That might be it, I really don't know. But silver eagles are pretty common too. If I show someone a Morgan dollar, their reaction might be, "That's nice." If I show someone a silver eagle, it's more like, "Is that for sale? Where do you buy them?"
I also prefer Silver Eagles. I think the Walking Liberty design is maybe the best looking American coin design (maybe even more than St. G; gasp!), I can acquire the entire set very cheaply, and I can get them all uncirculated, so there are minimal demands on my miniscule grading skills. Cloudsweeper, I assume that the people who are saying "that's nice" are not collectors. I think it's probably the collectors who respect the Morgan's place in numismatics, and who probably already have a collection of Morgan's to compare with.
It's more of the period as to which the Morgan Dollar was made. 120-80 years old and it gets a lot of attention. It's an Age-Old Beauty that glimmers brightly in silver and has a large area of radiance in which to show off all its glory. I think morgans are a nice coin to collect and are one of the more beautiful and more perfect designs for any U.S. coin priduced. I do think that the Walking Liberty Design is quite nice and elegant too. The only thing I have with that coin is the it is much more modern than the Morgan $ and will usually always have a nicer strike.
One, they are big. People tend to prefer big coins to small coins. Two they are silver. Silver is the most refeltive of all metals so the surfaces tend to be flashy. Three, They are OLD. Almost all Morgan dollars are over 100 years old now. Four, compared to modern coins the relief is high. This is very impressive visually. Five, the design is detailed. No large flat areas etc. Six, they are usually encountered in high grade. Most 100 years onld coins found are well worn. Seven, they are CHEAP compared to any other coin that meets the first six factors.
Think you hit the nail on the head with that. Just realized, all Morgans are more than 100 years old now, except for the 1921's...
