1878-S Morgan Silver Dollar Brilliant Uncirculated (BU), First Year of Issue

The FIRST S mint Morgan dollar ever made!

The 1878-S Morgan Silver Dollar holds a singular place in American numismatics: it is the very first "S" mintmark Morgan Dollar ever struck, produced in the inaugural year of the most collected U.S. coin series of all time. Authorized by the Bland-Allison Act of February 28, 1878, which mandated the U.S. Treasury resume striking silver dollars after a five-year gap, this coin represents the birth of the Morgan series as it happened at the San Francisco Mint.

We recently acquired a small, original-collection deal of these First Year of Issue 1878-S Morgan Silver Dollars in genuinely outstanding Brilliant Uncirculated condition. These coins look like they haven't seen daylight since the original collector put them away, all blast white surfaces, bold luster, and exceptional detail that the photos simply don't capture. Finding 1878-S Morgans in this quality in any meaningful quantity is increasingly rare, and this lot won't last.

Why the 1878-S Morgan Silver Dollar belongs in your collection:

• The first "S" mint Morgan ever made. Day one of the Morgan Dollar series at San Francisco, a distinction no other coin in the series can claim. First-year-of-issue coins in any major U.S. series carry permanent, structural collector demand.
• San Francisco's gold-standard striking quality. Many leading numismatists and PCGS population reports confirm that the San Francisco Mint's 1878–1882 Morgan Dollars represent the finest strikes in the entire series. A lighter production schedule at the "Granite Lady", the famous second San Francisco Mint building, meant each coin received extraordinary care. The result: sharper relief, deeper luster, and cleaner fields than most Philadelphia-issue contemporaries.
• No tail feather variation. The 1878 Philadelphia Mint issue is complicated by the 8 Tailfeathers vs. 7 Tailfeathers die controversy. The 1878-S has no such issue, San Francisco struck a single, clean reverse design, making attribution simple and the coin ideal for type-set and date-set collectors alike.
• Survivor rarity that exceeds the mintage number. The original 1878-S Morgan Silver Dollar mintage was 9,744,000 significant, but millions were destroyed under the Pittman Act of 1918, and millions more were melted during the silver boom of the 1970s. Estimates suggest fewer than 15% of all original Morgan Dollars survive. Blast white, BU-condition examples from original collections like this one are a small fraction of that already-reduced pool.
• 90% silver, struck from Comstock Lode silver. Each 1878-S Morgan Silver Dollar contains 26.73 grams of 90% fine silver, 0.7734 troy oz, mined predominantly from Nevada's Comstock Lode, the largest silver discovery in U.S. history and the economic engine behind the Bland-Allison Act itself.
• A true artifact of the American West. The 1878-S Morgan Silver Dollar first circulated during the height of America's Gilded Age — cattle drives, frontier railroads, silver booms, and the last years of the Wild West. These coins passed through saloons, general stores, and bank vaults across 19th-century America. Owning one in BU condition means you hold a coin that survived over 145 years without ever entering that circulation.

1878-S Morgan Silver Dollar Coin specifications :

• Year: 1878 | Mint: San Francisco | Mintmark: S (below wreath on reverse)
• Mintage: 9,744,000 | Denomination: $1
• Composition: 90% silver, 10% copper | Weight: 26.73 g | Diameter: 38.1 mm
• Silver content: 0.7734 troy oz | Designer: George T. Morgan
• Obverse: Lady Liberty in Phrygian cap, "E Pluribus Unum," 13 stars, date
• Reverse: Bald eagle with olive branch and arrows, "United States of America," "One Dollar," "In God We Trust"
• Condition: Brilliant Uncirculated (BU) - uncirculated, original mint luster

Highlights:

• First "S" mintmark Morgan Silver Dollar ever struck - 1878, San Francisco Mint
• Brilliant Uncirculated - blast white surfaces, original luster, never circulated
• Hand-selected from a fresh old-time collection - exceptional surface quality
• Finest strikes in the Morgan series, per leading numismatists
• No tail feather variation - clean, straightforward attribution
• 9,744,000 original mintage; BU survivors are a small fraction of today's supply
• 0.7734 troy oz fine silver per coin

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