1893-S Morgan Silver Dollar sells for $1.18 million

A rare 1893-S Morgan Silver Dollar, known as the “King of Morgan Dollars,” sold for $1,181,250 at an unreserved auction held by GreatCollections in August 2026. The coin, graded PCGS MS-65 with CAC approval, set a new auction record for an 1893-S at that grade level. The final sale price was approximately 52% higher than the then-current PCGS Price Guide value of $775,000.

The specimen, referred to as the Clapp-Eliasberg coin, possesses a significant provenance. Its history includes ownership by Philadelphia dealer J. Colvin Randall in 1893, followed by the Clapp family, and later Louis E. Eliasberg Sr., who assembled a collection containing every U.S. coin by date and mint mark.

Scarcity is a primary driver of the coin's value. Only 100,000 1893-S Morgan dollars were produced at the San Francisco Mint. PCGS estimates that only 18 examples exist in MS-65 grade or better. The winning bidder, a collector from the Midwest, took delivery of the coin during the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money in Pittsburgh.