A Guide Book Of Morgan Silver Dollars: A Complete History and Price Guide

by Q. David Bowers, Leroy C. Van Allen

Americans love to collect the big Morgan silver dollar! No other coin conjures up so much of the romance and history of the United States. In this second edition of his bestselling book, noted numismatic historian Q. David Bowers offers an engaging portrait of the country’s most popular classic coin. You’ll learn what to look for when you buy, how to grade your coins, and tips to become a smart collector. A Guide Book of Morgan Silver Dollars, 2nd Edition also includes a thorough market analysis for each date and mintmark, plus a new section on never-circulated pattern coins. Q. David Bowers

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Qubitng · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has something for everyone whether your interests is in history, engineering, aesthetics, or the social aspects of collecting. Though I can think of three somewhat large topics that are only touched upon: toning, VAMs, and investment (to be fair, you have to be rich already to get rich off Morgan dollars as you would have to buy the highest grade and rarest Morgans which start at 4 digits. Add to that, the decline in interest of young people for this sort of material possession especially in a market like classic US coins. So for me, it is a topic of the lowest interest).

The bulk of the book is a mint-by-mint, year-by-year analysis of Morgan dollars. Each year also has a description of what was happening in America during that time. What I like most about the book though is the author's honest and practical advice and commentary. I also enjoyed reading about his own foray into Morgans and in particular his firsthand account of the Morgan deluge of the 1960s.

One negative is that I have the Kindle version and the coin images are too low resolution. They look fine as-is but when you zoom in, there is no detail. Also the tables are difficult to read and is very typical of Kindle versions that everything except plain text is a pain to enlarge.