1859 $1 PR(PCGS#7002)

Summer 2025 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

6018

Grade

PR63

Price

5,040

Lot Description

The year 1859 represents the first in which the Mint recorded the number of Proof gold and silver coins struck. This was an important milestone on the path toward widespread marketing of Proof coinage begun by Mint Director James Ross Snowden in the late 1850s. The 1859 was also produced in far greater numbers than any Proof silver dollar issue that preceded it. Yet while 800 pieces were struck, this issue is much scarcer than the mintage might imply. Numismatic scholars believe that only 450 or so examples were actually distributed to contemporary collectors, the remaining specimens eventually disposed of through melting or, more likely, release into commercial channels (which for an 1859-dated silver dollar almost always meant export to Asia and eventual destruction through melting). Numismatics in the United States was still in its infancy in 1859, and the Mint would continue to overestimate demand for Proof coinage through the early 1860s. The Select specimen offered here is warmly toned with blushes of olive-blue iridescence to dominant steel gray patina. A pleasing survivor from this important period in U.S. Mint history, and sure to have no difficulty finding its way into an advanced cabinet.