Ah, the million-dollar question! Which, in the case of a Morgan Silver Dollar, could be a twenty-dollar question or, for a few lucky souls, a question worth a whole lot more. Asking what a Morgan is worth is a bit like asking what a car is worth. Are we talking about a rusty old clunker or a pristine vintage Ferrari?
At the absolute rock-bottom, your coin is worth its silver content. This is its "get out of bed" price, dictated by the daily whims of the silver market. Since a Morgan contains about three-quarters of an ounce of silver, this gives it a solid floor value, usually somewhere in the $20 to $30 range. This is the value of your most common, well-loved, seen-better-days 1921 Morgan.
But that's where the simple part ends and the treasure hunt begins. The coin's real value depends on its numismatic desirability, which is a fancy way of saying how badly collectors want it. The two magic ingredients are rarity and condition. The year it was made and the tiny mint mark on the back (like "CC" for Carson City, "S" for San Francisco, or "O" for New Orleans) can skyrocket the price. A common date is one thing, but a key-date rarity like an 1893-S is the stuff of legends.
Finally, there's its appearance. Is your coin worn slick from a century of changing hands, or does it shine like it just left the mint yesterday? A pristine, uncirculated Morgan can be worth thousands of times more than its battered counterpart of the same date. So, the value of your Morgan lies somewhere on a scale between a nice lunch and a new house. The devil is in the details.
