George T. Morgan designed this popular silver dollar which was produced from 1878-1904 and again in 1921.  His model was the attractive 19 year old Miss Ann Williams.

 

Morgan, born in Birmingham, England in 1845, attended the South Kensington Art School and later became a student at the Royal Mint.  In 1876, mint director Henry Linderman brought Morgan to the United States and employed him as an assistant to William and Charles Barber (designers of the Barber Dime, Quarter, and Half Dollar).  That was the beginning of Morgan's 48 year career with the US Mint.

 

By the end of 1904, over 570,000 silver dollars had been struck.  Silver Dollars in general were not popular with the public except where they circulated for a minor part in the Western United States.  As a result of their lack of popularity, most silver dollars went to treasury vaults for long-term storage.

 

The Pittman Act of 1918 resulted in the melting of over 270,000 silver dollars, slightly less than half the total mintage.  This was done "to help the war effort".  In 1921, over 86,000,000 Morgan Dollars were struck despite the destruction of hundreds of millions of coins under the Pittman Act a few years earlier.