Morgan dollar
1879 ・ silver ・ 19th century ・ United States Mint
This silver coin is politics' answer to the clause called 'the Crime of 1873'. The Bland–Allison Act of 1878 ordered the government to buy a set amount of silver every month and to coin silver dollars — the birth of the Morgan dollar. The name comes from George T. Morgan, who designed it. On the face, the legend E PLURIBUS UNUM and the profile of Liberty; on the back, an eagle with wings spread. The gold standard was the currency of creditors and of the East, free coinage of silver the currency of debtors and of the West and the South — in an age when the choice of standard was itself a conflict of class and region, this silver coin went on being struck as the banner of the silver side. This piece is dated 1879.
Diameter 38.1mm