1873-S Seated Liberty Dollar

700 Seated Liberty dollars were struck at San Francisco in 1873. None are confirmed to survive. The entire mintage is believed to have been melted, making the 1873-S a phantom issue: a coin that was produced, documented, and destroyed.

One specimen may have escaped. In 1874, the San Francisco Mint sent one Seated Liberty dollar (along with one half dollar and 33 half dimes) to Philadelphia for the annual Assay Commission weighing and testing. When it came time to melt the tested coins, the Assay Committee noted "not enough to melt" and passed on destroying the group. That single dollar may still exist somewhere, its current location unknown. If the Assay Commission specimen were ever identified and authenticated, it would be one of the most valuable coins in existence, a unique survivor from a mintage of 700 that otherwise vanished entirely.

The 1873-S joins a small group of American coins where the entire mintage was destroyed: the 1964-D Peace dollar (316,076 struck, all melted) and the 1933 double eagle (445,500 struck, nearly all melted by order of the government). Unlike those coins, no collector has ever held a confirmed 1873-S Seated Liberty dollar.