1872-S

The 1872-S Seated Liberty Dollar carries a 9,000-piece mintage at the San Francisco Mint, the resumption of standard S-mint Seated Dollar production after the legendary 1870-S unique-class rarity and 1859-S inaugural issue. The 1872-S carries the standard Christian Gobrecht obverse and the With Motto reverse that defines the Type 2 era from 1866 through 1873, with the S mintmark positioned below the eagle on the reverse. The small 9,000-piece production reflects limited San Francisco silver-dollar demand in the closing years of the Seated Dollar era, with most western silver bullion flowing toward subsidiary coinage and the new Trade Dollar that would replace the Seated Dollar in 1873.

Strike quality on the 1872-S varies, with examples showing the typical San Francisco Seated Dollar characteristics. Liberty's head and the eagle's central feathers come up cleanly on early-die-state coins. Most surviving 1872-S pieces grade VF to AU from circulation in Pacific Coast commerce, with PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and NGC populations clustering at VF and EF. Mint State examples are scarce above MS62 and genuinely rare at MS65 and above. The 9,000-piece original mintage produces a tight certified population concentrated in the VF and EF grade bands.

The 1872-S is classed as a regular date on this site but trades meaningfully above the common-date Seated Dollar baseline at every grade, with the small mintage supporting strong collector demand consistent with Semi-Key pricing in practice. The 1872-S pairs with the 1859-S and 1873-S as the matched San Francisco Seated Dollar subset, with the 1872-S as the most accessible of the small S-mint Seated Dollar group at mid-grade. Authentication concerns center on cleaning, polishing, and rim damage in the raw market; certified slabs from PCGS or NGC are the standard purchase route at all grade levels. For the San Francisco Seated Dollar production history and the 1872-S context, see the Seated Liberty Dollar series history.