1862 Seated Liberty Silver Dollar

1862 Liberty Seated dollars are extremely scarce 19th-century type silver coins that are collected by rare coin connoisseurs and those who appreciate classic United States type coinage. The 1862 Seated Liberty dollar is indeed every bit a numismatic treasure as it was made during the Civil War and was produced in very small quantities.

Only 11,540 business strikes were made, along with 550 proof specimens. Either is considerably scarce. Values for the 1862 Seated Liberty dollar range from $700 in a grade of Very Good-8 to $3,600 in Mint State-60. Prices for an 1862 proof dollar are in the range of $5,000.

Mintage of 1862 dollars was handled at only the Philadelphia Mint, though Liberty Seated dollars were struck at several branch facilities over the course of their 1840-1873 production; these branch mints include the Carson City, New Orleans, and San Francisco Mints. Christian Gobrecht designed the Liberty Seated dollar in 1840, and the design is shared with U.S. silver coins of other denominations, including the half dime, dime, quarter, and half dollar.

Liberty Seated silver dollars were widely circulated during the 1840s and 1850s, though by the 1860s the majority of their use was in foreign trade channels. This was due to the rising value of silver, which was the basis of foreign exchange in the 19th century and was important as the price of silver increased in the 1860s.

Liberty Seated dollars consist of a 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper composition. They weigh 26.73 grams and contain 0.77344 ounces of pure silver. Their diameter measures 38.1 millimeters, which is the same width as the widely encountered Morgan and Peace silver dollars that were struck by the United States Mint during the latter 19th and early 20th centuries.