No mint mark on morgan dollars. Where do I look next?

by Deb
(Utah)

Question: I have several morgan dollars ranging from 1900 to 1922. I have looked for the mint mark, under the eagle and above the "D", but cannot see a mint mark there. Where do I look now?

My Answer: If you don't see a mint mark on a Morgan Silver Dollar, it just means that it was minted at the United States Mint in Philadelphia.

Since the Philadelphia Mint was the first mint established in the United States, and the only one for a long time, no mint marks were necessary
since everyone knew that all United States coins were coming from the Philadelphia Mint.

Later, when other mints were established, they each used a different mint mark to distinguish which mint made each coin. Coins from Philadelphia, however, still did not bear mint marks. The first 'P' mint mark did not appear on United States coins until 1942.

To read more about mint marks on United States coins, and to learn when a 'P' mint mark was actually used on coins from the Philadelphia Mint, go to The Historical Use of Mint Marks and scroll down the page a little ways.