1898-O $1 Morgan Silver Dollar NGC (Green Label) NGC MS64PL

Prooflike Morgan Dollars

Prooflike coins are the result of a particularly nice, brilliant planchet being struck with new or recently polished dies. A Prooflike coin will not be given any further special care during the minting process. A circulation strike that has Prooflike brilliance will have only been struck once, as is the case with any other circulation strike coin.

Many Morgan Dollars were produced in such a way that quantities of circulation strikes were created with Prooflike surfaces. In some cases, early Prooflike strikes have the added benefit of frosted devices. However, the mints in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Carson City, and New Orleans made no special effort to produce such nice-looking coins for circulation. On circulating coinage, the fields on a Prooflike coin show more reflectivity than is expected; indeed, the mirror-like quality of this reflectivity approaches (but does not equal) that found on unmarred Proof coins – therefore it is Prooflike.

In comparison to the number of business strike coins, Prooflike examples are in the minority and, depending on the issue, can be quite rare. Among the benefits of collecting Prooflike Morgan dollars—in addition to their beauty—is that with a new or polished die the strike could be dramatically sharper than upon a business strike coin. That is often the case with Morgan dollars produced at the New Orleans Mint. Historically, that mint is known for poorly struck specimens in business strike. But their Prooflike examples can be quite breathtaking at times.