A Look at the 1904 Morgan Dollar

The Morgan Dollar was struck from 1878 through 1921, but that production timeline had at least one major interruption. No Morgan Dollars were produced from 1905 through 1920, leaving the 1904-dated emissions among the last for nearly a generation. And these 1904 Morgan Dollars weren’t necessarily struck in massive numbers.

All told, the United States Mint struck a cumulative 8,812,650 Morgan Dollars in 1904 across three mint facilities and four production issues. That data is broken down this way:

• 1904 Philadelphia (no mintmark) Morgan Dollar – 2,788,000
• 1904 Proof Philadelphia Morgan Dollar – 650
• 1904-O New Orleans Morgan Dollar – 3,720,000
• 1904-S San Francisco Morgan Dollar – 2,304,000

Among the business-strike 1904 Morgan Dollars, the scarcest by far is the 1904-S. The rarity of this coin is more so conditional than absolute. That is to say examples in the lower circulated grades trade for rather modest premiums over what grade-identical 1904 and 1904-O specimens trade for in G4. But above that is where the price spread becomes really pronounced. While a 1904 or 1904-O in, say, XF40, might take $50 or $55, the 1904-S notches more than $500. It’s in Mint State grades where the scarceness of the 1904-S is even more so boldly stated, with an MS63 taking some $5,700. Another winner in the Mint State category is the 1904 Philly strike, which goes for $500 in MS63 – multiples more than the 1904-O at that same grade, where one can land the New Orleans coin for maybe $100, give or take.

The situation surrounding the rarity of the 1904-S and, to a lesser extent, the 1904 issues in Mint State grades is chalked up to few mass supplies ever coming to market. At a time in the mid-20th century when many Morgan Dollar issues, including the 1904-O, were being traded between dealers or distributed from bank vault hoards in massive bag quantities, this simply wasn’t the case with the 1904-S. As for the 1904 Morgan Dollar, the few bags that surfaced yielded mostly subpar specimens, as is reflected in big prices for better-quality examples.

Meanwhile, the proof issue is actively pursued by only a small number of Morgan Dollar enthusiasts due to the coin’s relatively limited supply of survivors – and subsequently high retail prices. A 1904 Proof Morgan Dollar is a $4,500 coin in a grade of PR63. Many opportunities exist for the collector to incorporate any or all of these issues into PCGS Registry Sets.