1868-S

The 1868-S eagle marks the fifteenth year of San Francisco ten-dollar production and lands squarely in the post-Civil War stretch when western gold output cycled with bullion flows rather than circulating demand. Just 13,500 pieces left the dies, a mintage modest even by the standards of Reconstruction-era branch coinage and a fraction of the 12,000 to 25,000 figures that defined neighboring San Francisco eagles of the late 1860s. Within the With Motto subtype, this issue holds a slot among the genuinely scarce dates without quite reaching the rarity tier of the 1866-S Motto or 1867-S that sit immediately above it. Survival estimates from PCGS place roughly 75 to 150 examples extant across all grades, with no Mint State coins confirmed.

Authentication on a piece this scarce begins with the mintmark itself. The "S" sits below the eagle on the reverse and should match the punch profile used on other San Francisco eagles of the period; added or altered mintmarks are the chief deception risk on dates where a Philadelphia coin sells for one-tenth the value. Standard specifications hold the truth-line: 16.718 grams, 27 mm, and a specific gravity near 17.2 reflecting the 90-percent gold composition. Most genuine survivors show heavy commercial wear consistent with hard western use, and original surfaces on EF and AU coins typically display a deep orange-gold patina that resists the bright re-shine of recolored examples.

Collecting the date is fundamentally a hunt for upper-end circulated material. The PCGS and NGC populations show the bulk concentrated in VF through low AU, with AU55 and AU58 representing condition-census territory; a PCGS AU58 with CAC approval realized $18,213 at Heritage in July 2014, and similar coins traded near $17,625 and $16,450 in 2016. Series specialists assembling a date run of San Francisco With Motto eagles place the 1868-S among the harder slots to fill in problem-free condition, even where the date itself does not headline the want list. For period context, see the Liberty Head Eagle series history.