By Dennis Hengeveld

Collecting seated coins can be fun, rewarding, and above all very challenging. Not many people can afford both the time and cost to search, find, and have the opportunity to buy the hard to find coins which are included in every seated series due to the many dates and mintmarks included in the series. Examples could be the 1878-S half dollar and various Carson City coins. These coins, “stoppers” as they are called, are expensive and very hard to find, often causing collectors to fail in their final goal of completing a series they have specialized in for a long time.

Although I love seated coins, as a 19 year old I just can’t afford to complete any of the seated series in the grades I like, mainly AU50 to MS64 or higher in as original condition as I can find them. Of course, I might be able to buy those coins later in my life but I am not really the person who has the patience to buy coins for a set I know won’t be complete within an acceptable period time (“acceptable” for me is 8-10 years).

As you might guess, I had to find a solution. So, after buying my first certified seated coin (and my first seated coin anyway), which happened to be a wonderful and very original PCGS MS64 1871 Half Dime, I decided to try a very complete type set, with every single type in there (including coins with different weights but the same design). After buying my second Half Dime (1843 PCGS MS63 which after studying proved to be V-6a, the well-known repunched date) before buying any other seated coin, I got hooked to that series.

Yet, I already knew that the series was not possible to complete in both the time period in those grades I had in mind. So I searched for other solutions, with one of them described in this article: collecting the date-set; each date just one time without paying attention to mint marks. This technique is affordable and possible to complete, even for me with a limited budget.

In this article, all seated series, with the exception of the 20-cent series and the Trade Dollar (a series I personally do not consider a real seated type coin), are discussed. The 20-cent series is relatively easy but not fun to complete with only two business strike dates. Thus, for now, it is not included in this article. I will shortly describe the coins in the set and the difficulty of completing a date-set. For the first series of the seated type, this article will start with the highest denomination in the series, the Silver Dollar.

Collecting Seated Silver Dollars by Date-Only

The largest Silver denomination ever struck in the United States for circulation is the well known Silver Dollar. In the seated series, besides being the largest coin in both diameter (38.1 mm) and weight (412.5 grains and a silver fineness of .900), it is also the shortest series of the seated type. Excluding the Gobrecht Dollars which were first struck in 1836, these were first struck in 1840. Although technically the Gobrecht Dollars are not patterns (but there is a raging debate among dollar experts on this), I’ve decided not to include them here due to the extreme rarity and the few issues. Three years after the completed and “final” design was first used on half dimes and dimes, the first Liberty Seated Silver Dollars were struck at the Philadelphia Mint. Together with the 2 cent, 3 cent and half dime (see below) pieces, it was discontinued by the Coinage Act of February 12, 1873 . In 33 years, coins of this type were minted at the Philadelphia, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Carson City Mints, creating several rare dates but, also for the date-only collector, possibilities to choose from fitting their budget.

The first five years of its life, the Liberty Seated Dollar was solely struck at the Philadelphia Mint, giving any collector a limited choice. The first branch Mint issue is the 1846-O with a mintage of 59,000 pieces, which in very low grades does not command too much premium over a “common” Philadelphia Mint coin. In higher grades, this certainly is an issue the collector should choose to include in his collection as the first Silver Dollar struck at any branch Mint.

The next few years again were not minted at the New Orleans Mint (the only branch Mint for silver coins in use at the time as both Charlotte and Dahlonega limited their production to gold coins), so there is a limited choice again. In 1850, the New Orleans Mint again struck silver dollars in good quantities, with the result that lower grade pieces now actually will cost less than their Philadelphia counterparts. In higher grades though, most collectors will choose to include a Philadelphia Mint in their collection to save money for other coins. Two of those most important other coins are the stoppers for the one-per-date (as NGC calls the sets at their registry) sets. Very limited mintages at the Philadelphia Mint and no branch Mint coins in 1851 (1,300 original pieces) and 1852 (1,100 original pieces) cause these dates to be the most difficult to find. Nice EF-AU pieces certified by any of the top grading company’s will cost anything from $12,500 up to $30,000. Restrikes exist in proof only, but will cost the same as any original issue in both circulation strike and proof format.

The scenario of no branch Mint silver dollars again occurs until 1859, when a new branch Mint opened in 1854 starts to strike silver dollars: the San Francisco Mint. These issues could be easily ranked with the San Francisco issue the scarcest, being rare in full Mint state. The Philadelphia issue comes in second, and surprisingly, the New Orleans issue is the most common of the trio until MS64. In full gem, the Philadelphia issue is more common because more coins from that Mint were saved by collectors who bought them at the Mint or at banks in the area. The 1858 was only struck in proof format with a total mintage of approximately 300 pieces. Of course, every collector should choose what to include in their collections, but in the author’s opinion, a normal circulation strike set does not need to include the rare and expensive 1858.

The New Orleans Mint struck silver dollars for the last time in 1860, a year before the Mint was closed by the Confederacy. The issue is not scarce at all (with a mintage of 515,000 pieces); in fact, it is in most grades cheaper than its Philadelphia counterpart. Many collectors choose to include this issue in their sets, not only because of the price but also from a historic perspective.

All other dates in the 1860s are only available from the Philadelphia Mint, with most issues relatively common except the 1861 and 1862, which are somewhat scarce in comparison of other dates in the era, especially in high grades.

The fun for collectors starts again in 1870, when another branch Mint was opened in the small city of Carson City, Nevada. A historic and popular Mint to collectors, the mintages of silver dollars were small, this being specifically true for seated silver dollars. Because of its popularity, the coins bring a strong premium over a Philadelphia silver dollar, with the historic minded collector leaving a choice open to spend more for a historic piece. Carson City was founded in 1858 by Abraham Curry. Back then, the state of Nevada did not exist. It was a region within the Utah territory which was established by US Congress in 1850 and Nevada did not join the Union until 6 years later, in 1864. Abraham Curry came from Cleveland, Ohio and went west to start his own general merchandise store. His first attempt to negotiate with a landowner failed; soon he found that land prices in California were very high so he then decided to build his own city more to the east.

In early 1859, history was about to be made in what would later become the state of Nevada. Peter O’Riley and Patrick McLaughlin, two prospectors who almost wanted to give up the work, discovered a huge silver deposit on Mount Davidson at Washoe, 14 miles from Carson City. The land was claimed by Henry Comstock, who passed by the same day the ore was discovered. To avoid any trouble and lose everything, O’Riley and McLaughlin agreed to give Comstock a share of the claim. He sold his mining interests early for $20,000, a decision which soon seemed to be a big mistake.

After the first silver was discovered in the upcoming Nevada territory, Curry tried his luck and staked a claim on one of the highest ledges of the Comstock Lode. He merged his claim together with Alva Gould and the new mine was unveiled to the world as the Gould and Curry mine.

The Comstock Lode proved to be the biggest ore of silver ever discovered in the United States. Unfortunately, in the country founded only 80 years earlier, the people generally knew almost nothing about silver mining. In the gold mines near San Francisco, however, many Mexicans were working, many of whom had experience in silver mining in there own country. They were hired by the Americans, but it seemed that the old Mexican methods were too slow and new ways were soon founded. Only 6 months after the Gould and Curry mine was founded, Abraham Curry sold his interests in the mine for $2,000. He used the money to be reunited with his family, who were still living in Cleveland. The city of Carson was growing and Abraham Curry had influence and interest in almost everything in the city. He made the city larger, expanding it with a hotel and engine house for the local fire department and several other things for the local community.

Then, the idea of having a Mint and assay office in the area cropped up in the people minds in the early 1860s. The amount of silver and gold coming out of the mines was overwhelming and most was immediately transported to San Francisco, where it was used to mint coins of several denominations. When the bullion could be used in the state itself, it would remain in Nevada and have a very big influence in the upcoming state’s economics, necessary to become a state of importance like Abraham Curry wanted.

On March 2, 1861, Nevada, which name was shortened from the Spanish Sierra Nevada, was granted territorial status and became separated from the territory of Utah. On October 31, 1864, only eight days before the presidential selection, it became the 36th state of the United States of America. This was primarily done to help ensure the reelection of Abraham Lincoln and to keep the Republicans in dominance in Congress. From then on, Abraham Curry had another dream, as he wanted Carson City to became the capitol of Nevada. On the evening of September 24, 1866, ceremonies took place of lying the corner stone of what would become the building were the Carson City Mint would be situated. The Daily Appeal, a local newspaper reported: “There was a large attendance… the ceremonies were performed without interruption and they were quite impressive”.

After several years of building construction and with many problems, the obverse dies for the silver dollars arrived, dated 1869 and they were to await the reverse dies. These arrived a few weeks into the New Year; the 1869 dated obverse dies were useless and were destroyed without striking a single coin. The Mint did stand a major test when a giant earthquake hit the Carson Valley area on December 28. Many buildings were damaged but the Mint building was luckily enough not being among them and thus withstood its first major test.

The new Mint was located on Carson Street close to the centre of the city. On January 8, 1870, a year after the work should have been completed with the original planning, Superintendent of the Mint and founder of the city, Abraham Curry finally opened the US branch Mint in Carson City, Nevada. Four days later, the correctly dated dies arrived from Philadelphia and, on February 10, 1870, the first coins, 2,303 silver dollars, were produced.

The San Francisco Mint also started to strike silver dollars that year again, although the production was very, very limited. In total, only nine 1870-S silver dollars are currently known to exist, including one Mint State example currently in the Legend Collection of seated silver dollars (the only known full mint state collection of seated silver dollars ever completed).

In 1871, both Philadelphia and Carson City Mints struck seated silver dollars. Because of the rarity of the Carson City issue, most collectors will not include the issue with the famous CC mintmark. If you do want to include a Carson City Dollar in your set but do not want the “common” (common is very relative here), the 1871-CC is the second to best coin to choose. However, be prepared to pay a strong price in comparison with other dates in your set, especially so for premium pieces with original surfaces.

The same story applies for 1872, with the exception that the San Francisco Mint again started to strike silver dollars. Especially in higher grades, this coin is very scarce to rare and much more expensive in comparison with its Philadelphia counterpart . In fact, the 1872-CC is, in my opinion, the scarcest silver dollar struck at the Carson City Mint, despite its slightly higher mintage in comparison with the 1873- CC. The 1872-CC is very rare in the higher AU and even more so in true Mint State, fetching a lot of interest when it comes up for auction once in a few years or less frequently.

Although the reports say the 300,000 silver dollars were minted in San Francisco in 1873, none have ever turned up since the time of their minting. This leads to three possible theories: the first is that coins were accounted for in the annual report of the Mint as silver dollars but actually were half dollars or any other denomination. The second, more likely theory is that all coins were melted shortly after being minted and that none were ever released to the general public nor where any sent to the Mint Cabinet. A third possibility is that a single 1873-S seated silver dollar was sent to Philadelphia for assay. If this coin was not tested and not melted, it could, however unlikely, turn up. With the Carson City issue having the lowest mintage of any Carson City silver dollars (although the 1872-CC is scarcer), collectors again will most likely choose the Philadelphia example for their collection.

Collecting Seated Half Dollars by Date-only

Starting as a series one year earlier and ending 18 years later, seated half dollars are a much more expanded series than the silver dollars. These coins were struck continuously at the Philadelphia Mint in every year of its issue and at certain dates at the Mints of San Francisco, New Orleans, and Carson City.

Seated half dollars have been popular with collectors for a long period of time. Unfortunately, it’s like many other (if not all) seated series; nearly impossible to complete without very deep pockets and lots of time. The true key dates of the series, coins like 1853-O No Arrows, 1870-CC, and 1878-S hardly ever come up at auction and when they do they bring very strong prices, especially when in higher grades and problem free.

Again, the solution can be simple, very simple. Again with exception of the 1851 and 1852, all Philadelphia grades are very easy to complete with the two Philadelphia key dates being less expensive in the context of the series as is the case with the silver dollars. Of course, just buying the Philadelphia issues and skipping all the other ones is possible. But again, in this series, there are certainly branch Mint issues that do not command much of a premium over their Philadelphia counter-parts.

But first, let’s take another problem in account when collecting by date only. In the seated series, this will happen to all of them and it can be a big dilemma for the collector. During the 53 years the design was minted, several changes were made to denote changes to the silver value and the addition or change of several legends on the coin. This happened in several years and for half dollars - 1842 (Modified Reverse), 1853 (arrows & rays), 1854- 1855 (Arrows only), 1866 (Motto above eagle) and 1873-1874 (again Arrows). There wouldn’t be much of a problem when there was just one type minted in each year, but as you will probably know this has never really been the case. Most old style varieties were struck for a short period of time before the design changes became effective later in the year, often creating rare and hard to find coins. To the date-only collector the choice: to collect these or not to collect the rarer types.

I think this is certainly what makes coin collecting such a great hobby. You, the collector, can decide what or what not to include, regardless of what others or registry sets say. It is your choice and you are fully in charge. Although I’m sure others will disagree with me, just one (most likely the most common) type will do when collecting by date-only. When it comes to collecting Philadelphia Mint issues only, the task is not difficult. The 1880’s are interesting because not a single branch Mint half dollar was struck in that decade of industrial changes. With silver coinage circulating again after being out of it since 1862, all coins hoarded in that year came out of the closets again and there simply was no need for small silver coinage. In his Expert’s guide to collecting and investing in rare coins, Q. David Bowers clearly says why these coins were minted for circulation when they were not needed: “From 1879 onward, Liberty Seated half dollar Mintages were small. The reason any circulation strikes were made was that the Mint didn’t want to create rarities for numismatic speculation and investment profits”.

The highest mintage of the decade was achieved in 1888, with 12,833 coins struck in the year including 832 proof coins for collectors. These proof coins, of any denomination can be included in a series, and for some dates, that solution can be cheaper than collecting a rare circulation date which is virtually unknown or at least very rare in higher grades. Although an easy solution, I don’t collect this way as I don’t like an unmatched set with proof coins (although they are very interesting to collect in their own way). The circulation strikes of these dates were widely hoarded, and today there is not much difference in price between a fine and lower mint state piece. Get the best grade you can afford is the best thing here.

As I said, there are several possibilities for the date-only collector to collect several branch Mint issues for a not too high price. This way, the collector can also complete a short “sub-set” at the same time. For the New Orleans dates, the dates that first come to mind are those in the late 1850s and 1860s. As is different than with the silver dollars, the New Orleans Mint struck half dollars in 1861, creating a classic coin which certainly is a favorite for collectors. The total mintage, 2,532,633, includes only 330,000 pieces struck under the U.S. government, which has been the case all those years before. 1,240,000 pieces were struck under that State of Louisiana after it seceded from the Union and the other 962,633 were struck after Louisiana joined the Confederate States of America.

The same scenario is the case with Double Eagle gold coins. Researchers now believe that the time and government of striking of those $20 coins can be distinguished by die breaks on examples of that issue. Only in recent times, there has been a method found to do the same with the half dollar issue by seated half dollar expert RandyWiley, leaving it no longer just to your imagination under which government the seated half dollar you own was struck.

With the cause going back throughout the first part of the 19th century, this is one of many examples how America’s Greatest War (although bloody is a better word here) was fought between the Union and the Confederacy from 1861-1865. All these events had their influence on what coins were struck during a certain period and what mintages they had. Without many of these historic events which caused the Civil War, the history of United States coinage could have been completely different. The antebellum generation of America was at first primarily located in the east, where the first thirteen states founded the United States of America on July 4, 1776. Starting in the early 1800s, people left the safety of the eastern states and trekked westward to explore and to expand their horizon in the unsure and unsafe territories of the Indians and the Spanish.

These territories would someday become states when the US Army could win the wars, but the ”when” was not known to the ordinary people or the politicians. When it was finally done, a high price was paid to accomplish the final goal, but that was the way God wanted it and thus it happened Life for the antebellum generation was definitely not easy. Hard work was needed to make some sort of a living which would satisfy the needs of a family. But hard work did not always pay well, and even under those circumstances, most people enjoyed what they did as again, it was the way God had wanted it and nobody had the power to change the will of God.

“Liberty is what our fathers fought for, and now we must preserve it” was a commonly heard sentence on the streets where the workingmen stayed in the mid-19th century cities of America. But was it as easy as it is thought today to preserve that same Liberty? Certainly not; the expanding territory of the United States raised many political questions among the politicians of the day. One of the most important (but certainly not the only) and well known by today’s standards was slavery.

Slavery was generally accepted in the 19th century. But as the end of the first part of that same century approached rapidly, the slavery question became a more and more important part of the politics at the time, which was mainly ruled byWhigs and Democrats. The Whigs of those days are the Ancestors of the Republicans in modern times, although differences can certainly be found. With more states entering the United States of America, the variety of cultural and political ideas became larger and larger. Naturally, many political problems needed to be solved before the safety of Liberty could be fully guaranteed in every state of the Union. This only came after the Civil War of 1861-1865, when as commonly heard today, the Union fought for Liberty and the Confederates for Slavery. As always, there are many different versions of the story which I can’t cover here without making this a long narrative which is about anything but seated coinage. I brought this up because these unsure times and fights for Liberty influenced many people’s lives in 19th century America, both before and after the Civil War. One of those was the use of coins and paper money in commerce; so here we are again back on the subject.

When including a San Francisco issue in your date-only set, the main choice will be any of the 1860s dates not commanding much premium over a common Philadelphia coin of the era. A second choice could be the 1855-S. Although this coin is quite scarce in the AU grades and even more so in Mint State, it is more or less affordable in lower circulated grades, although still being about 20 times more expensive as a Philadelphia or New Orleans issue. The reason that I do choose this coin to be highlighted in this article is both its relatively low mintage (211,000 pieces) and it being first half dollar and silver issue struck at this Mint. The San Francisco Mint had opened a year earlier, in the middle of the California gold rush. During its first year of operation the production was just limited to gold coins (as could be expected in a gold rush area) but silver production started a year later. When holding such a coin, one can only imagine what that exact same coin must have seen in his early life.

Last but not least is the Carson City Mint.

This Mint in Nevada struck coins from 1870 to 1885 and again from 1889 to 1893 as I have noted in the silver dollar section of this article. The half dollar production was limited from 1870 to 1878 producing a total of 10 different issues (when both 1873-CC with and without arrows are taking into account). Although most of those are quite scarce, the trio of 1875-CC, 1876-CC and 1877-CC half dollars are affordable and a great addition to any collection. Production of half dollars was stopped and never resumed at the Carson City Mint from 1878 onwards. Most of the Minting facilities were needed for silver dollar production of the Morgan design and all the silver flooding from the Comstock Lode.

To be Continued next month…

(Editor: I thought this article was very interesting, informative, and very advanced for a young collector living in the Netherlands. I, therefore, asked Dennis to write a short numismatic autobiography so that others could appreciate his background.)

I’ve been interested in numismatics for quite a long time, as per my age. I got interested in them when I was 8 or so, and started up building a small “collection,” with accumulation being a better word of coins from around the word I got from family members coming back from vacation. This went on until I was 13 or so, when I finally got into coins more seriously. I decided to start buying what I considered nice coins from my home country, the Netherlands, and did this for a few years. However, I was soon bored with the present state of Dutch numismatics and decided to try something else. I had narrowed the choices down at one point to Roman Imperial coins and US coins. Being a sort of history geek and, with a long-lived interest in anything from the United States, I choose the latter.

I soon got on the internet forum (Collectors Universe from PCGS) and, from that point on, I was on my way. I decided to sell of most of my collection, although there was nothing special in it. I kept a few special items, like my first 19th century coin which got me into coin collection when it was given to me by my grandmother.

At one point, after posting on that forum for quite a long time and learning very much about all sorts of US coins without ever being in the country itself (something which is still the case unfortunately), there was some sort of competition by another member. The task was to write an article about coins, and as it goes with a competition there were some nice prizes. I started writing, with my article focusing on US patterns, an area of numismatics so out of reach for my budget wise but very interesting to study. As it turned out, I won a 2nd prize with my article (which had quite a bad outcome; the original poster of the contest suddenly disappeared without ever given any of the prizes he promised to the competing youngsters).

Whatever the outcome of that competition was, I decided that I finally found my area of interest. I started writing more articles about patterns and other related topics on US numismatics. I’ve wanted to collect many different coins along the way (really everything, from clad Washington quarters to 20th century gold coins to Early Copper and everything in between) as they were all so historical to me. After a while, I finally settled down for seated coins and I’m happy I finally made that decision.

Currently, I hope to spend at least 6 or 7 weeks in California this Spring/Summer and finally come to the country I love so much, at least from a distance. I’m hoping to get a coin-related job in the US for next year, finally move across the ocean to settle in the United States, and pursue the dream I have since I started getting interested in the United States such a long time ago.

PART 2: Quarters through Half Dimes - March 2008

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