Before the popular Morgan silver dollars and Peace silver dollars of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were Seated Liberty dollars (sometimes called Liberty Seated dollars).
Seated Liberty silver dollars, were struck from 1840 through 1873.
Let’s find out how much your Seated Liberty dollar coins are worth…
About The Seated Liberty Design
When Seated Liberty dollars were first minted in 1840, they became the first major silver dollar to be produced for circulation since 1804 — the year the Draped Bust dollar stopped being minted.
Christian Gobrecht designed a few silver dollar pattern pieces (aka test coins), which incorporated the Seated Liberty design. He intended them as samples, but many accidentally entered daily use and were spent as money. Today, collectors consider these surviving test coins very rare… and valuable.
However, it was the Seated Liberty dollar with a design of an eagle bearing a shield on its breast which became the Gobrecht dollar design chosen for mass-production and mass-circulation.
The silver dollar is just one of several denominations during the mid-to-late 19th century to feature Gobrecht’s Seated Liberty design.
The other denominations to have featured the Liberty Seated design during the late 1830s through early 1890s are:
- Seated Liberty half dime
- Seated Liberty dime
- Seated Liberty 20-cent piece
- Seated Liberty quarter
- Seated Liberty half dollar
The Seated Liberty design remains the longest-running design for any United States silver coin, and among the most enduring of all U.S. coins.
How Much Are Seated Liberty Dollars Worth?
Seated Liberty silver dollars, while usually considered common as a type coin, are getting harder to find. Their prices reflect that reality.
Even the most common dates in the Seated Liberty series cost upwards of $350 to $500 in well circulated (well worn) grades.
The scarcest Seated Liberty dollars include the following:
- 1851: $15,000 to $60,000 in Good through Mint State-60
- 1852: $15,000 to $60,000 in Good through Mint State-60
- 1854: $3,000 to $20,000 in Good through Mint State-60
- 1855: $2,500 to $20,000 in Good through Mint State-60
- 1859-S: $1,000 to $13,000 in Good through Mint State-60
- 1861: $1,500 to $10,000 in Good through Mint State-60
- 1862: $1,500 to $8,500 in Good through Mint State-60
- 1870-CC: $2,000 to $30,000 in Good through Mint State-60
- 1870-S: $500,000 to $2,000,000 in Good through Mint State-60
- 1871-CC: $6,000 to $95,000 in Good through Mint-State 60
- 1872-CC: $2,500 to $30,000 in Good through Mint-State 60
- 1873-CC: $20,000 to $190,000 in Good through Mint-State 60
NOTE: “CC” is the mintmark for the Carson City, Nevada Mint. “S” is the mintmark for the San Francisco Mint.
Tips For Collecting Seated Liberty Dollars
Due to their overall scarcity and expense, Liberty Seated dollars are not usually collected in the date-and-mintmark manner seen with coins like Indian Head cents, Lincoln cents, Buffalo nickels, and Mercury dimes.
However, there are many collectors and investors who do try, and they’re able to complete (or nearly complete) sets of Seated Liberty dollars — but not without spending years of dedication and many thousands of dollars trying to reach the often elusive goal. Even then, the task of obtaining a piece like the 1870-S Liberty Seated dollar is nearly insurmountable, except for the wealthiest of collectors.
For many reasons, Seated Liberty dollar coins are often found in type collections. Type collections contain representative examples of coins minted during whole eras, decades, and centuries. In such a case, having only one Seated Liberty dollar is sufficient in representing the entire series within a type collection.
Before You Buy Seated Liberty Dollars…
Buying Liberty Seated dollars can sometimes be difficult.
Unfortunately, many surviving Liberty Seated dollars have been cleaned, scratched, and holed. Therefore, finding a problem-free Seated Liberty dollar can be somewhat of a challenge.
It’s fair to say that an original, well-circulated Seated Liberty dollar coin with no problems is overall a better buy for the money than a lightly circulated Seated Liberty dollar with a hole, scratches, or evidence of past cleanings.
The best place to purchase a Seated Liberty dollar is from a reputable coin dealer who regularly deals with 19th-century coins.
Beware of Seated Liberty dollar copies — because many exist. If you decide to buy a Seated Liberty dollar, it is wisest to buy one that has been slabbed and graded by a major 3rd-party coin grading service.
READ NEXT: Tips For Collecting Early American Coins (1700s & 1800s)
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