1887 Morgan Dollar

The 1887 Philadelphia, at 20,290,710 pieces, ran the highest single-year P-mint Morgan Dollar output of the late-1880s production schedule and one of the largest mintages in the entire series. The Bland-Allison Act of 1878 continued to obligate Treasury to purchase silver at fixed prices, and Philadelphia carried the bulk of the year's three-mint output as Carson City had effectively shut down Morgan Dollar production after 1885. The 1887-P carries the standard Reverse of 1879 hub configuration; the year's specialist collecting interest is anchored by the 7/6 overdate variety catalogued separately on this site under specific VAM listings.

Strike quality on the standard 1887 Philadelphia is consistent with late-1880s P-mint work. Liberty's hair detail and the eagle's central feathers come up cleanly on most coins from early die states. Most surviving examples grade MS62 to MS66 from broken Treasury bag releases, with PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and NGC populations clustering at MS64 and MS65. MS66 is widely available and MS67 represents a meaningful condition tier. Several Van Allen-Mallis varieties exist for the year, including doubled-die obverses, but most do not command material premiums outside specialist demand for the major listings on the Top 100 Morgan VAM register that defines collector-tier variety prices.

The 1887 Philadelphia is a regular common date and one of the standard recommendations for a high-grade P-mint Morgan Dollar at modest cost. Pricing has held flat for two decades at the lowest end of the series price band, tracking the broader 1885-1888 P-mint common-date baseline. The 1887-P pairs with the 1886-P and 1888-P as the late-1880s P-mint trio that defines the gem-grade Philadelphia entry pickup, with all three issues available in MS66 from post-1962 Treasury bag-release certified inventory. For the Bland-Allison Act production context and the broader 1885-1890 series history, see the Morgan Dollar series history.