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Seated Liberty Dollars

Published March 19, 2026

Dollars

Coin Design History

Seated Liberty Dollars (1840–1873)

Collectors Key Editorial  •  Dollar Series
Author NameChris D.Date PublishedMarch 19, 2026 DenominationDollar Years Issued1840–1873 DesignerChristian Gobrecht Composition90% Silver, 10% Copper Weight26.73 grams (412.5 grains) Diameter38.1 mm EdgeReeded MintsPhiladelphia (no mark), New Orleans (O), San Francisco (S), Carson City (CC) TypesNo Motto (1840–1865); With Motto (1866–1873)

The Seated Liberty Obverse Carried Over From the Gobrecht Dollar; the Soaring Eagle Did Not

When the Seated Liberty dollar entered regular production in 1840, it retained the Gobrecht obverse in a slightly modified form: Liberty seated on a rock, a shield inscribed LIBERTY beside her, the date below, LIBERTY in the field above. What changed was the reverse. The soaring eagle that Titian Peale had designed for the Gobrecht dollar was set aside in favor of a heraldic eagle derived from a design by John Reich first used on silver coins in 1807. The new reverse eagle holds arrows and an olive branch, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA arcs above, and the denomination ONE DOLLAR below. Stars circle the eagle. The combination of Gobrecht's Liberty and Reich's heraldic eagle produced a coin of considerably more formal character than the Gobrecht dollar, and one better suited to the sustained production demands of a major denomination. The same obverse and reverse template would serve, with minor modifications, for the entire 33-year production run.1

The series divides cleanly into two types at 1866. The No Motto type (1840-1865) carries no religious inscription on the reverse. Following the advocacy of Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, and after the motto appeared first on the two-cent piece, Congress authorized IN GOD WE TRUST on silver and gold coins; it was added to the Seated Liberty dollar from 1866 through the end of the series in 1873. The motto appears on a ribbon above the eagle. Both types are approximately equivalent in overall scarcity and price at comparable grades, though the No Motto type is generally considered the more sought-after by type collectors because of its longer run and the historical context of the Civil War years through which it circulated, however rarely.2

The Dollar Was Struck for 33 Years and Seldom Circulated for Most of Them

The Seated Liberty dollar had a chronic problem: it rarely circulated. Gold rushes in California raised the market price of gold relative to silver, making silver dollars worth slightly more than their face value in gold, which sent them into vaults, hoards, and the export trade rather than daily commerce. The Civil War suspended specie payments entirely from 1862 onward, and greenback paper currency handled most transactions; silver coins disappeared from everyday use for the duration. Coinage continued at the Philadelphia Mint throughout, and at New Orleans from 1846 through 1851 and again in 1859-1860, primarily to be stored rather than circulated. San Francisco began production in 1859 as Nevada silver enriched the supply. Even after the resumption of specie payments in 1879, the dollar's role in daily commerce had been permanently diminished. A coin series that ran from 1840 to 1873 produced roughly a third of its total output in the single year 1872 alone, most of it held in vaults rather than spent.3

The Carson City Issues Are Four Dates, Low Mintages, and Among the Most Pursued Short Sets in the Series

The Carson City Mint opened in 1870, positioned to process silver from Nevada's Comstock Lode, and the Seated Liberty dollar was the first coin it struck: 2,303 pieces paid to a depositor on February 11, 1870. The CC issues run only four dates, 1870 through 1873, with combined production of fewer than 18,600 coins across all four years. Every Carson City Seated Liberty dollar is a genuine rarity in circulated grades; Mint State examples are exceptional rarities for any of the four dates and approach impossible at Gem (Mint State 65 or finer) levels. The 1873-CC, struck at the end of production under the Coinage Act of 1873, was subject to immediate melting of surviving inventory under that legislation, and extremely few examples are known. Carson City dollar collecting is an advanced specialty with a dedicated following that treats the four-coin set as one of the prestige goals of the broader series.4

The 1870-S Has 12 Known Survivors and No Official Mint Record

The most famous coin in the series has no documented production. Official Mint records do not record any silver dollars struck at San Francisco in 1870. Contemporary accounts and subsequent investigation suggest that the Mint Director reported a single complete set of coins being placed in the cornerstone of the new San Francisco Mint building when its foundation was laid in 1870. That one cornerstone coin could account for one survivor. The existence of approximately 12 known examples, some in circulated grades indicating actual use rather than ceremonial preservation, indicates that additional coins were struck and released or distributed informally. The full circumstances have never been established from surviving documentation.5

The 12 known survivors span a wide range of grades, from pieces showing significant wear to the single finest known, a PCGS Mint State 62, which is the only Mint State example documented. The coin passed through the collections of Colonel E. H. R. Green and James A. Stack before its sale at Stack's, May 2003, Rudolph Collection, lot 2136, for $1,092,500. Examples appear at auction on average roughly once every two years; there have been intervals as long as six years between appearances. The 1870-S is broadly excluded from the standard date-and-mint set by specialist convention, treated as a separate prize rather than a required component of a complete set. Whether the cornerstone coin itself has ever been sold, examined, or authenticated is unknown; the building was demolished in the 1890s.6

The Seated Liberty dollar is the denomination that defined the republic's aspirations and contradicted its commerce simultaneously. Every year from 1840 to 1873, the Mint produced coins of this type; almost every year, most of those coins went into vaults, export, or hoards rather than cash registers and payrolls. The collector who wants to engage with this series engages with that history directly: the scarcity of circulated examples, the relative abundance of uncirculated survivors from Treasury distributions, the mystery of coins like the 1870-S that exist without authorization, and the four Carson City dates that document a mint working at the western edge of the country with small equipment and enormous raw material. These are not incidental features of the series. They are the series.

Building the Set

A type set requires two coins: one No Motto (1840-1865) and one With Motto (1866-1873). For the No Motto type, the most practical choices are the New Orleans issues of 1859 or 1860 or later Philadelphia dates such as 1860 or 1861, which are more available in attractive circulated grades than the earlier dates. For the With Motto type, the high-mintage Philadelphia issues of 1871 and 1872 are the standard entry points. A complete date-and-mint set is achievable excluding the 1870-S, which most specialists treat as a separate collecting target; assembling even the achievable dates in Very Fine through Extremely Fine requires sustained search because original, problem-free examples with undamaged surfaces are genuinely hard to locate throughout the series. The Carson City four-coin set is a recognized subspecialty. The controlling specialist references are Bowers, Q. David, and Borckardt, Mark, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia (Wolfeboro, NH: Bowers and Merena Galleries, 1993), and Bowers, Q. David, A Guide Book of Liberty Seated Silver Coins (Atlanta: Whitman Publishing, 2016).7

Notes

  1. The transition from the Gobrecht soaring eagle to the heraldic reverse based on Reich's 1807 design; the obverse description (seated Liberty, LIBERTY shield, date below, LIBERTY above); the reverse description (heraldic eagle with arrows and olive branch, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ONE DOLLAR, stars); and the use of both designs through 1873 are from Bowers, Q. David, and Borckardt, Mark, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia (Wolfeboro, NH: Bowers and Merena Galleries, 1993), pp. 680–750, and Bowers, Q. David, A Guide Book of Liberty Seated Silver Coins (Atlanta: Whitman Publishing, 2016), pp. 250–290.
  2. The No Motto type (1840-1865) and With Motto type (1866-1873); Treasury Secretary Chase's advocacy; the motto's prior appearance on the two-cent piece; the congressional authorization for IN GOD WE TRUST on silver and gold coins; its placement on a ribbon above the eagle; and the approximate equivalence of both types in overall scarcity are from Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage (New York: Arco Publishing, 1966), pp. 175–210, and Bowers, Guide Book of Liberty Seated Silver Coins, pp. 250–310.
  3. The chronic absence of Seated Liberty dollars from everyday commerce; the market premium of silver over gold after the California gold rush causing hoarding and export; the Civil War suspension of specie payments from 1862; the mint distribution: Philadelphia throughout, New Orleans 1846-1851 and 1859-1860, San Francisco from 1859; and the concentration of production in 1872 are from Bowers and Borckardt, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars, pp. 680–800, and Taxay, U.S. Mint and Coinage, pp. 175–220.
  4. The Carson City Mint's opening in 1870 to process Comstock Lode silver; the first Seated Liberty dollar delivery of 2,303 pieces on February 11, 1870; the four CC dates (1870-1873) with combined production of fewer than 18,600 coins; the genuine rarity of all four dates in circulated grades; the exceptional rarity in Mint State; and the 1873-CC's extreme scarcity due to immediate melting under the Coinage Act of 1873 are from Bowers, Guide Book of Liberty Seated Silver Coins, pp. 310–380.
  5. The absence of any official Mint record for 1870-S dollar production; the contemporary account of a single set placed in the San Francisco Mint cornerstone foundation in 1870; the existence of approximately 12 known survivors, some in circulated grades indicating actual use; and the inability to establish the full circumstances from surviving documentation are from Bowers and Borckardt, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars, pp. 800–840, and Bowers, Guide Book of Liberty Seated Silver Coins, pp. 335–350.
  6. The 12 known survivors; the PCGS Mint State 62 as the only Mint State example and finest known; its pedigree through Green and Stack; the confirmed auction realization: Stack's, May 2003, Rudolph Collection, lot 2136, $1,092,500; the average appearance interval of roughly once every two years with known gaps of up to six years; the specialist convention of excluding the 1870-S from the standard set; and the uncertainty about whether the cornerstone coin has ever been examined are from Bowers, Guide Book of Liberty Seated Silver Coins, pp. 335–350, and specialist documentation in Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars.
  7. The type set recommendation (No Motto: 1859-O, 1860-O, or similar; With Motto: 1871 or 1872 Philadelphia); the achievable date-and-mint set excluding the 1870-S; the Carson City four-coin subspecialty; the difficulty of finding problem-free original surfaces throughout the series; and the primary references are from Bowers, A Guide Book of Liberty Seated Silver Coins (Atlanta: Whitman Publishing, 2016), and Bowers and Borckardt, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia (Wolfeboro, NH: Bowers and Merena Galleries, 1993).

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