- 1899 "Micro O" Morgan Dollar

In 1899, some of the New Orleans Morgan dollar dies were prepared with a smaller O mint mark punch, and are now referred to by collectors as a "Micro-O" For an unknown reason, the smaller mint mark punch that was made for the Barber quarter was used on a few of the Morgan dies.

The mint mark is almost round and does not have the taller oval shape seen on most other New Orleans Morgan dollars. There are five different 1899 reverse dies that are known to have Micro-O reverses. Of particular note is that one of the 1899 Micro-O reverses was used as the master to create counterfeit dollars with Micro-O reverses dated 1896, 1900 and 1902. 1899 Micro-O coins are hard to find as the majority of coins produced used the standard sized mint mark.

- 1878 Morgan Dollar-7 Over 8 Tail Feathers

In 1878, it was discovered that the Mint's original rendering of the Eagle was incorrect because Eagles do not have 8 tail feathers-they only have 7. Instead of creating all new dies, the Mint changed the design on the existing dies from 8 tail feathers to 7. On this variety, you can still see the tip of a feather from the existing design below a feather in the new design.

- 1879 Morgan Dollar with Reverse 1878

In 1879, the United States Mint changed the design of the Eagle on the reverse of the Morgan Silver Dollar coin. The flat breasted Eagle on the 1878 specimen was changed to a more rounded breast on the 1879 coin. For some reason, on this variety of the 1879 Morgan, the 1878 reverse was used instead of the new reverse. These coins are very hard to find because so few were minted-and most collectors wouldn't know to spot the difference!

- 1900 Morgan Dollar-O Over CC

When it comes to interesting issues, it doesn't get much better than the 1900-O over CC Morgan dollar. The official story behind this coin can be located in the Mint Director's report of 1899 where it was announced that as of June 30, 1899, the Carson City Mint was no longer a mint (even though in reality it had stopped making coins after 1893). The demise of Carson City was prematurely brought on by the fact that the facility had never lived up to the expectations in Washington.

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