1876-S

San Francisco struck 10,420,000 dimes in 1876, a Centennial-year figure that pushed S-mint output past the 10-million mark for the first time and placed the branch within striking distance of the parallel 11.46-million Philadelphia delivery. The coin is a Legend, No Arrows issue under the 2.50-gram weight standard set by the Coinage Act of February 12, 1873, with the small S mintmark seated inside the wreath on the reverse. By 1876, the San Francisco dime program had been running for twenty years, and the branch was producing dimes at a scale that finally matched its quarter and half-dollar output. The 1876-S sits as a workhorse year in the late-S Seated dime run, neither distinguished by any policy event nor scarce in absolute terms, but rather characterized by the steady high-volume western production that defined the post-1873 era.

Strike quality runs broadly cleaner than the Carson City output of the same year, with full shield rivets, sharp wreath leaves, and respectable head detail on most examples. Where weakness appears, it lands on the lower drapery folds and the date numerals during late die states. Most survivors fall in Very Good through Extremely Fine, where the coin worked steadily through the Barber decades alongside the larger S-mint denominations. About Uncirculated examples are readily available, and Mint State pieces exist in usable numbers without becoming common above MS-64, where original luster and clean fields begin commanding meaningful premiums. Authentication is straightforward: the 2.50-gram weight, the 17.9-millimeter reeded edge, an S mintmark of the period (small, sometimes lightly punched, seated inside the wreath), and no arrows at the date. Altered-mintmark counterfeits are uncommon on issues of this mintage scale, since the genuine article trades close enough to type pricing that the alteration economics rarely work, but borderline pieces still benefit from PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, or NGC, the Numismatic Guaranty Company, attribution on premium grades.

For collectors, the 1876-S is a comfortable date-and-mint fill at every circulated grade level and a reachable Mint State pickup for set collectors willing to wait for the right strike. The coin's market behavior tracks type pricing through Extremely Fine and steps up only modestly above MS-63. For the broader story of Gobrecht's design and the series' late production, see the Seated Liberty Dime series history.