I found an 1896 Morgan Dollar, Philadelphia Mint.?

Question

Definitely not in mint condition, but in OK condition. What is the value??

Answer 1

The mint mark if any is on the reverse at the bottom below the wreath. No mint mark then it is from the Philadelphia mint. The 1896 Philly mint dollar had a mintage of 9,976,000 so it is not a scarce date. It has a value of $13.50 in grade good to $15.00 in grade very fine. Most silver dollars minted in the east saw very little use if any. They sat in bank vaults or at the mint. Your may have made it out west where they were used a lot. Even though the wild west was coming to an end in 1896, there was still trouble with all the factions that wanted to rule Mexico. Maybe your coin bought a bottle of whiskey at a bar along the border or was used in one of the western Territory's that were left, for they were not states yet. To bad coins don't talk they would have some interesting stories to tell.

Answer 2

My mother has one, too. She has had it for years. We went to a coin shop and he said face value. That is not true, if you look it up in a coin book. She has not had it checked recently. Your best bet would to be to take it to a place where they grade coins and then get it appraised. There are a lot of places out there looking to rip a person off. She had some other coins worth money and this guy wanted to buy them off her for face value and come to find out later after she went ahead and spent them (as he said they were not worth anything and he would give her dollar bills), we did not know better and later found out they were worth hundreds of dollars. You will need to check around for a reputable coin grader and go from there. Good Luck.