1888 Silver Dollar Value: Key Morgan Dollar Varieties & Prices

The 1888 Morgan silver dollar is best known for its interesting die varieties. For collectors of rare varieties and error coins, this is certainly a key date in the Morgan dollar series.

What Is an 1888 Silver Dollar Worth?

Here is a table of average prices for 1888 Morgan dollars in various grades. Included are two popular 1888-O Morgan dollar varieties, the "Scarface" and "Hot Lips."

How Much Is an 1888 Silver Dollar Worth?

1888 Morgan silver dollar.

A total of 19,183,000 Morgan dollars were minted in Philadelphia in 1888. Average prices can be deceiving on this mintage, as quality varied widely in Philadelphia that year. That is a problem that is more often associated with the branch mints—New Orleans especially.

Regardless of where they were minted, all Morgan dollars contain 0.77344 troy ounce of pure silver and measure 38.1 mm diameter.

How Much Is an 1888-O Morgan Silver Dollar Worth?

1888-O Morgan silver dollar.

The 1888-O Morgan silver dollar saw a mintage of 12,150,000 coins. Like most silver dollars from this mint, many of the 1888-O Morgans show abrasions from rough handling in storage bags.

Due to the average weak strikes on this coin, another trait unfortunately seen on many New Orleans Morgan dollar mintages, 1888-O Morgans in the higher grades go for a bit more than their Philadelphia counterparts.

The Hot Lips and Scarface Morgan Dollars

The big claim to fame for the 1888-O Morgan dollar is that the mintage includes two of the most famous (and favorite) Morgan dollar varieties: The "Scarface" and "Hot Lips" Morgan dollar.

Both of these are considered VAM Morgan dollars. What is a VAM Morgan dollar? It is a group of special die varieties that are extremely appealing to coin collectors. "VAM" is an acronym of the names of the numismatists that discovered and documented the variety coins, Van Allen and Mallis.

Each different variety is identified by a number. Another less well-known 1888-O variety is the "Shooting Star," VAM 7A.

The 1888-O "Scarface" Morgan Dollar

1888-O Morgan silver dollar, "Scarface" variety.

The "Scarface" Morgan dollar was caused by an obverse die break that starts at the upper-left edge, near the dot between the E and PLURIBUS. The crack runs diagonally down and to the right, making a "scar" across the nose and cheek of Liberty. The length and depth of the crack/scar can vary, depending on how close the die was to failing completely when the coin was struck. This variety is catalogued as VAM 1B.

The 1888-O "Hot Lips" Morgan Dollar

1888-O doubled die obverse "Hot Lips" Morgan silver dollar variety.

The "Hot Lips" Morgan dollar displays a heavy die doubling that is most pronounced on Liberty's lips. On some examples, a complete second set of lips can be seen over the original top lip. This coin was a large factor in taking collecting Morgan dollar varieties mainstream. It is classified as VAM 4.

What Is a "Doubled Die"?
Coin dies are made by impressing the design into the die using a die hub. Until very recently, it took several impressions to completely transfer the design onto the die.

If the die shifted slightly during this process, you could get a second, offset impression of the design. If the error isn't caught and the dies put to use, the resulting "doubled" design was transferred to the coins made with it.

How Much Is an 1888-S Morgan Silver Dollar Worth?

1888-S Morgan silver dollar.

Only 657,000 1888-S Morgan dollars were struck at the San Francisco Mint. This low mintage makes the coin relatively scarce compared to the Philadelphia and New Orleans Morgans struck the same year (not counting the "Scarface" and "Hot Lips" varieties).

Advice on Buying 1888 Morgan Silver Dollars

With several well-known varieties such as Scarface and Hot Lips, the 1888 silver dollar is an important target for collectors. This means that prices for the highest-graded coins will likely continue to rise.

One strategy is to pursue raw (ungraded) coins or simply lower-graded coins. This helps coin collectors to fill in holes in their collection without breaking their budget. You can always upgrade to a better condition coin later on in your collecting journey.

Another collecting strategy is to cherry-pick coins from auctions, bank rolls of silver dollars, or the bargain bin at your local coin dealer. Cherry-picking means searching carefully for the best coins. It's somewhat akin to searching for a "diamond in the rough" (or a "needle in a haystack"), but even just one good find can make the time spent worth it!

Find More Information at Gainesville Coins

You can find information and price charts for every Morgan dollar mintage in the Gainesville Coins coin library. This resource isn't just for Morgan dollars. Our coin library has mintage history and price guides for everything from old pennies to $20 gold Double Eagle pre-1933 gold coins.

When you're ready to buy (or sell), look to Gainesville Coins for good prices and great service!

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