Silver Dollar Value: Morgan, Peace, Seated, Trade and Ike

A common US silver dollar, meaning a Morgan dollar dated 1878 to 1921 or a Peace dollar dated 1921 to 1935, contains 0.7734 troy ounces of silver, about $45 worth with silver near $58 an ounce as of late 2026, and sells for about $48-60 in circulated condition. Older Seated Liberty dollars from 1840 to 1873 and Trade dollars from 1873 to 1885 are scarcer and usually bring roughly $175-600 even worn. Key dates such as the 1893-S Morgan or the 1928 Peace dollar are worth hundreds to many thousands. At the other end, the large Eisenhower dollars of 1971 to 1978 are only silver if they carry an S mint mark and came from a collector set, and then they hold about $18 of silver; the ones from circulation are copper-nickel and worth a dollar or two.

So the first job is to find out which dollar you have. The design tells you the series in a second, the date and the small mint mark on the reverse place it in that series, and from there the value is either the silver plus a small premium or something more.

Quick answer

• Morgan and Peace dollars, common dates: about $48-60 worn, about $55-120 in MS63, with common Peace dollars at the low end.
• Seated Liberty dollars, 1840-1873: roughly $250-600 for worn common dates; sales vary widely.
• Trade dollars, 1873-1885: roughly $175-350 for worn common dates, less with chop marks or cleaning.
• Eisenhower dollars: clad ones $1-2; 40 percent silver S coins about $19-30.
• Canadian silver dollars, 1935-1967: about $35 in silver, $36-46 worn.

How to identify and value a silver dollar, step by step

1. Measure it. US silver dollars from 1840 to 1935 are about 38.1 mm across, roughly the size of a Ritz cracker. An Eisenhower dollar is the same size. Anything smaller is not a silver dollar: Susan B. Anthony, Sacagawea and Presidential dollars are 26.5 mm and contain no silver.
2. Name the design. Morgan: Liberty facing left in a cap with wheat and cotton, an eagle with spread wings on the reverse. Peace: Liberty in a spiked crown, an eagle perched on a rock above the word PEACE. Seated Liberty: a full figure of Liberty sitting on a rock with a shield. Trade: Liberty seated on bales facing left, holding an olive branch, with TRADE DOLLAR and 420 GRAINS, 900 FINE on the reverse. Eisenhower: Ike's portrait with an eagle landing on the moon, or the Liberty Bell and moon on 1976 coins.
3. Read the date. Morgans run 1878 to 1904, plus 1921. Peace dollars run 1921 to 1935. A 1921 can be either, which our 1921 silver dollar guide sorts out.
4. Find the mint mark. On a Morgan it sits on the reverse below the wreath, above the DO of DOLLAR. On a Peace dollar it is on the reverse near the eagle's wing tip, below ONE. On Seated and Trade dollars it is on the reverse below the eagle. On an Eisenhower dollar it is on the obverse above the date. CC is the letter that matters most on older dollars.
5. Check it against the key dates. Each series has a short list of dates and mint marks worth much more than silver. The series guides list them all.
6. Judge the wear. On a Morgan, look at the hair above Liberty's ear and the eagle's breast feathers. On a Peace dollar, look at Liberty's cheek and the hair over her temple. Smooth, flat high points mean circulated.
7. Check for cleaning and damage. A bright, uniform shine with fine parallel lines in the fields means the coin was polished. Rim dings, holes and scratches all cut the collector premium; a damaged common date drops to melt.
8. Price it. For common dates, start with melt and add the usual premium for the grade. For anything on a key list, look at sold results for the exact date, mint mark and grade.

Values by series

Figures are recent sold results and price guide ranges as of late 2026, with silver at about $58. Where sales are thin, the range is wide on purpose.

The detail lives in the series guides: the Morgan silver dollar guide has a date table from the common coins to the 1893-S; the Peace dollar guide covers the 1921 high relief, the 1928 and the 1934-S; the Eisenhower dollar guide explains how to tell a silver Ike from a clad one; the Canadian silver dollar guide covers the Voyageur and the 1948; and the American Silver Eagle guide covers the modern bullion dollar.

Seated Liberty and Trade dollars

These two older series are where owners are most often surprised in the good direction. Seated Liberty dollars had small mintages by later standards and many were melted, so even a worn, common Philadelphia date usually sells for several hundred dollars. Prices vary more than for Morgans, partly because grading worn Seated coins is harder and partly because so many have been cleaned. Dates with an O, S or especially CC mint mark sell for more, and Carson City Seated dollars sell for thousands even worn.

Trade dollars were made for commerce in Asia, not for use at home, and they weigh a little more than other dollars, 27.22 grams against 26.73. Many came back with small Chinese characters punched into them by merchants, called chop marks. A chopmarked coin is collected in its own right, but it usually sells for less than a clean example of the same date. The 1877-S is the most common date, followed by the 1878-S and 1875-S. Trade dollars are also among the most counterfeited US coins, so a Trade dollar bought abroad or online deserves a weight check and a second opinion.

Condition and what it does to price

For key dates the steps between grades are much bigger, often hundreds or thousands of dollars, which is why a grading service matters there and not for common coins. Our coin grading scale explains each grade in plain words.

A worked example

Say you inherit a small velvet bag with five big silver coins. Three are Morgans dated 1881-S, 1885-O and 1921 with no mint mark, one is a 1923 Peace dollar, and one shows Liberty sitting on a rock with the date 1859 and an O below the eagle on the reverse.

The three Morgans are all common dates. They show moderate wear, so each is worth about $48-60, roughly $150-180 together. The 1923 Peace dollar is the most common date of that series: about $48-55. The 1859-O is a Seated Liberty dollar, and that changes the picture. It is a scarcer type with a New Orleans mint mark, and in honest Fine to Very Fine condition coins like it usually sell for several hundred dollars. If it has been polished, the price falls sharply.

The bag is worth roughly $500-850, and more than half of that is the one Seated dollar. That is the coin to show a dealer in person, with its surface checked under a loupe.

Common mistakes

• Calling every big dollar silver. Eisenhower dollars from circulation, with a P, D or no mint mark, are copper-nickel. Look for the copper stripe on the edge.
• Assuming 1921 means rare. The 1921 Morgan is the most common Morgan of all. The 1921 Peace dollar is the scarce one.
• Missing the CC. Carson City dollars carry a strong premium in every series. Check the mint mark with a loupe.
• Polishing before selling. It is the fastest way to turn a collector coin into a melt coin.
• Buying a "rare" silver dollar from a travel market. Fake Morgans, Trade dollars and Seated dollars are produced in large numbers. A real one weighs about 26.7 grams (27.2 for a Trade dollar) and is not magnetic.
• Treating souvenir and private "silver dollars" as coins. Medals, rounds and tokens with dollar designs sell for their silver content only, if they contain any.

How WorthPic reads silver dollar photos

WorthPic runs on the newest and most capable AI model available, tuned for exactly this kind of identification. For a silver dollar it reads the design to name the series, then the date and the mint mark, and checks them against the key dates for that series. It judges wear on the high points, looks for the hairlines and uniform shine of a cleaned coin, and notes chop marks on a Trade dollar. It gives an honest value range, with the silver value as the floor. A photo cannot show weight or metal, so it cannot rule out a good counterfeit, and it says so when a coin is the kind often faked. It identifies and estimates. It does not authenticate, grade or appraise.

What to photograph

• Both sides straight on, filling the frame, in soft daylight without glare.
• The date close up.
• The mint mark close up on the reverse, or above the date on an Ike.
• The edge, to show reeding and, on an Ike, whether there is a copper stripe.
• The coin on a scale showing grams to two decimals, if you have one.
• Any chop marks, holes or damage close up.

When to get it looked at in person

Common Morgans and Peace dollars sell to any coin dealer at or a little above melt, with no grading needed. For a Seated Liberty or Trade dollar, any Carson City coin, any date on a key list, or any coin that looks fully uncirculated, take it to a coin dealer or coin club for a first look and then consider PCGS or NGC, who authenticate and grade. Their fees, from roughly $20-60 a coin, make sense when the coin may be worth clearly more than a common date. For a whole collection, our inherited coins guide explains how to sort first, and how to tell if a coin is silver covers the quick metal checks.