1890-S Morgan Silver Dollar
Circulation strike struck at the San Francisco Mint · 8,230,373 made
- Mintage
- 8,230,373
- Metal
- 90% silver, 10% copper
- Weight
- 26.73 g
- Diameter
- 38.1 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is an 1890-S Morgan Silver Dollar worth?
In worn condition it trades for about its silver content, 0.7735 troy ounces. Uncirculated coins with full luster or attractive toning sell for more.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- Prooflike or deep mirror fields (PL, DMPL)
- A die variety or minting error
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1890-S Morgan Silver Dollar rare?
- No. 8.2 million were made, a typical run for the series. Condition and varieties decide its value, not the date.
- Is the 1890-S Morgan Silver Dollar silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.7735 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on an 1890 Morgan Silver Dollar?
- On the reverse, below the wreath and above the letters "DO" in DOLLAR. Philadelphia coins have no mint mark. On this coin the mark is S, for San Francisco.
- Which San Francisco dates near 1890 are scarcer?
- The 1893-S at 100,000, the 1895-S at 400,000, the 1888-S at 657,000, plus 7 more. So the 1890-S is one of the easier dates of its stretch.
- How many 1890-S Morgan Silver Dollar coins were made?
- 8,230,373.
What to check on your 1890-S
- Make sure the mint mark really is an S. A worn or filled mark can be misread. It's what separates your coin from the 1890-CC (2.3 million made).
- Don't clean it. Cleaning leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- Old coins pick up damage over a long life. Look for holes, bends, scratches or signs of cleaning before you judge the grade, because a damaged coin sells for a fraction of a problem-free one.
- Judge the grade under good light. Look at the hair above Liberty's ear, the cheek and the breast feathers on the eagle. Prooflike (PL) and Deep Mirror Prooflike (DMPL) surfaces add large premiums.
Circulated examples are usually traded for their silver content. Pick out the best ones: original luster and attractive toning lift a coin above melt, while cleaned coins lose most of their collector value. San Francisco Morgan dollars are usually well struck with frosty luster, which is why S-mint coins are popular in high grades.
The story of the 1890-S
San Francisco ramped up hard in 1890: 8,230,373 coins, about 12 times the 1889 run. The next year it made 5.3 million (1891-S).
1890-CC came to 2.3 million and 1890-O came to 11 million and 1890 came to 17 million, so neither mint's 1890 coin is much scarcer than the other.
San Francisco struck the Morgan Silver Dollar in 28 issues between 1878 and 1921. By mintage this one lands in the more common half, while the key for that mint is the 1893-S (100,000). Within the 1890s it's 29th smallest of 34, between the 1891-O (8 million) and the 1891 (8.7 million).
Sherman Act years and the early keys (1886 to 1893)
Philadelphia struck about 20 million dollars a year in the late 1880s, but some branch mint dates were small. The 1889-CC, at 350,000, is a key. San Francisco's 1886-S, 1888-S and 1889-S all fell below one million. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 replaced Bland-Allison with larger silver purchases, though dollar coinage fell once the act stopped requiring it in 1891. Much of the bullion was paid for with Treasury notes rather than coined at once.
Mintages dropped sharply in 1892 and 1893. The 1893-S, with only 100,000 struck, is the key business strike of the series and a common target for altered mint marks and counterfeits. The 1892-S is plentiful in worn grades but rare uncirculated. Carson City stopped coining after 1893, making the 1893-CC its last dollar. The 1893 Philadelphia run of 378,000 is scarce as well.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1890
The Sherman Silver Purchase Act increased government silver purchases and kept Morgan dollar production high.
How to recognize it
George T. Morgan's Liberty faces left wearing a cap with wheat and cotton and a band inscribed LIBERTY, with E PLURIBUS UNUM above and the date below. The reverse shows an eagle with outstretched wings holding arrows and an olive branch above a wreath, with IN GOD WE TRUST above it. The mint mark is below the wreath, above the DO of DOLLAR.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Morgan Silver Dollar (1878–present) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1890 |
| Mint | San Francisco Mint |
| Mint mark | "S" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 8,230,373 |
| Face value | $1 |
| Composition | 90% silver, 10% copper |
| Weight | 26.73 grams |
| Diameter | 38.1 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Silver content | 0.7735 troy oz (24.057 g) |
| Designer | George T. Morgan |
Other 1890 Morgan Silver Dollar issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1890 Morgan Silver Dollar | 16,802,000 | Circulation strike | 0.7735 oz |
| 1890-S Morgan Silver Dollar | 8,230,373 | Circulation strike | 0.7735 oz |
| 1890-O Morgan Silver Dollar | 10,701,100 | Circulation strike | 0.7735 oz |
| 1890-CC Morgan Silver Dollar | 2,309,041 | Circulation strike | 0.7735 oz |
Mintage: Morgan dollar (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.