What Makes A Morgan Dollar Rare?
Silver contained in a Morgan silver dollar may only be worth a few dollars, but the rarity of the coin and date of its mintage or appearance may make the coin worth several thousand dollars.
Some Morgan dollars are graded DMPL (Deep Mirror Proof Like), designating that their legends and devices appear frosted (or mirrored). The level of a coin’s DMPL is rated from light to dark and are worth much more than their non-reflective counterparts.
Some Morgan silver dollars are more rare and valuable than others because there were very few minted. The 1889 Morgan CC (Carson City) is one of the rarest, with only 350,000 minted. 100,000 1893 Morgan Ss were minted in San Francisco — and the rarest is the 1895 P (Proof) Morgan worth around $65,000.
Morgan silver dollars are also classified by varieties (VAMs) of dies used in minting them. VAM stands for the research of Van Allen and Mallis who researched Morgans minted from 1878 to 1904, 1921 and those minted from 1921 to 1935. They discovered about 6,000 VAMs.
These VAMs made during the minting of the Morgan dollars make them rarer than others. The 1878-P: 7/8 Tail Feathers, VAM-44 is the rarest with the 1879-CC: Clear CC following.
You can look up the value of Morgan silver dollars in The Red Book (A Guide Book of United States Coins). Published every year, the Red Book is used by coin collectors to evaluate a coin’s retail value and lists the value of United States coins in circulation, plus commemorative and other significant coins.