The United States Mint has released the first images of the 2021 Morgan Dollar. The Morgan – along with the 2021 Peace Dollar – are being released laster this year in honor of the 100th anniversary of the end of the Morgan Dollar and the start of the Peace Dollar. To this point, we had only seen mockup images of the coin from the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC).
The Morgan Dollar will be struck at the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco Mint facilities. The Philadelphia strikes will have no Mint Mark while the Denver and San Francisco strikes will have the D and S marks respectively. In addition, the Philadelphia facility will also strike two additional Morgan Dollars that will have privy marks to honor branch Mints that were functional during the Morgan Dollar era. That is, there will be a privy mark to honor the Carson City and New Orleans Mints that appears on the Reverse. The Morgan Dollar was designed by Mint Chief Engraver George T. Morgan (1845-1925) and was minted from 1878 to 1904, and again in 1921.
Both the Obverse and Reverse carry the original designs albeit improved for modern coin striking. The Mint Mark for the coins as well as the Carson City and New Orleans privy marks will appear on the Reverse under the wreath on the Reverse.
The new Morgan Dollar will be a limited release by the United States Mint with pre-orders starting in late May. Pricing will be $85 and there will be limited production across all of the different Morgans as well as the 2021 Peace Dollars. Demand for these coins are expected to be exceptionally high given the push from the Numismatic community to have these coins produced. In particular, the privy mark coins likely will go the fastest.