The 1904 Morgan Dollar Survived a 17-Year Shutdown and America’s Great Silver Melt
In January 1904, the Philadelphia Mint struck 2.2 million Morgan Dollars. Then production nearly stopped.
February added just 66,000 coins. March, April, and May added none. Finally, Philadelphia struck another 522,000 in June. That brought the year’s total to 2,788,000 coins. Then the presses fell silent.
No one at the time could know what that silence would mean.
Philadelphia would not strike another Morgan Dollar for 17 years. In fact, the United States produced no silver dollars at all from 1905 through 1920. When Morgan Dollar production finally returned in 1921, it came back under dramatically different circumstances. A world war, a massive government silver melt, and new federal legislation had changed the story of the American silver dollar forever.
That history gives the 1904 Morgan Dollar a significance that its modest mintage alone cannot explain.
Moreover, survival tells an even more compelling story. Unlike several other late-date Morgan Dollars, the 1904 never emerged from Treasury vaults in overwhelming numbers. As a result, collectors can find circulated coins without great difficulty. However, superb Mint State pieces remain surprisingly elusive. Prooflike and Deep Mirror Prooflike examples occupy an entirely different level of rarity.
Philadelphia Strikes Its Final Morgan Dollars
The Morgan Dollar had already served the United States for more than a quarter-century when 1904 began.
Congress created the series through the Bland-Allison Act of 1878. The law restored the standard silver dollar, which weighed 26.73 grams and contained 90% silver and 10% copper. Assistant Engraver George T. Morgan created the design that would define the denomination for generations.
By 1904, however, the Mint faced a basic problem. Its stockpile of silver bullion available for dollar production had dwindled.
Philadelphia therefore completed its 1904 production in three bursts. The Mint struck 2,200,000 coins in January, only 66,000 in February, and 522,000 in June. Production then stopped with a final mintage of 2,788,000 pieces.
Thus, the 1904 Philadelphia issue became the last Morgan Dollar from the nation’s principal mint until 1921.
Yet the real drama came after those coins entered government vaults.
The Pittman Act Changes the Morgan Dollar Story
World War I created a financial emergency that reached all the way into America’s enormous stockpile of silver dollars.
Great Britain needed silver to support monetary operations in India. In response, Congress passed the Pittman Act in 1918. The law authorized the Treasury to melt as many as 350 million standard silver dollars and sell the resulting bullion.
The scale became extraordinary.
The Treasury ultimately melted 270,232,722 silver dollars under the act. A 1926 Senate report records British purchases at roughly 200 million ounces of silver from this program. The government directed additional silver toward subsidiary coinage.
Importantly, surviving government records do not provide a date-by-date accounting of which Morgan Dollars entered the melting pots. Therefore, no one can state precisely how many 1904 dollars disappeared.
However, later numismatic evidence strongly suggests heavy attrition.
Unlike dates that flooded the market during the great Treasury releases, the 1904 Philadelphia dollar never appeared in quantities large enough to transform its availability. Only a few bags surfaced during the Treasury-distribution era. Another bag appeared in 1979, but its coins generally offered typical Uncirculated quality rather than Gems.
Consequently, the original 2.788 million mintage gives collectors only part of the story.
Congress Brings the Morgan Dollar Back
The Pittman Act did more than destroy old silver dollars. It also required the government to purchase domestic silver and replace the dollars it had melted.
That requirement eventually brought the Morgan Dollar back.
In 1921, the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco mints struck Morgan Dollars on a massive scale. Later that year, Philadelphia began producing the new Peace Dollar, which marked a major artistic and symbolic change for American silver coinage.
Therefore, the 1904 Morgan Dollar sits at a remarkable historical crossroads.
It closed the original 1878-1904 production era. Then war and international finance helped create the circumstances that brought the denomination back 17 years later.
Few Morgan Dollars connect those two chapters as directly.
Where Did the 1904 Morgan Dollars Go?
Most collectors never saw large quantities of 1904 Philadelphia dollars emerge from Treasury storage.
That matters.
Several once-scarce Morgan Dollars became far more available when the Treasury released bags during the 1950s and 1960s. The 1904 did not experience a comparable flood.
PCGS research does document a few bags from the broader Treasury-distribution period. In addition, one bag of mostly ordinary Uncirculated coins surfaced in 1979. Numismatist Wayne Miller examined several hundred pieces from that group and reportedly found no Gems. The coins later moved into the market.
Thus, the date retained its condition rarity.
Typical surviving Mint State coins also reflect Philadelphia Mint production standards of the period. Many show average strikes and average luster. Stack’s Bowers likewise notes variable strikes and often shallow luster for the issue.
Of course, attractive coins exist. However, truly exceptional examples stand apart immediately.
That difference becomes dramatic at the highest grades.
A $3 Morgan Dollar Becomes a Major Condition Rarity
The historical market offers another fascinating window into the 1904 Morgan Dollar.
In April 1948, Valley Stream, New York coin dealer George P. Lang advertised Uncirculated 1904 Morgan Dollars in The Numismatist for $3 each.
Then, in February 1951, New Hyde Park dealer Harry W. Bason advertised 74 different Brilliant Uncirculated Morgan Dollar date-and-mintmark combinations. He priced the 1904 Philadelphia dollar at $3.50.
Those prices make sense in their historical setting. Collectors had not yet experienced the Treasury releases of the following decades. Third-party grading did not exist. Moreover, the modern obsession with registry-quality coins still lay far in the future.
Today, grade makes all the difference.
PCGS now estimates only a tiny portion of the surviving population at Gem levels and above. Its August 10, 2026 Population Report lists 8,795 regular Mint State grading events for the 1904 Morgan Dollar. That total includes 19 MS66+ grading events and only one MS67.
The source population snapshot from October 2025 likewise recorded one PCGS MS67. At that time, the notes also listed two NGC MS66+ coins and a CAC population of 11 MS66 coins with none finer.
Population figures can change, so collectors should always attach a date to census data.
Prooflike and DMPL 1904 Morgan Dollars Are Major Rarities
The rarity increases sharply when collectors demand mirrored fields.
Prooflike Morgan Dollars show reflective fields created when relatively fresh dies strike properly prepared or favorable planchets. Deep Mirror Prooflike coins push that contrast much further.
For the 1904 Philadelphia issue, both categories remain exceptionally scarce.
PCGS’s August 2026 population report records only 33 Prooflike grading events across all Mint State grades. Even more remarkably, it records only two DMPL grading events–one MS64DMPL and one MS65DMPL.
Those numbers explain why serious Morgan Dollar specialists pay close attention whenever an important mirrored 1904 reaches auction.
PCGS MS65DMPL #7455606 – The Jack Lee Coin
One of the most famous mirrored examples carries PCGS certification number 7455606.
The coin belonged to legendary Morgan Dollar collector Jack Lee. Heritage offered it in The Dr. Hoffnagle Collection of Morgan Dollars on January 12, 2005, as Lot 30350. It brought $37,950.
Four years later, Heritage sold the same coin in The Arno Collection. On January 9, 2009, Lot 5070 realized $54,625.
The old green PCGS holder carries JACK LEE on the insert. Peripheral blue, green, gold, and other iridescent colors frame the surfaces. CoinWeek’s earlier notes also record a small toning spot on Liberty’s cheek.
At MS65DMPL, the coin represents one of the ultimate 1904 Morgan Dollars.
PCGS MS64DMPL #30044913
Another major example carries certification number 30044913.
Heritage offered the coin in A Gift of Underserved Favor Collection on August 1, 2008, as Lot 2261. It realized an impressive $54,625.
CoinWeek’s earlier notes identify a long vertical line across Liberty’s face. Current PCGS census notes emphasize ticks in the left obverse field along with light golden color on the lower reverse and a toning spot below the second “L” in DOLLAR. The coin later entered the Dell Loy Hansen Collection under a different certification number.
PCGS MS65PL #34464565
PCGS certification 34464565 ranks among the important Prooflike survivors.
Heritage offered it in The David T. Miller #1 PCGS Registry Set of DMPL/PL Morgan Dollars with Varieties on January 11, 2024. Lot 4172 realized $18,600.
The coin has a creamy overall appearance. Light scattered marks appear in the left obverse field. Small ticks touch Liberty’s forehead, chin, and neck.
Meanwhile, the reverse shows a diagonal line below GOD. Other marks appear below the IT of UNITED, between the wreath and the eagle’s right wing, and to the right of the arrowheads.
The Finest Mint State 1904 Morgan Dollars
Even without mirrored fields, the 1904 becomes a formidable condition rarity near the top of the grading scale.
The Lone PCGS MS67
PCGS certification 35813445 represents the single MS67 entry in the company’s current population report. PCGS also plates the coin on CoinFacts.
That solitary MS67 stands above 19 MS66+ grading events in the August 2026 PCGS census.
For registry collectors, one grading point can transform the entire character of the date.
PCGS MS66+ CAC #42549714
Heritage sold PCGS MS66+ CAC certification 42549714 on June 17, 2021, in Lot 3150 for $10,800.
Seafoam, green, rose, and apricot shades give the coin a distinctive appearance. An untoned diagonal streak crosses Liberty’s face. The reverse also displays areas of contrasting color.
The coin later returned to Heritage in October 2025, where it realized $15,600, and subsequently received a new PCGS certification number.
PCGS MS66+ #36782841
Stack’s Bowers sold another PCGS MS66+ example in its May 2019 Baltimore auction. Lot 1081 realized $10,200.
PCGS MS66+ CAC #25636455
Few 1904 Morgan Dollars have a more instructive grading and auction history than certification 25636455.
The coin first appeared as NGC MS66 CAC #3809033-016 in The Virginia Cabinet. Heritage sold it on April 24, 2015, as Lot 5847 for $7,637.50.
Later, the coin appeared as PCGS MS66 CAC #32226007. Heritage sold it on August 12, 2015, as Lot 4217 for $9,987.50.
The coin then crossed into another PCGS holder and ultimately reached MS66+ CAC under certification #25636455. Heritage sold it on January 5, 2017, as Lot 5772 for $10,575.
Next came The Perfection Collection of DMPL/Prooflike Morgan Dollars. Heritage offered the coin on April 26, 2019, as Lot 4375. This time it realized $15,600.
Its toning helps make the coin instantly recognizable. Aqua dominates the reverse. Rose on the obverse blends into aqua. Heritage has described the variety as VAM-4 and, at another point, possibly VAM-5.
The story did not stop there.
Heritage sold the same PCGS MS66+ coin again on March 28, 2026. It realized $26,840, the current PCGS CoinFacts auction record for a regular Mint State 1904 Morgan Dollar.
That progression–from $7,637.50 in 2015 to $26,840 in 2026–shows how strongly the market can respond to elite quality, eye appeal, pedigree, and registry-level scarcity.
PCGS MS66+ CAC #25650062
Legend Rare Coin Auctions sold PCGS MS66+ CAC certification 25650062 on December 17, 2015, as Lot 331.
The coin realized $12,337.50.
Golden-olive toning spreads across the surfaces, while iridescent lime-green color accents the rims.
The Morgan Dollar Design
Obverse
George T. Morgan placed Liberty’s left-facing portrait at the center of the obverse.
Curls frame her forehead and continue down the back of her head. A liberty cap crowns the portrait. A ribbon across the cap carries the word LIBERTY. Morgan also incorporated wheat, cotton, and maple into the ornamentation.
The motto E PLURIBUS UNUM curves around the upper border. Centered dots separate the words. The date appears below Liberty.
Thirteen six-pointed stars divide the motto from the date. Seven appear to the left and six to the right.
Morgan placed his initial M along the truncation of Liberty’s neck.
Reverse
Morgan gave the reverse a powerful American eagle with fully extended wings.
The eagle’s left claw holds three arrows. Its right claw holds an olive branch. Together, they evoke military readiness and peace.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA follows the upper border. ONE DOLLAR appears below. A six-pointed star separates ONE from UNITED on the left. Another separates DOLLAR from AMERICA on the right.
Above the eagle, Morgan placed IN GOD WE TRUST in a more stylized typeface.
A partial wreath surrounds the eagle. A double-looped ribbon ties the wreath at the bottom. Morgan placed another M on the left ribbon loop, giving his design an identifying initial on both sides of the coin.
1904 Morgan Dollar Specifications
- Country: United States of America
- Year: 1904
- Denomination: One Dollar (USD)
- Mint: Philadelphia
- Mintmark: None
- Mintage: 2,788,000
- Composition: 90% silver, 10% copper
- Weight: 26.73 grams
- Diameter: 38.10 mm
- Edge: Reeded
- Designer: George T. Morgan
- Strike: Business Strike
The U.S. Mint and PCGS confirm the standard Morgan Dollar composition, weight, designer, Philadelphia origin, and 2,788,000-piece mintage for the 1904 issue.
Why the 1904 Morgan Dollar Matters
At first glance, the 1904 Morgan Dollar looks like another late-date Philadelphia issue.
Look closer.
It represents the final Philadelphia Morgan Dollar of the original 1878-1904 era. It survived a 17-year shutdown in silver dollar production. Then the Pittman Act sent more than 270 million silver dollars to the melting pots.
Moreover, the Treasury never unleashed the 1904 on collectors in the huge quantities that transformed several other Morgan Dollar dates. The coins that survived often came with ordinary strikes and luster.
As a result, the 1904 changes character as the grade rises.
A circulated example offers collectors an accessible link to the end of the first Morgan Dollar era. An MS66+ coin becomes a serious condition rarity. An MS67 reaches the top of the PCGS census. Meanwhile, a Prooflike or DMPL example enters territory that even advanced Morgan Dollar collectors may spend years trying to acquire.
That combination gives the 1904 Morgan Dollar its appeal.
Its mintage says 2,788,000.
Its history says much more.
