By 1877, the silver industry was booming. George Morgan and William Barber created
many new motifs in anticipation of Congress' upcoming passage of the Bland-Allison
Act, ordering the production of a new silver dollar coin, the first since the 1873 Liberty
Seated Dollar. The new designs were to be tested out on half dollars.
The design ultimately selected was the J-1510. The images on this page are shown
courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution, Numismatic Collection.
