I found a great source for Morgan Dollars (no, They re not Silver, and they are "replicas") but a spectator would have to look extremely close to notice any difference (not that most spectators would even know a "real" Morgan Dollar if it hit them in the head...

YEAH,I found them foe dirt cheap, almost peanuts....

Hate to tell you this, but we all already knew the secret. Glad you finally found out!

I was in a c-store sometime ago and I heard the distinct sound of silver clinking against silver. I followed the sound and found a man trying to sell the clerk a stash of Morgan and Peace dollars. I own some replicas, they work good with a magnetic holdout, but they don't have the right sound.

They are great for practice.

I bought mine here on the Café. The seller was a great guy to deal with.

The ones I got an Xbay look and sound great. A bargain.

WHAT? You mean to tell me you guys knew the secret of getting replica morgans on Ebay for cheep, and you didn't let anyone else know? I'm hurt and mortified and disappointed. I never did any dollar coin work, worked mostly in halves ( I guess now I have to find the secret myself about shells to fit them huh?)

Ok I feel I need to ask this as I am not a "coin" guy although do some coin work but never had the need to get Morgans

whats the big deal with them?

why no just 50cent pieces?

what makes the morgan so special other then being silver and possibly expensive?

thanks
sam

I've been pushing forth the magnificence of Ebay for Morgan Dollars here for the last six months. It really is the best place to buy them, if you are picky about what you want. Not only can you shop for a good price, you also can only bid on stuff with really good pictures, and get precisely the amount of wear/softness you want. All it takes is patience. Nobody but magician's want the worn old gals, they want the rare issues and the minty lookin' ones, so the ones I'm after fall into the cheapest pricing category.

Larger coins have a larger impact on an audience. It seems easy to make a quarter vanish, harder to vanish a half dollar, and darn near impossible-looking with a large Morgan Dollar. This reason alone is enough reason for me. Tricks using Morgans just feel....bigger!

These things cost aroun 20$ a pop these days. Magician's spend 20$ in lumps all the time on other stuff, and with Morgan Dollars, you at least have the built in investment safety-net of the darn things being entirely precious metal. You might not be able to move your thumb-tips down the road, and your new fangled hottest card trick might not be worth the paper it's printed on in ten years time, but Morgan Dollars are a pretty safe bet.

And- they are the best looking American coins, in my opinion. Taste counts with me. They are beautiful...especially worn.

Only you can answer that, my friend! Ask 10 different people why they prefer dollars to halves and you'll likely get a good variety of answers, though some portions of the answers will run along the same lines.

Yes, I know even replica morgans look great and are very very visual....no question,

Now, one final Question how about an inexpensive (I know very subjective) but an inexpensive Morgan shell (Impossible?)

Yeah, I'd say a decent, inexpensive actual Morgan sh**l is not going to be possible. Tango will run you 120$ish. Sleight-of-Hand can do it for you cheaper!

Yeah, you are right about that....when all else fails go back to the original, not necessarily the easiest but the original

Mark Mason has cheap Morgan shells at jbtv. £65 in English money.

The last Morgan dollar was made in 1921. It seems quiet accceptable to me that audiences do not see the difference between a fake and a real coin.
The people who remember holding them are probably almost dead or blind. The others might not care, but somebody might ask you, where you found nicely shaped coins. Are you gonna answer: they are just cheap Chinese Morgan dollars, they should have been sliver, but I found it too expensive, I am just magician? Wow impressive! What surprises me in this topic is that everyone admits using these fake coins, or thinks it is normal, while as soon as a knock off-illusion topic starts everybody jumps on it to talk about the ethics.
You have the opportunity of showing people a peace of history.Instead of imitating it you have the duty to reserve it.
If you cannot afford them, buy something else...
I think if you use just cheap knock off coins, you are just a cheap knock off magician to...

Just my five cents (wish they were 5 original Morgan dollars)

Five cents? I think you're putting too much value on your advice

While I personally only use fakes for practice, I have no objection to a magician using them for performance, so long as it doesn't detract from the performance. Since almost everything a magician does is illusion, using a knock-off coin would actually be consistent. Knock-off magic is quite another matter, as they literally steal ideas from other magicians without advancing our art.

Regards,

Alan

Wow, as if the normal (hmmm) has a clue about the difference between a real Morgan Dollar or a fake..Come on guys..I mean really, Most spectators even think its sacrilegious to sign a playing card they think and I quote "Wow, you will ruin a whole deck of cards just to do one trick" so they don't know the difference between a fake Morgan or a real one, just like they have no idea between a 64 kennedy half or one from another year....

Sorry, have to disagree with you there. Real silver "rings" a certain way that is noticeable. Everything else kind of "clanks". Check out the Roth videos if you don't believe me. You can really hear the coins clearly on those videos. If sound weren't a problem I'd agree with you. I have both worn and shiny fake Morgans (and one m******c fake Morgan) and they are incredibly realistic looking.

Regards,

Alan

Alan,

True, the 64 Kennedy halves ring nicer to us coin jockeys, but I must agree with Obsidian52 in this case. I don’t know anyone who carries or handles half dollars of any kind, and I don’t know of anyone younger than, say, 35 or 40 who has even ever held a half dollar coin in their hands!

Most people would not know from the "ring" the difference between a silver half and a clad half! If you had some of both and asked them to carefully listen to them maybe they'd notice the difference. But for the most part people do not know what half dollar - or dollar - coins sound like. Or feel like. Or even what the heck they look like up close!

Unless of course you just happen to perform your magic in retirement homes.

Jim