Morgan Silver Dollar
1878 Morgan Silver Dollar. 7/8 Tailfeathers. Strong. MS-65 (PCGS). CAC.
Splendid frosty-white surfaces are sharply struck and fully brilliant. For reasons that are not clear today, soon after circulation strike Morgan dollar production began in 1878, numerous minor modifications to the reverse design were made, the most evident being the reduction in the number of the eagle's tail feathers from eight to seven. The general numismatic consensus is that certain reverse dies of the 8 Tailfeathers type were rehubbed using the new 7 Tailfeathers hub, thereby creating the variety popularly known as 7/8 Tailfeathers. As Q. David Bowers observes in his 1993 silver and trade dollar encyclopedia, however, numerous other differences between the designs in the two hubs, however minor, would have created what the author describes as " many 'over' features, not just tail feathers" in the working dies. Since the number of under feathers (which varies) is never more than seven, this variety may represent a re-hubbing of dies using hastily prepared hubs that differed in minor details such as the style of the eagle punch, its registration in the hub, and so forth. Bowers believes that most, if not all of the undertype eagles on these dies had seven tail feathers. Fortunately for collectors seeking an example of this interesting variety, Mint State examples are available with ease through the MS-64 level, although in Gem MS-65 and finer grades the 7/8 Tailfeathers is scarce to rare.
PCGS# 7078. NGC ID: 2TXZ.
From the Larry H. Miller Collection.
Estimate: $1250