Crafts and Hobbies #65: Coin Collecting

Numismatist much? Not exactly but I do own a few of these coins. They're called Morgan Silver Dollars, named after its designer, George T. Morgan but it's also known as a Liberty Head dollar. I didn't find much help identifying this coin on the iHCPL module post - the links to the U.S. Mint just pointed me to currently circulating coins, commemorative coins and future designs. The other links led me to reserve a Red Book from my local library or purchase one from online dealers. The dealer search may come in handy if I decide to sell later. But what about MY coin? My oldest Morgan is like the one pictured left, minted 1885. When I Googled the date and type, I found that 1.5 million of these were minted in various states, indicated by a teeny tiny letter on the back above and between the "D" and "O" in the word "DOLLAR." Mine has an "S" which means that it was minted in San Francisco. Makes sense since I got it from my Chinese grandmother. If there had been an "O" it would have been more valuable, meaning that it had been minted in New Orleans, where less were made. Morgan dollars were unpopular when they first came out and many were not even made public until 1960 when the government traded these at face value for silver certificates. Now they're very collectible, in good condition, of course. All very interesting stuff but doesn't do a lot of people good when a good ol' greenback buys you only a few drops of gas. This reminds me of that scene in the movie, "Throw Mama From The Train" where Owen (played by Danny DeVito) asks his friend Larry (Billy Crystal), "Wanna see my coin collection? This one...is a quarter. This one here is another quarter..."