1878 Morgan Silver Dollar - 7 Tail Feather Reverse of 1878-S
In the initial reverse design used on the first year of issue 1878 Morgan Silver Dollars the eagle had 8 tail feathers. This was deemed incorrect, so a new hub was created that had only 7 tail feathers. This new, slightly different design showed was what deemed the 'appropriate' number of tail feathers on the eagle, yet the changes were not quite done for the year. Lady Liberty's hair on the obverse of the coin did not strike up well, so a change was made to the reverse design to lower the relief of the eagle's breast - the area directly opposite the highest hair points on the obverse - so both sides of the coin would strike up completely. The change worked to an acceptable degree, but it resulted in a concavity on the eagle's breast that was noticeably different from that of the previous design.
Because the earlier convex chest design was used exclusively in 1878, and the only design used in 1879 was the concave chest design, nicknames noting the primary year of use of the two designs were given to distinguish them from one another. So all-told, there were three completely different reverse designs used in 1878. The reverse used on this coin was the second of the three, the convex eagle's chest and 7 tail feathers.
Inaugural year for the Morgan Dollar.
The Coinage Act of 1873 brought an end to the standard 'Seated Liberty' dollar in favor of the new 'Trade Dollar' which would be more acceptable in overseas trades. Most of the silver dollars minted from 1870 through the end of the Seated Dollar era had been sent overseas anyway, and they were not favorable because they weighed slightly less than other silver coins used for trade in the orient. The new 'Trade Dollars' were minted from 1873 until 1885, although the final coins were minted for trade in 1878. All issues minted thereafter were proof coins made for collectors.
The Bland-Allison Act of 1878 required the U.S Treasury to purchase millions of dollars in Western mined silver each year to mint into silver dollars, because the government wanted to back the U.S. dollar with both gold and silver. Because the government wanted to return to standard weight silver dollars for circulation, the Trade dollar was officially demonetized in 1876, and an order was given in 1877 to cease production of the coins in favor of the new coins. This gave way to producing a new standard weight silver dollar, resulting in the Morgan Dollar, so named after its designer George T. Morgan.
Professionally Graded Mint State 63
This grade specifically notes that there is no wear from circulation on this coin. It also means that there is an average number of marks on the coin caused by having been stored in bags with other coins. This is very common for silver dollars minted in the 19th century. many of them were stored for years until commerce was ready for their release into circulation, and quite a number of them never made it into circulation because of collectors.
This coin is graded as MS63 by the Numsimatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC), one of the leading third-party professional grading services in the world. The coin comes sealed in a tamper-evident hard plastic case commonly referred to in the market as a "slab" and is very well protected against damage and offers a very nice way to store coins so future generations can enjoy them.
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