1846

The 1846 Seated Liberty Dollar runs to 110,600 pieces at the Philadelphia Mint, with production scaled back up from the 24,500-piece 1845 figure as silver-dollar coinage resumed at higher volumes. The 1846 carries the standard Christian Gobrecht obverse and the No Motto reverse that defines the series through 1865. The 1846 also marks the first year that the New Orleans Mint struck Seated Liberty Dollars, with the matched 1846-O issue catalogued separately, and the start of branch-mint Seated Dollar production that would continue intermittently through 1860.

Strike quality on the 1846 is generally above average for the date, with Liberty's head, the seated figure's drapery, and the eagle's central feathers coming up cleanly on most early-die-state coins. Most surviving 1846 Seated Dollars grade VF to AU from circulation in the late 1840s and 1850s, with PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and NGC populations clustering at EF and AU. Mint State examples are scarce above MS62 and condition rare at MS65 and above. The 1846 represents one of the more available mid-1840s Seated Dollars at mid-grade across the modern collector market.

The 1846 is a regular common date for the mid-1840s Seated Dollar group and a standard mid-grade pickup at modest premium above the most common Seated Dollar baseline. The 1846 pairs with the 1846-O as the matched first-year Philadelphia and New Orleans Seated Dollar production pair, with the New Orleans issue carrying the additional first-branch-mint significance. Authentication concerns center on cleaning, polishing, and rim damage from circulation; certified slabs from PCGS or NGC are the standard purchase route at higher grades. The Seated Dollar series is among the most actively researched nineteenth-century U.S. silver-dollar groups, with ongoing variety studies and pedigree research continuing to refine the modern understanding of die marriages, restrike attributions, and Mint production records. For the New Orleans Mint Seated Dollar history and the broader 1840s production context, see the Seated Liberty Dollar series history.