1879-S Morgan Dollar
Reverse of 1878
Guidelines for Collecting:
The 1879-S Morgan dollar comes in two varieties: the Reverse of 1878, Type 2, (PAF), with flat eagle’s breast and top arrow feathers, is quite rare; the variety with Type 3 Reverse (Reverse of 1879), listed separately, is much more common. Dealers and collectors were largely unaware of the rarer variety with the Reverse of 1878 until recent decades.
Coins are usually well struck, with a weak appearance of the eagle due to the flat breast of the Type 2 Reverse. The individual feathers are usually well struck. Coins of this type have attractive, frosty luster.
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Availability in Circulated Grades:
As with most dates of the era, circulated pieces are available with VF to AU typical for survivors. These were widely distributed at the time of issue.
Availability in Mint State Grades:
Coins up to and including Mint State-65 can be found though the higher up the grading scale, the scarcer the grade designation is likely to be. As can be seen by the estimated mintage, the variety is scarce across the board. Indeed, the variety was only discovered in the 1980s at which time its scarce nature was revealed. MS-63 has proven to be an ideal grade for this scarce variety—top-quality pieces without heavy bagmarks can be cherrypicked by those with patience.
Availability in Proof:
None produced.
The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the Larry H. Miller Collection, where it realized $10,800.
1879-S, Reverse of 1878 Morgan Dollar Auction Highlights
 Morgan Dollar PCGS MS-65, CAC Sold for $31,200 View Lot 6305 |  Morgan Dollar NGC MS-65 PL Sold for $6,900 View Lot 2728 |  Morgan Dollar PCGS MS-63 Sold for $6,600 View Lot 12155 |
