Lot 1613
1859-S Liberty Seated Dollar. PCGS graded MS-63. In PCGS holder 10749393. Cream color. Lightly toned and frosty. This is easily one of the most attractive and desirable '59-S seated dollars we as auctioneers have ever sold. For starters, this coin is fully Mint State and free of even the lightest suggestion of rub. As such, the surfaces retain full, satiny mint luster whose vibrancy is readily appreciable in the virtual absence of toning. The strike is also praiseworthy, inasmuch as it is sharp and free of the softness of detail often associated with the few Mint State examples known of this issue. While a few light abrasions are seen, none stand out in the context of the Mint State 63 designation. A gorgeous, brilliant-looking rarity, therefore, with only a few traces of golden iridescence here and there at the rims. Pop 7; none finer. (PCGS # 6948) .
A historic issue, the 1859-S is the first seated dollar struck in the Old San Francisco Mint. It is also the only S-mint issue in the No Motto Seated Dollar series, and for that matter, one of just three San Francisco Mint deliveries in the entire series. The '59-S was produced solely for export to Asia. Indeed, survivors of this 20,000-coin delivery are so elusive in today's market that virtually the entire mintage must have been shipped to the Far East. Once there, the coins were melted because they were lighter than the Mexican 8 Reales that Asian merchants favored at that time. Very few were retained stateside, and even fewer escaped the melting pot once exported. This, then, is one of the scarcest issues in the entire Seated Dollar series, and it is a significant condition rarity in all Mint State grades.
Beginning in 1840, the United States mints struck silver dollars for commercial use for the fist time since the early 18th century. 1840 also marks the beginning of the seated Liberty dollar series, a type whose basic design closely resembles that of the 1836-1839 Gobrecht dollar. The seated dollar, however, displays several differences in the obverse portrait, these being attributed to the Philadelphia artist Robert Ball Hughes. The reverse of the coin is markedly different than that of the Gobrecht dollar, the former coin adopting the traditional spread-wing eagle with shield in conformity with the quarter dollar and half dollar. From 1840 through 1865, the seated dollar did not include the motto IN GOD WE TRUST as part of the reverse design.
Estimated Value $25,000 - 27,000.
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