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All Morgan dollar dates

1878-P Morgan Dollar

Common date

The first year of the series, struck under the Bland-Allison Act. Philadelphia revised the dies mid-year, reducing the relief and changing the eagle from eight tail feathers to seven, so the year's output divides into distinct design types.

Mintage

Business strikes
10,508,800
Mint
Philadelphia (no mintmark)
Mintage rank
73 of 96
Proofs struck
750

Rank 1 is the lowest business-strike mintage in the series. Mintage is what the Mint produced, not what survives: millions of silver dollars were melted under the Pittman Act of 1918 without the dates being recorded.

About this figure

The 10,508,800 total covers all Philadelphia business strikes for the year. The Mint did not report the tail-feather types separately; the commonly cited split (749,500 eight-feather, 9,759,300 seven-feather) comes from Van Allen & Mallis, not from Mint records.

Scarcity tier

Common date

Assigned from reported mintage alone: under 750,000 is a key date, under 2,500,000 is a semi-key.

This is a reproducible label derived from the mintage column, not a market valuation and not a Coin Curator price opinion. The same thresholds apply to every series on this site. Several dates are far harder or far easier to obtain than their mintage implies; where that is true, it is stated above.

Documented varieties

8 Tail Feathers

The original first-week reverse, with eight tail feathers on the eagle. Replaced because every earlier U.S. coin showed an odd number.

7 Tail Feathers

The revised reverse used for the balance of the year, in both a Reverse of 1878 and a Reverse of 1879 hub.

7 Over 8 Tail Feathers

Seven-feather dies punched over eight-feather dies, leaving the extra feather tips visible under the tail.

Widely recognised varieties only. The VAM reference catalogs thousands of die marriages across these series; the absence of a variety here does not mean none is documented elsewhere.

What to check before buying

  1. 1Verify the certification number on the grading service's own lookup page, not on the listing. A photograph of a label is not verification.
  2. 2Match the coin in the listing photographs to the coin described on the certification record, including the grade and any variety attribution.
  3. 3Look for cleaning: unnatural brightness, fine parallel hairlines in the fields, and a flat, lifeless surface under angled light.
  4. 4Check the mintmark shape and position against published photographs of the genuine issue. Added and altered mintmarks are the most common silver dollar alteration.
  5. 5Read the seller's return policy before bidding or buying, and confirm it covers authenticity and grade disputes.
  6. 6Confirm which tail-feather type the certification label states, since the types are collected separately.
  7. 7On a 7/8 attribution, look for the remnant feather tips beneath the tail rather than relying on the label alone.

Coin Curator does not grade, authenticate, or appraise coins, and publishes no price or population data. These are verification steps, not a valuation. Read the grading guide.

Verify a certification number

If a 1878-Pis offered as certified, look the number up on the grading service’s own site and confirm the date, mintmark, grade, and any variety attribution match the listing. A photograph of a label proves nothing on its own.

PCGS cert lookup NGC cert lookup ANACS cert lookup

Each service publishes its own guarantee with conditions and exclusions. Compare PCGS, NGC and ANACS.

Find a 1878-P for sale

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Common questions

How many 1878-P Morgan dollars were minted?

The Philadelphia Mint struck 10,508,800 1878-P Morgan dollars for circulation. That is the 73rd lowest business-strike mintage of the 96 date and mintmark combinations in the series.

Is the 1878-P Morgan dollar a key date?

Coin Curator labels it a common date, assigned from reported mintage alone: under 750,000 struck is a key date and under 2,500,000 is a semi-key. The same thresholds are used for every series on this site, so the tiers are comparable between them. That label describes production, not market value or how hard the coin is to find today. The first year of the series, struck under the Bland-Allison Act. Philadelphia revised the dies mid-year, reducing the relief and changing the eagle from eight tail feathers to seven, so the year's output divides into distinct design types.

What varieties exist for the 1878-P Morgan dollar?

Widely recognised varieties for this issue include 8 Tail Feathers, 7 Tail Feathers, and 7 Over 8 Tail Feathers. The original first-week reverse, with eight tail feathers on the eagle. Replaced because every earlier U.S. coin showed an odd number. Variety attributions should appear on the certification label rather than only in a seller's description.

What should I check before buying an 1878-P Morgan dollar?

Verify the certification number on the grading service's own lookup page, match the listing photographs to the certification record, check for cleaning, and compare the mintmark shape and position against published photographs of the genuine issue. Confirm which tail-feather type the certification label states, since the types are collected separately.

Why do sources give different mintage figures for the 1878-P?

The 10,508,800 total covers all Philadelphia business strikes for the year. The Mint did not report the tail-feather types separately; the commonly cited split (749,500 eight-feather, 9,759,300 seven-feather) comes from Van Allen & Mallis, not from Mint records.

Related dates

1878-CC2,212,0001878-S9,774,0001879-P14,806,0001880-P12,600,0001881-P9,163,0001882-P11,100,000

Mintage sources

Mintage figures are U.S. Mint production records, cross-checked against the published tables below on 2026-07-31. Where those tables disagree, the disagreement is disclosed on the affected page rather than resolved silently.

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