George Morgan's first prototype dollar using the image of Anna Williams. The first prototype has rounded "fanshaped" wing attachments to the eagle's torso. It is essentially a copy of the 1877 half dollar J1509/P1663 in dollar size. Research of mint archives by Roger Burdette shows that at least 50 pieces of J1550A and J1550 were struck between December 1, 1877 & January 2, 1878. They comprise 4 obverse and either 2 or 3 reverse dies to produce 4 varieties of this type as follows: J1550A-J1550B/P1723-P1724 in silver and copper. On this, the tip of Liberty's neck is centered between star one and the "1" in the date and the wheat ear points past the left edge of in the "R" in "Pluribus". Silver J1550A/P1723 with over a dozen known including one in the Smithsonian. Copper J1550B/P1724 with a half dozen known including one in the Connecticut State Library which is believed to be this variety. J1550A-J1550B/P1725-P1726 in silver and copper. This is the illustrated example courtesy of RARCOA and is believed to be the first of the 4 designs listed. Click on the thumbnail image to enlarge. It has the tip of Liberty's neck closer to star one and the wheat ear points to the left edge of the "R" in "Pluribus". Morgan's initial "M" is raised on Liberty's neck instead of incuse. Silver J1550A/P1725 with about 2 dozen known including examples in the Smithsonian, ANS and Durham Museum. Copper J1550B/P1726 with a half dozen known. Overall there are some 3 dozen of these in silver and just over a dozen in copper. The second prototype has the so-called "notched" wing reverse design as shown below. J1550-J1551/P1727-P1728 in silver and copper. On this obverse, the wheat ear is distant from the "R" in "Pluribus" and the third leaf virtually touches the "I" as on the illustration below as illustrated below courtesy of Michael S. Fey, Ph.D. Silver J1550/P1727 with 6 or 7 known. Copper J1551/P1728 with 7 confirmed. J1550/P1727A in silver. This is not in Pollock and was recently the subject of an article in the February 17th edition of Coin World. According to Michael S. Fey, PhD., whose example is the one illustrated below, "It has a polished down wheat leaf below the R, polished L in LIBERTY on the head band, polished bottoms to several letters in PLURIBUS and UNUM, and doubled cotton blossoms and leaves." Two other examples, the Bowers and Merena's 5/93 sale lot 2422 and Bowers and Merena's 11/95 lot 2308 await confirmation as to whether or not they are from the same dies as the illustrated piece or are from yet another obverse die. We have called these J1550-J1551/P1728A-P1728B in the pattern concordance. Photo courtesy of Michael S. Fey, Ph.D. Reverse photos courtesy of Bowers and Merena.