1878-P Morgan Dollar
Common dateThe 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: some 270 million silver dollars were melted under the Pittman Act of 1918 without the dates being recorded, and several issues sat in Treasury vaults for decades before release.
Reading the figure
Among the 27 Philadelphia issues in the series it is the 15th smallest. Of the 22,494,800 struck across all mints in 1878, this issue accounts for 47%. That is 4.8 times the Carson City figure for the same year. The 1878 split ran Philadelphia 10,508,800, San Francisco 9,774,000 and Carson City 2,212,000. The series median is 5,000,000, so this issue is more than twice as numerous as a typical date. In 1878 the coin was struck at Philadelphia, Carson City and San Francisco; New Orleans struck none.
Every sentence above is computed from the mintage table on this page, not asserted separately.
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
Specific to the 1878-P:
- 1Confirm which tail-feather type the certification label states, since the types are collected separately.
- 2On a 7/8 attribution, look for the remnant feather tips beneath the tail rather than relying on the label alone.
And for any certified coin
Verify the certification number on the grading service’s own lookup rather than from a photograph of the label, match the listing images to the certification record including grade and any variety attribution, look for cleaning, compare the mintmark against published photographs of the genuine issue, and read the return policy before buying. The grading guide covers each of these in full.
Coin Curator does not grade, authenticate, or appraise coins, and publishes no price or population data. These are verification steps, not a valuation.
Verify a certification number
Look a 1878-Pcertification number up on the service’s own site. A photograph of a label proves nothing.
Each service publishes its own guarantee with conditions and exclusions. Compare PCGS, NGC and ANACS.
Find a 1878-P for sale
Opens an eBay search for this exact date and mint. Coin Curator does not list inventory, hold stock, or quote prices; verify each listing, seller, and return policy directly.
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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
Guides for this coin
All guides →Morgan Dollar Key Dates and Varieties
The 1893-S, 1895 Proof-only, 1889-CC, and important VAM varieties show why date, mint, attribution, and condition must be researched together.
1 min readVintage GuideCarson City Mint: Why CC Coins Command Premiums
Carson City Mint operated 1870-1885 + 1889-1893. Coins from the silver mined down the road. Low mintages, frontier-era history, and the iconic CC mint mark, the most romantic coins in US numismatics.
2 min readEducationError Coins: Types, Attribution, and Verification
Learn the difference between off-center strikes, doubled dies, mules, broadstrikes, and post-mint damage, plus the records to check before buying.
1 min readBuying GuideHow to Spot a Counterfeit or Doctored Coin
Use weight, dimensions, surfaces, mintmark details, holder inspection, and certification records as screening checks. Learn the warning signs of altered coins and fake slabs.
1 min readMintage 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.
- Wikipedia, "Morgan dollar" mintage figures table — Cites Yeoman (A Guide Book of United States Coins) and Van Allen & Mallis.
- CoinMintages.com, Morgan dollar mintages — Lists business strikes and proofs separately, including the 1878 tail-feather varieties.
- GovMint, Morgan silver dollar mintage chart — Published as sourced from U.S. Mint records.
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