Expert: Jim Lawniczak - 8/18/2007

Question
I found a Silver Heritage Clock containing the following  , uncirculated Morgan silver coins.  (1) 1878 Silver dollar, (1) 1879 Silver dollar, (4) 1964 silver dimes,(4) silver quarters, (2) silver half dollars . The clock came with a paper describing the contents - Solid walnut case, mathced pattern clock, including the first issue of the Morgan Silver Dollar 1878 and may be registed thru the company of Marion Kay.It has a serial number engraved  This belonged to my grandfather and was purchased in 197O as a christmas gift. Can you tell me the value of this item or direct me to where I can find out more information on the value? Information on the clock itself with the coins or just the coins alone is helpful.  This item is in EXCELLENT CONDITION!

Answer
Wendy, it seems like sooner or later everything that isn't unique or really rare comes up for sale on the garage sale of the internet, www.ebay.com.  I did searches there for Heritage Clock (there were some but not yours) and Marion Kay clock (nothing) and clock Morgan dollars (again nothing).  You may want to try back later.  

If you go to www.google.com and do a search for Marion Kay clock, the first two listings are current eBay items that sound like yours but don't have the Morgan dollars (it has the 8 dimes, 2 quarters and 2silver halves).  Both are now selling for around.

The halves, dimes and quarters are probably only worth silver content -- a dollar of coins has about .71 ounces and silver is now selling at 11.80 per ounce, so that the ratio is about 8-1 (so a dime has about 80 cents of silver in it).

I don't know if you can tell if your Morgan dollars have mint marks (mint mark is on the reverse, under the wreath) -- the 1878 comes with CC and S mint marks (Carson City and San Francisco) and the 1879 comes with CC, O and S (O for New Orleans).   There are also 5 different varieties of 1878 defending on the tail feathors and style of reverse.  If you do a search on www.ebay.com for 1878 dollar; then 1879 dollar, lots should come up, they are very popular and many are offered all the time on eBay.

Hope this helped, Jim Lawniczak