Morgan Silver Dollar Melt Value

As of July 18, 2026, with silver at $56.01 per troy ounce, a Morgan silver dollar has a melt value of $43.32. That is its 0.7734 troy ounces of pure silver multiplied by the live spot price, and the figure moves with the silver market throughout the trading day.

Melt value is the floor under every common-date Morgan. The coin weighs 26.73 grams of 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper, giving 24.057 grams (0.7734 troy ounces) of pure silver in every example, regardless of date or mint mark. Because that specification never varied across the series, valuing a Morgan by weight is pure arithmetic: ASW times spot. You can compare it against every other US silver coin on our silver coin melt values table, or price a whole stack with the junk silver calculator.

Anyone looking at a Morgan silver dollar values chart needs two numbers per date: the melt floor, which is identical for every Morgan and computed live above, and the typical collector price, which varies enormously by date, mint mark, and grade. The silver dollar value chart by year below covers the dates collectors ask about most. Premium tiers are summarized from the PCGS CoinFacts and NGC Coin Explorer price guides, where exact prices are quoted per date, mint mark, and grade.

Two practical takeaways. First, the melt floor is the same for 1878 and 1921 alike, so any date's collector value is best understood as melt plus a premium. Second, the mint mark matters more than the year for most dates: check under the eagle on the reverse before pricing a coin. If you are looking for Morgan silver dollars for sale, reputable bullion dealers stock common circulated dates at melt-based prices; see our where to buy silver guide and the coin premium tracker for typical dealer markups before you buy.

The Morgan dollar exists because of silver politics. The Bland-Allison Act of 1878, passed over President Hayes's veto, required the Treasury to buy $2 million to $4 million of silver bullion every month and coin it into dollars, a huge subsidy to Western mining interests. George T. Morgan's Liberty head design carried that mandate from 1878 to 1904 across the Mint's facilities, including the storied Carson City branch. Then came a dramatic reversal: the Pittman Act of 1918 sent 270,232,722 silver dollars, nearly half of everything struck to that point, to the melting pot to back wartime silver sales to Britain. The same law required replacement dollars to be coined, which is why the Morgan returned for one final year in 1921 before the Peace dollar replaced it. That 1918 melt is a big part of why survival rates, not mintages, drive Morgan collectibility today. The Mint revived the design in 2021 as a collector issue priced well above melt.

The table below shows what one Morgan dollar's 0.7734 ounces of silver is worth at round spot prices, so you can see how sensitive the melt value is to the market.

These specifications were constant across the entire circulation series, which also makes weight a quick authenticity check: a genuine Morgan should weigh very close to 26.73 grams.

Almost all of them, at least slightly: even worn common dates typically sell a little above melt because the Morgan is the most collected US silver dollar. The gap widens fast for better material. Carson City (CC) mint marks carry strong premiums across the board, and true keys like the 1893-S, struck to a mintage of just 100,000, are numismatic rarities whose prices have essentially nothing to do with silver content. Condition matters as much as date: an uncirculated common Morgan is worth meaningfully more than a heavily worn one with identical silver inside. The practical rule: price any Morgan at melt first using the live figure above, then check the date and mint mark before selling, because melting or bulk-selling a scarce date is an expensive mistake. For typical premium ranges on bullion-grade coins, see our coin premium tracker.