1882-S

The 1882-S, at 9,250,000 pieces, continued the strong San Francisco Morgan Dollar production pattern of the early 1880s and ranks among the cleanest-struck issues of the entire S-mint run. The Bland-Allison Act sustained Treasury silver purchases, and San Francisco's share of the year's four-mint output remained sized to commercial demand in the western states. The 1882-S carries the standard Reverse of 1879 hub configuration with no major sub-varieties anchoring the year's specialist collecting. The mintage figure sits just below the 1880-S and 1881-S levels but well above what the late-1880s S-mint output would deliver, anchoring the late-early-1880s S-mint abundance.

Strike quality on the 1882-S is exceptional and continues the 1879-1881 S-mint pattern of consistently sharp central detail. Liberty's hair, the eagle's central feathers, and the wreath all come up cleanly on most coins from early die states. Most surviving examples grade MS63 to MS66 from broken Treasury bag releases, with PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and NGC populations clustering at MS64 and MS65. MS66 examples are readily available and Deep Mirror Prooflike examples surface occasionally with mirror-like fields and frosted devices. The 1882-S extends the early-1880s S-mint pattern of strong strike quality and deep certified-pop availability that defined the program's opening years through the matched 1879-1882 trio.

The 1882-S is a regular common date and one of the easier Morgan Dollar acquisitions in MS65 across the entire series. Pricing has held flat for two decades at small premiums above the 1881-S baseline, with DMPL examples carrying modest variety-level premiums. The 1882-S pairs with the 1881-S and 1883-S at the entry-grade level for collectors building a high-grade S-mint Morgan run, though the 1883-S Semi-Key contrasts sharply with the abundant 1882-S in certified-pop terms. For the broader S-mint strike-quality pattern and the Bland-Allison Act production context, see the Morgan Dollar series history.