Most collectors cannot complete a Seated Liberty half dollar collection. However, in lower grades, many can come close. And, along the way, they are likely to have a lot fun learning the story of this
coin.The Seated Liberty half dollar was introduced in 1839, its design being still something of a work in progress. The new design by Christian Gobrecht was of a seated figure of Liberty. It would be redesigned the following year to include a fold of drapery from Liberty’s left elbow.
The 1839 “no drapery”
is the more valuable of the 1839s, with prices starting at $38 in Good-4 and
rising to $4,500 in Mint State-60. This mint-state value is 10 times higher than
the “with drapery” type. There proved to be more surprises in 1840. The 1840 reverse came with small letters, or the medium-size letters used on the 1838 Bust half dollar. It was an indication that even though the Mint had made significant strides in modernization by the 1840s, some of the old practices could still sneak in.
The 1840 with the 1838 reverse lettering is much tougher. In G-4 it brings $125. The regular 1840 is just $23. In MS-60 the 1838 reverse is $2,900, as compared to the regular 1840 at $575.
It is also worth noting that in higher grades the 1838 reverse is virtually unavailable. Recent grading service population totals show only one example in MS-65.
The 1840-O was the first New Orleans half dollar. However, with a mintage of 855,100, it has survived in decent numbers, keeping a G-4 at $23 and an MS-60 (in which grade O-mint issues are frequently tough) at $430.
The first half of the 1840s witnessed an assortment of varieties, including the 1842-O with a small date. It is priced at $650 in G-4. Another collectible variety is the 1844-O doubled date at $500 in G-4. There are a couple others that command premiums, making the coins of the 1840s part of a group of half dollars that may not be easy to acquire.
The year 1846 had an unusually large number of varieties. But none of these compare with the 1847/1846, which is very scarce, as seen in its G-4 price of $2,000. In fact, it is not even priced in any grade above Extremely Fine-40, because it is virtually unknown in upper grades.
The California gold discovery created an unsettled situation in the metal markets. By 1850 the price of creating silver coins reached a point where the coins cost more to produce than their face value. These coins became a prime target of hoarding.
The government was somewhat slow to react. The first step was to introduce a 75 percent silver three-cent piece in 1851, but it was not enough to solve the problem. Faced with higher costs and continued hoarding, the Mint began to lower mintages.
Based on mintages, it appears that 1850 was the year when things started to change. The 1850 Seated Liberty half dollar’s production was just 227,000 pieces, which was much lower than normal. The 1850-O, however, had a mintage of 2,456,000. So the mintage decline was not universal.
High prices for New Orleans dates of the 1840s and 1850s in top grades reflect the fact that there was virtually no saving of New Orleans coins at the time they were released. New Orleans was a busy transportation center, but it was not a hub of coin collecting. The 1850-O is a good date to illustrate this, as it has an MS-60 price of $650, contrasting with an MS-65 price of $9,000.
Around Philadelphia there was a small band of collectors who acquired new issues, but New Orleans lacked such a collecting group. Also, for those in other parts of the country, there was no good way to acquire new issues from a far away place, like New Orleans.
Many collectors simply collected by date. It wasn’t until sometime after Augustus Heaton released his Treatise on Mint Marks, in 1893, that collectors turned to mintmark collecting. As a result, the seemingly common 1850-O half dollar is tougher in top grades than might otherwise be expected.
Lower mintages were seen in New Orleans and Philadelphia in 1851. The Philadelphia half dollar mintage in 1851 was down to 200,750, or roughly half the New Orleans total. It appears, however, that the 1851 may have been heavily melted, as it lists for $425 in G-4, as opposed to $37 for an 1851-O in the same grade.
Collector’ influence, however, is seen in the fact that the 1851, though very tough in circulated grades, lists for $1,950 in MS-60. This price is high, but it suggests the 1851 can be found. Mintages continued to decline in 1852.
The Philadelphia Mint produced 77,130 half dollars, while New Orleans was down to 144,000. That makes the 1852 a $400 date in G-4 and $1,650 in MS-60. The 1852-O is $100 in G-4. But it reflects the lack of saving for New Orleans issues with a price of $1,850 in MS-60, a higher price than the lower mintage 1852.
The situation in 1853 was fascinating. By that time many knew that a size reduction for the minor silver coins was coming and in all probability the mints were basically stalling on coin production, waiting for the new law to take effect.
The new 1853 half dollars had arrows at the date and rays around the eagle on the reverse to denote the composition change. A small number of the New Orleans coins, however, were struck to the old weight. We do not know the actual mintage of the 1853-O “no arrows and rays” half dollar.
That mintage was apparently included in the 1853-O “arrows and rays” total, or not reported at all. What we do know is that a few 1853-O “no arrows and rays” half dollars were created and released. In relatively recent times there have been two sales of 1853-O “no arrows and rays” half dollars. The first was the 1979 sale of the J.W. Haseltine-Garrett Very Fine-20, which brought $40,000. In 1997 the Eliasberg Very Good-8 sold for $154,000. That price probably makes that coin the most expensive VG-8 of the United States. It also points to the extreme rarity of the 1853-O “no arrows and rays” half dollar.
The 1853-O “no arrows and rays” half dollar also illustrates the situation in New Orleans. Had there been an active group of collectors, a nice example or two might have been saved. Instead we are left with worn examples of one of the nation’s more famous rarities.
Mintage totals for the new “arrows and rays” coins were high. Philadelphia produced 3,532,708 in 1853, while New Orleans added another 1,328,000 pieces. The high mintages mean higher supplies for today’s collectors, which should translate into lower prices. However, the 1853 and 1853-O “arrows and rays” half dollars remain in constant demand as popular one-year type coins.
The 1853 brings $1,700 in MS-60, compared to the $2,100 tag on the 1853-O. In MS-65 they both list at $21,500 in MS-65. In 1854 the rays were removed. This resulted in another new type for the Seated Liberty half dollar. This one lasted for two years.
During this period there was one very interesting and historic date: the 1855-S. The 1855-S was the first half dollar to emerge from the new San Francisco Mint, which began receiving deposits the year prior.
From the start, San Francisco was a place for gold coins. This was logical. The mint was in the heart of one of the largest gold discoveries in history, and the demand was for gold coins. Silver issues were needed, but the priority was clearly gold.
This helps to explain why the 1855-S half dollar had a mintage of just 129,950 and why it is so tough. Today it brings $250 in G-4.
Though this date and mint is tough in lower grades, it is nearly impossible in upper grades. The top listing is $6,000 in About Uncirculated-50, which makes sense. Prior to the appearance of a Superior offering of an Numismatic Guaranty Corp.-graded MS-67 at the 2002 Pre-Long Beach sale, no 1855-S Seated Liberty half dollar had ever received a grade of even MS-60 from any grading service.
Seated Liberty half dollars are not routinely seen in MS-67 and to have one surface for a date where no other coin had reached MS-60 was simply extraordinary. There are ultra grades, but this one MS-67 gave new meaning to the concept, as by at least eight points it stood as the top 1855-S Seated Liberty half dollar. To be the best coin of a given date by two or three points is unusual, but the gap in this case was more than double.
Beginning in 1856 the arrows at the date were removed. The design remained the same until 1866 and along the way saw a number of very interesting coins. San Francisco was a continuing source of better dates with low mintages. This was compounded by a lack of saving, leaving today’s specialists shaking their heads as to how to acquire nice San Francisco Seated Liberty half dollars from the 1850s and 1860s.
In 1861 the Civil War broke out and that produced an interesting coin in the form of the 1861-O. The 1861-O had a mintage of more than 2.5 million pieces, so it is not rare. The New Orleans Mint, however, did fall into the hands of pro-South Louisiana forces at the end of January 1861, and a couple months later was taken over by the Confederates. Records suggest that once it was no longer controlled by the United States, perhaps $200,000 in coins, probably half dollars, were minted before the dies wore down and metal supplies waned.
Also appearing at this time was a special Confederate half dollar of which four specimens were struck. They were presented to Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis, chief coiner Dr. B.F. Taylor, Prof. J.L. Riddell of the University of Louisiana and Dr. E. Ames of New Orleans. Any of the four would be a great rarity and that is seen in the $632,500 price realized by one sold by Stack’s in 2003.
The Confederate half dollar’s story took an interesting turn when the chief coiner sold the special reverse die to J.W. Scott & Co. of New York. This company promptly shaved off the reverses of 500 1861-O half dollars and used the original die to create 500 restrikes, along with another 500 tokens using the die and a special obverse. A VF-20 token brings more than $1,000, and the 1861-O half dollar with the special reverse brings roughly three times more.
A concern raised during the Civil War created a new type of Seated Liberty half dollar for 1866, as it had been decided to add “IN GOD WE TRUST” to all coins. That addition came in 1866, although not before San Francisco produced 60,000 1866-S half dollars without the motto. That makes those 1866-S “no mottos” half dollars tougher. They bring $90 in G-4 and $5,000 in MS-60.
The new “with motto” Seated Liberty half dollars would last until the middle of 1873. The most valuable of the type is the 1873 with an “open 3,” which lists for $2,200 in G-4. A more readily available date from the period catalogs at $18 in G-4 and $350 in MS-60, with an MS-65 priced at $4,500 for the 1873 with the “closed 3.”
Perhaps the most interesting group of regular dates from the period began in 1870 when the new facility at Carson City, Nev., began striking coins. Carson City would follow the pattern for new facilities with low mintages and very low numbers of coins saved by the public.
This makes any Carson City date of interest and frequently higher in price. The toughest coin is the mint’s first, the 1870-CC, which lists for $800 in G-4. Only the 1872-CC, at $100 in G-4, is not above the $100 level. In upper grades, the least expensive Carson City date of the type is the 1873-CC at $4,100 in MS-60.
After some of the 1873 mintage was completed, a slightly higher silver content was approved for dimes, quarters and half dollars in order to bring the coins in line with a metric standard. Arrows were placed at the date to mark the heavier coins.
Philadelphia and Carson City had already produced some of the 1873 coins without arrows. San Francisco did as well. But what makes the San Francisco 1873-S “no arrows” half dollar interesting is that not a single coin from the reported mintage of 5,000 pieces is known to exist. The likely reason for this is that the coins were melted prior to leaving the mint.
Arrows continued to appear on the half dollar through 1874, making this another short-lived type. In MS-60 the “with arrows” coins bring at least $850, almost twice the level of a more common earlier date. Meanwhile, any MS-65 “with arrows” lists for $12,750, nearly three times the MS-65 price of the 1873 “closed 3” half dollar.
For a few years after the arrows were removed, Seated Liberty half dollars seemed to have relatively normal mintages. Most of those dates are available. An MS-60 costs as little as $340. An MS-65 can be found for just $2,700.
After 1878, however, the situation changed. By that year, the nation was flooded with silver from the Comstock Lode. The arrival of the new Morgan dollar and its required mintages kept the mints busy. However, with so much silver around, it was possible for the Mint to go a number of years without producing any significant numbers of silver coins and that is what happened.
From 1879-1890 no Seated Liberty half dollar was produced outside the main facility in Philadelphia and even the Philadelphia coins frequently had mintages of less than 10,000 pieces with none above 13,000. It is remarkable, however, that many of the dates are available.
It can make for a stark contrast. For example, the 1878-S had a mintage of 12,000 and it is priced at $15,000 in G-4 and $52,500 in MS-60, while the 1888 had a slightly higher mintage and is priced at $280 in G-4 and $800 in MS-60. The difference is primarily that one date survived and the other did not.
The last Seated Liberty half dollar was released in 1891. The 1891 had a mintage of 200,600. This total, though low, was high enough to suggest it was released into circulation. This seems appropriate, as for most of its 50 years, the Seated Liberty half dollar had been a circulating coin. It was only right that it end its time in the same manner. This coin’s long history makes it a fascinating and important collection in any grade, but a collection well worth considering.
