1878 7-Tail Feather/3rd Reverse Morgan Silver Dollar Very Fine

Product Description

The 1878 tail feather scarcities are the first and most famous Morgan varieties. We usually only offer the first three types, but have found a small selection of the sought-after fourth and last type. 

The first Morgans of 1878 to roll off the presses showed the eagle with eight tail feathers. Shortly after, objections to the number of tail feathers halted the presses. George T. Morgan then prepared dies with seven tail feathers, but some remaining eight tail feather dies were over-punched and created a second variety; the 7 over 8 or doubled feathers type.

Two final seven tail feather varieties emerged in 1878. The 2nd Reverse shows the eagle with a flat breast and parallel feathers on the arrows it clutches. The last variety of 1878, which we offer here, is the 3rd Reverse. The eagle displays a rounded breast and the feathers of the top arrow are slanted. This became the standard reverse design for the series. Nicely detailed Very Fine quality.