The Liberty Seated Dollar series of the mid-19th century offers collectors numerous challenges and opportunities, particularly for those who have the patience – and pocketbooks – to pursue them. The Liberty Seated Dollar also provides affordable, easier-to-obtain opportunities for collectors who want a sample of this scarce and exciting series. How do you navigate the complexities of the Liberty Seated Dollar, and where do you even get started?
A Series of (Mostly) Scarcities
The Liberty Seated Dollar was designed by Christian Gobrecht and began in 1836 as a series of patterns that the U.S. Mint produced in fits and spurts for the remainder of the 1830s. Regular production began in 1840 and continued until 1873. Except for two dates that saw 1+ million strikes and a handful of issues that were struck into the six figures, most entries in the series favored production numbers of fewer than 50,000.
Production outputs for these coins offer little more than historical context, for the number of survivors of any given date tend to be a fraction of original mintages. Most dates are considered scarce to rare, and that is even more so the case when talking about high-end circulated and uncirculated specimens. The 1871 and 1872 dates remain among the most common to this day, but even these are scarce in the context of United States silver dollars as a whole.
Mid-Circulated Grades are Most Frequently Encountered
Liberty Seated Dollars tend to surface in grades ranging from Very Good to Extremely Fine. This isn’t a coincidence, but rather a function of the relatively limited circulation that silver dollars experienced versus coins of other denominations.
This isn’t to say that coins grading, for example, Good-4 are worth more than those in higher grades, or that you’ll be unable to land an uncirculated specimen. But if you’re looking for a “typical” or “average” specimen, you can hone your sights on specimens of the Liberty Seated Dollar in the mid-circulated grades.
Building a Set isn’t Easy
There’s no official poll to tell us who is buying Liberty Seated Dollars or what kinds of sets the majority of these coins end up landing in. But it’s safe to say that a large plurality of buyers are acquiring Liberty Seated Dollars for type sets that require only one or two specimens, the latter figure representing No Motto and With Motto subtypes.
Those who wish to build a date and mintmark set, buckle up for a long ride. Most collectors spend years, even decades, completing a set of Liberty Seated Dollars. Some of this is due to the sheer cost of assembling such a set, which can easily reach into the six figures for many collectors. But it’s not just price alone that stifles so many collectors. It’s also the daunting unavailability of certain issues, especially when reaching for many of the rarer dates in certain grades. The best advice for those who wish to buy Liberty Seated Dollars, regardless of the numismatic objective behind the purchase, is to take your time, do your research, and buy PCGS-graded examples you’ll be proud to own.