1888-S

San Francisco's 1888 eagle output was a workhorse delivery into Pacific Coast commerce, with 648,700 pieces struck during the mint's thirty-fifth year of operation. The issue carries a Type 2 With Motto reverse and reflects San Francisco's role as the West's hard-money clearinghouse, where eagles moved between banks, treasury accounts, and overseas trade rather than into hoards. That commercial use, repeated each year through the late 1880s, is precisely why mid-grade survivors of the 1888-S today look the way they do: well-circulated more often than not, with original-skin uncirculated examples standing out against a backdrop of cleaned and dipped coins.

For collectors, the 1888-S is best understood as a date that is plentiful in lower mint state but tightens dramatically a notch above. PCGS and NGC combined have certified roughly 1,596 pieces in MS62, but the count drops to about 439 in MS63 and only sixteen finer, with MS64 examples regularly bringing north of $5,000 when they appear at major auctions. Authentication for a Regular issue at this price tier centers on weight: a struck planchet should hover at 16.718 grams, and any meaningful deviation suggests a problem coin or a counterfeit. Look as well for the lighter, somewhat granular surfaces typical of San Francisco eagles of this era, and confirm the S mintmark sits cleanly above the word TEN on the reverse without tooling around the device.

Within the broader 1888 trio, the date sits in a useful middle position: more available than the modestly produced Philadelphia issue, less storied than the New Orleans return-to-production strike, and dependable as a type representative for collectors building a date set or a single high-grade example of San Francisco's late-1880s eagle work. Type collectors gravitate to MS62 examples for their balance of cost and originality, while specialists chase the few certified MS63s with truly clean fields. Additional historical context, year-by-year comparisons, and design notes are available in the Liberty Head Eagle series history.