1892-S

Within the 1892 Liberty Double Eagle triad, the San Francisco strike carries the everyday weight of the year. Philadelphia produced just 4,523 business strikes that year, an instantly prohibitive figure for most collectors, while Carson City's 27,265 output sits in Tier 4 of Doug Winter's CC rarity rankings and remains broadly available in circulated grades. That funnels nearly all serviceable date-set demand toward the SF coin, which slots cleanly between its 1891-S (1,288,125) and 1893-S (996,175) neighbors in the Type 3 production curve. Strikes from this stretch of San Francisco output tend to display fully rendered stars, sharp Liberty hair detail, and the bold reverse motto definition typical of the well-tuned Type 3 dies.

Population data reflects a coin that survived the melts but rarely climbed the grading ladder. PCGS reports roughly 174 mint-state submissions against a total population near 2,648 across all grades, a ratio consistent with Winter's observation that most San Francisco Type 3 issues become scarce above MS63 and genuinely difficult in MS65 or finer. The auction record sits at $47,000, paid at Heritage on August 2, 2012, for an NGC MS66 example. Below gem, market liquidity is steady: AU and lower-mint-state pieces appear in major sales regularly, anchored to bullion sensitivity rather than absolute condition rarity.

The Saddle Ridge Hoard, unearthed by a Sierra Nevada couple in February 2013 and authenticated by PCGS later that year, contained 178 examples of this date, several at quality levels exceeding anything previously recorded. Three pieces graded PCGS MS65+ now hold Finest Known standing, and Saddle Ridge pedigree examples carry a documented premium when they reach auction. For collectors building a date run, CK-6580 functions as the accessible 1892 representative, completing the year alongside its rarer Philadelphia and Carson City counterparts. Broader minting context appears on the Liberty Head Double Eagle series history.