Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States - A Complete Encyclopedia
Q. David Bowers
Varieties
Business strikes (issued circa March 26 to April 4+, 1878)
1. Normal obverse, three to five extra tail feathers, several varieties. Breen-5504; seven extra tail feathers, Breen-5505. VAM-4I, with seven extra tail feathers showing, is "one of the best examples of the 7/8 'TF/ notes the VAM text, and is rare. Gems and/or prooflikes (especially two-sided) are uncommon among any ofthe 7/ Other tail feathers coins; but one of the best DMPLs is the John Hardenberg, Wayne Miller example.
2. Doubled obverse, three to five extra tail feathers. Breen-5506. VAM-33, 38, 40, and others.
3. Doubled obverse, double talons. Breen·5507. VAM-30 and 45. Both VAM varieties are scarcer, the latter especially so. This variety as well as the following (with doubled legs) reinforces the suggestion that just the eagle portion was overpunched, not the entire reverse.
4. Doubled obverse, doubled legs on observer's left. Breen-550S. V AM-31, 43. Neither is common.
5. Tripled obverse. Not in Walter Breen's Encyclopedia; call it 5506a. VAM-44, F&S (Fivaz & Stanton) $1-001. Very rare. Tripling most noticeable on cotton blossoms and leaves, doubling on BER of LIBERTY. VAM-44 has the reverse of V AM-33 (three tail feathers showing beneath seven). Of possibly two dozen survivors traced to date, reportedly only one or two qualify as low-end Uncirculated; several others AU; all have some prooflike surface.
1878 7/Other TF Morgan: Market Values
1878 7/Other TF Morgan: Summary of Characteristics
Business Strikes:
Enabling legislation: As earlier, plus Act of February 28, 1878
Designer: George T. Morgan
Weight and composition: 412.5 grains; .900 silver, .100 copper
Melt-down (silver value) in year minted: $0.89222 Dies prepared: Obverse: Unknown; Reverse: as many as 50 (probably not all used). Included in figure given in 1878 8 Tail Feathers
Business strike mintage: 544,000+ (or, rounded, 550,000) (This estimate first appeared in the 1971 edition of the Van Allen-Mallis book; later quoted by Walter H. Breen. Exact number unknown. Wayne Miller estimates the mintage at 600,000. Charles Slade suggested in 1964 that the mintage was about 83,000 coins. The Guide Book is silent on the subject.)
Estimated quantity melted: Unknown.
Approximate population MS-65 or better: 500 to 1,000 (URS-11)
Approximate population MS-64: 7,500 to 15.,000 (URS-14)
Approximate population MS-63: 30,000 to 60,000 (URS-16)
Approximate population MS-60: to .62: 40,000 to 80,000 (URS-17)
Approximate population G-4 to AU-58: 50,000 to 100,000 (URS-17); little data, exist about worn lower grades.
Availability of prooflike coins: Prooflikes are scarce, are often one-sided, and have very little contrast.
Characteristics of striking: Strikes vary from average to sharp.
Known, hoards of Mint State coins: These remain mixed in as part of rolls and small groups of 1878 7 TF coins; originally distributed by being mixed in bags of 1878 7 TF dollars.
Proofs:
None
Commentary
The 7/0ther Tail Feathers Morgan silver dollar is one of the most widely collected and desired varieties in the entire Morgan dollar series. Some silver dollar specialists suggest that in order for a silver dollar of this type to qualify as numismatically desirable, at least three, or even better yet four or more, extra tail feathers should show.
Additional Information
Dies For the 1878 Dollars
Oliver C. Bosbyshell, then chief coiner, wrote on April 4, 1878 to Mint Superintendent James Pollock, to the effect that during March 1878 the Morgan dollar coinage required 32 obverses and 14 reverses (46 dies total), averaging a very low 43,543 coins per die-pair. Many dies cracked "shortly after entering the presses. "(Quoted in Van Allen-Mallis, 2nd edition, pp. 54-55.) In contrast, business strike trade dollar coinage of the preceding year, 1877, averaged about 100,000 coins per die pair.
The 14 reverses obviously do not include the up to 50 dies altered for 7/0ther TF coinage. Van Allen and Mallis describe 23 unaltered Type I obverses with 24 8-TF reverses.