1879-S

The 1879-S, at 9,110,000 pieces, ran the second-largest San Francisco Morgan Dollar output through the early production years and is one of the strongest-struck issues across the entire S-mint run. Two principal die marriages exist: the standard 1879-S Reverse of 1879 (the bulk of the year's output) and the 1879-S Reverse of 1878 variety, catalogued separately on this site, which uses the older parallel-breast hub that had been retired at Philadelphia and Carson City by 1879. The 1879-S Reverse of 1879 is the standard collector pickup; the Reverse of 1878 carries a meaningful variety premium for VAM specialists.

Strike quality on the 1879-S Reverse of 1879 is exceptional for the series. Liberty's hair detail, the eagle's central feathers, and the wreath all come up cleanly on most coins from early die states, and the 1879-S consistently produces some of the finest gem-grade survivors in the entire Morgan run. Most surviving examples grade MS63 to MS66 from broken Treasury bag releases of the 1950s and 1960s, with PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and NGC populations clustering at MS65 and MS66. MS67 examples are readily available. The 1879-S is one of the few Morgan Dollars where Deep Mirror Prooflike examples surface regularly, distinguished by mirror-like fields and frosted devices, and these DMPL pieces carry modest premiums over standard cartwheel-luster Mint State examples.

The 1879-S is a regular common date and the standard recommendation for collectors targeting a high-grade Morgan Dollar at modest cost. Pricing has held flat for two decades at the lower end of the series price band, and the date is one of the easiest Morgan Dollars to acquire in MS66 across the entire series. The 1879-S anchors the entry-level gem-grade S-mint pickup alongside the 1880-S and 1881-S, three of the cleanest-struck Morgan Dollars in the entire run. For the broader S-mint strike-quality pattern and the Reverse of 1878 variety context, see the Morgan Dollar series history.