1887-S

San Francisco struck 4,454,450 dimes in 1887, the largest S-mint dime delivery of the entire Seated Liberty run and a sharp departure from the three preceding S-mint Key years. The figure stands roughly twenty times the 206,524-piece 1886-S that immediately preceded it and roughly a hundred times the 43,690-piece 1885-S two years before. The shift reflects a step-change in West Coast working-stock demand as the bullion-driven contractions of the early 1880s eased and routine commercial dime supply returned to a normal trajectory. The coin is a Legend, No Arrows issue under the 1873 weight standard of 2.50 grams, with the S mintmark inside the wreath on the reverse, below the bow, in the standard placement used continuously since the 1856 resumption of S-mint dime production.

Strike quality on the year runs above the typical branch-mint baseline, with most surviving examples showing reasonable central detail on Liberty's head and the upper shield, and clean wreath veining on the reverse. The higher production volume and the return to routine working pressure produced a coin that arrives more consistently struck than the small-run S-mint issues of 1884-86 immediately preceding it. Survivors are common through Very Fine and Extremely Fine, where the coin did its working life on the West Coast through the late 1880s and 1890s, with About Uncirculated examples available at routine intervals and Mint State coins present in usable quantity through MS-64. MS-65 is the realistic upper tier for collectors, and the higher MS grades thin out in the expected way for a working-issue branch dime of this period. Authentication relies on the 2.50-gram weight, the 17.9-millimeter reeded edge, and the S mintmark placement; counterfeits exist but the premium over the Philadelphia issue is modest enough that fraud pressure is far below what the 1884-S, 1885-S, and 1886-S attract.

For a date-and-mint Seated Dime set, the 1887-S is one of the easier S-mint fills of the closing decade, with circulated examples through Very Fine routinely available and Mint State coins reachable at moderate cost. The Regular classification fits the issue accurately, even though a small premium over the parallel Philadelphia 1887 persists in the market from set-completion demand that runs broader than the high mintage might suggest. For the broader story of Gobrecht's design, the 1892 Barber Dime transition, and the series' production arc, see the Seated Liberty Dime series history.