1843 $1 MS(PCGS#6929)

Summer 2026 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Commissaire-priseur

Stack's Bowers

Numéro du lot

3159

Grade

AU55

Prix

3 050

Description du lot

Handsomely toned in blended olive-gray and pewter, both sides also reveal soft golden-apricot undertones as the coin rotates under strong lighting. Pleasingly smooth during in-hand viewing with universally sharp Choice AU detail throughout the design.<p>During most years in the 1840s a silver dollar was valued at $1.03 to $1.06 in terms of paper money, a small enough premium to allow these coins to circulate domestically, at least in theory. From its inception in 1794, however, the United States silver dollar had always been a completely anomalous coin. Although it had legal tender status in a bimetallic system, its bullion value had always exceeded its face value. Viewed only as so much bullion, the silver dollar was never able to circulate domestically in a meaningful way. The substantial size of these coins was another factor that made them unpopular in commerce, especially in the North and Midwest. As such, most Liberty Seated dollars of the 1840 to 1850 era were either held by, or traded between, banks, bullion brokers and exchange houses or, far more commonly, were used in the export trade. Europe was an important destination for these beginning in 1840 and continuing through the series' end in 1873, with Asian markets in China and India absorbing an increasing number of Liberty Seated dollars after 1842. Whereas U.S. silver dollars exported to Asia were accepted as bullion and melted, many of those that went to Europe during the 1840s returned to the United States later in the decade in payment for American goods, especially Southern cotton that was crucial to England's 19th century economy, in which it fueled the burgeoning textile industry that was a cornerstone of the British Industrial Revolution. This return trade explains why Liberty Seated dollar issues of this decade are (far) more plentiful than most of those struck in the 1850s and 1860s.<p>Along with the 1842, 1846 and 1847, the 1843 numbers among the most frequently encountered No Motto Liberty Seated dollars from the Philadelphia Mint. This crusty and originally preserved Choice AU survivor is sure to appeal to both type collectors and series specialists.