was the exception with .7878 oz ASW.
     
    GDJMSP, Sep 5, 2009
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  10. hontonai

    hontonai Registered Contrarian

    So, at $20 an ounce, bullion value of five Draped Bust dollars would be worth 1¢ more than an equal number of Morgans!
     
    hontonai, Sep 5, 2009
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  11. Cloudsweeper99

    Cloudsweeper99 Treasure Hunter

    Morgan and Peace dollars were .77344 oz silver.
    Trade dollars were .7874 oz silver.
    Seated Liberty dollars were .77344 oz silver.
     
    Cloudsweeper99, Sep 5, 2009
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  12. kaparthy

    kaparthy Well-Known Member

    Buy the book before you buy the coin.

    What does your Red Book say, Sweetie?
    Bowers... Breen... Taxay... The Coin World Almanac... Some primary reference is important. I assume from your handle that you collect Wheat Cents. Do you rely on Flynn or Lange or something else?

    I once heard that the model for the Seated series was based on a painting by Thomas Sully of his daughter, Blanche, similar in pose to a work Sully did of George Washington.
     
    kaparthy, Sep 5, 2009
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  13. hontonai

    hontonai Registered Contrarian

    Quite a discrepancy. My 2003 Redbook agrees with Cloudsweeper, so what is your source Doug?
     
    hontonai, Sep 6, 2009
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  14. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    Hmmmm - you think 2/10,000ths of an oz (from Seated thru Peace), and 4/10,000ths of an oz (Trade) is quite a discrepancy ? I want to see the scales that can measure that closely - LOL ! Cloud doesn't even give weight for our early dollars.

    The numbers I used came from the Krause catalogs Roy. And by the way, the Red Book doesn't give ASW for our early dollars, you have to do the math. That's why I looked it up in Krause because they do.
     
    GDJMSP, Sep 6, 2009
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  15. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    Ya know Roy, just for curiosity's sake I decided to see which one was right. Turns out, neither one is on all counts. At least not unless this metric conversion calculator is wrong - Grains to Troy Ounces But the Red Book is right on the later dollars.

    Anyway, our early dollars actually contained 374.4 grains of pure silver. That converts to 0.780001 Troy ounces.

    Later dollars contained 371.25 grains of pure silver. That converts to 0.773438 Troy ounces.

    The Trade dollar contained 378 grains of pure silver. That converts to 0.787501 Troy ounces.

    Now all of these calculations are pretty dang close to each other when it comes right down to it. I suspect that any differences are due entirely to the calculators and the settings used on the calculators - or - minor mistakes made by those doing the calcs by hand.
     
    GDJMSP, Sep 6, 2009
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  16. 19Lyds

    19Lyds Member of the United States of Confusion

    Wud I miss here??

    [​IMG]

    Is the 378 90% of 420? Is 420 the weight of the entire coin or just the silver content?
     
    19Lyds, Sep 6, 2009
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  17. Cloudsweeper99

    Cloudsweeper99 Treasure Hunter

    The 420 is 90% fine which equals 378. Personally I think it's close enough for daily use to consider the dollars to be about 3/4 of an ounce since the numismatic value dwarfs the silver value in the coins.
     
    Cloudsweeper99, Sep 6, 2009
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  18. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    There are 420 grains of 90% silver in the coin. That means there is 378 grains of pure silver in the coin.

    When you see the term ASW (actual silver weight) used, it is referring to the amount of pure silver. A Troy ounce of pure silver has 480 grains of silver in it.
     
    GDJMSP, Sep 6, 2009
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  19. hontonai

    hontonai Registered Contrarian

    Sorry if you thought I was being critical Doug. I (mistakenly, I guess) thought the sarcasm in "quite a discrepancy" was obvious.

    Other than a scientific lab, I doubt how many people can measure .192 of a grain, let alone .096 anyhow.
     
    hontonai, Sep 6, 2009
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  20. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    Nahhhhhh - didn't think you were being critical at all. Known ya for a looooong time now pal, just figured it was you being precise like ya always are. No worries ;)
     
    GDJMSP, Sep 7, 2009
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  21. sweet wheatz

    sweet wheatz Senior Member

    Harper, and they greysheet
     
    sweet wheatz, Sep 7, 2009
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