Important 1870-S Seated Liberty Dollar The Rarest Regular Issue Silver Dollar of Any Type

Discounting the unknown 1873-S, the 1870-S is the rarest issue in the Seated Dollar series of 1840-1873 and, indeed the rarest regular issue Silver Dollar of any type. With only nine examples positively confirmed, the 1870-S Seated Dollar is also one of the leading rarities in the entire United States coinage family. It is rarer than the world-renowned 1804 Dollar –15 examples of which are confirmed in three distinct classes, plus four Mint-made electrotypes. It is also rarer than the MCMVII (1907) Ultra High Relief Saint-Gaudens Double (approximately 20 pieces known) and equally as rare as the 1894-S Barber Dime (nine examples traced). In fact, such is the importance of the 1870-S Seated Dollar in U.S. numismatics that the issue has been honored with the #84 ranking in the 2005 book 100 Greatest U.S. Coins by Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth. (As an interesting aside, the 1870-S is even rarer than the 1933 Double Eagle, although only if we include the 10 1933 Double Eagles that were seized by the federal government in 2004. Those 10 1933 Double Eagles are currently illegal to own.)

The 1870-S is also one of the most enigmatic issues in U.S. numismatics. Federal records do not include a mintage for the 1870-S, and we are unaware of any other official documentation pertaining to this issue. According to traditional numismatic wisdom, the creation of these coins is connected to the construction of the second San Francisco Mint building. Completed in 1874 and now widely known as the “Granite Lady,” the cornerstone for the second Mint building was laid on May 26, 1870. In the 1988 book Walter Breen’s Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, the author states:

…it is possible that [the 1870-S Seated Dollars] were made for presentation purposes at the celebration at the cornerstone of the new Mint building (the “Granite Lady”) at Fifth and Mint Sts., between Market and Mission Sts.

Support for this theory comes partly from the existence of an 1870-S Seated Half Dime and an 1870-S Three-Dollar gold piece, both of which are unique. Since those two issues are also not mentioned in the mint director’s report, they also may have been prepared for presentation purposes at the cornerstone ceremony.

Further proof that the 1870-S Seated Dollar was prepared for presentation purposes comes from the fact that the S mintmark was hand-engraved in the reverse die. At first glance, this fact may seem to refute this theory as the process of hand-engraving any device into a working die might be seen as a way of cutting corners in the production process – an unlikely occurrence for presentation pieces, most of which are usually prepared with better-than-average care. In this case, however, we feel that the hand-engraved mintmark is indicative of Mint employees’ requirement to absolutely, positively strike some 1870-S Seated Dollars no matter what efforts or expedients were required. There is no record of the Engraving Department in the Philadelphia Mint shipping any Silver Dollar dies to the San Francisco Mint in 1869 for use in 1870. We do have record, however, of San Francisco Mint Coiner J.B. Hamstead returning two Dollar reverses to the Philadelphia Mint and receiving two replacements on May 28, 1870. Based on the fact that the cornerstone was laid on May 26, 1870, we can safely assume that those dies were for the 1870-S Gold Dollar – a regular issue with 3,000 pieces struck – and not the 1870-S Silver Dollar, this despite the fact that Hamstead’s report does not include either the word “gold” or “silver” in connection with these dies. Of course, the San Francisco Mint had to receive at least one 1870-dated obverse die for the Silver Dollar or else they would not have been able to strike any 1870-S examples. They probably also received a reverse die at some time but, as previously stated, someone on staff (probably Hamstead) had to enter the S mintmark by hand. The use of a leftover reserve die was out of the question since the last time the San Francisco Mint struck any Seated Dollars was in 1859, at which time the No Motto design (and not the Motto type introduced in 1866) was current. It is very likely that, despite the obvious handicaps he was working under, Hamstead received orders from his superiors to use what tools he had to strike a small number of 1870-S Seated Dollars for presentation at the cornerstone ceremony for the new Mint building. If this theory is true, the coins would have to have been struck prior to May 26, 1870.

In addition to determining exactly why and when the coins were struck, estimating how many 1870-S Seated Dollars were produced is another challenging aspect of this issue. While considerable consensus exists among numismatic scholars over the “why” of this issue, the “how many” aspect is an extremely divisive topic of conversation. The largest estimate of which this cataloger is aware is a figure of 500 pieces provided by Weimar W. White in the book The Liberty Seated Dollar: 1840-1873 (1985). White bases this figure on a comparison between the survival rate of the 1870-S and those of other issues in the Seated Dollar series. Other estimates are much more conservative, such as the figure of, “…a couple of hundred pieces, if indeed that many,” provided by Q. David Bowers in the 1993 book Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia. R.W. Julian provides an estimate of just 50 pieces struck (as related in Bowers, 1993).

If we accept as fact that the 1870-S Seated Dollars were struck for presentation purposes and, as such, were never intended for general circulation, neither White’s nor Bowers’ estimates are tenable. Julian’s is slightly more so, but we feel that it is highly likely that most of the coins distributed on May 26, 1870 have survived. In this regard it might help to once again compare the 1870-S Seated Dollar with the 1894-S Barber Dime. Conventional wisdom has it that 24 Dimes were struck in the San Francisco Mint during 1894, although only nine examples are positively known to exist today. Given that the 1894-S Dime was probably also prepared as some kind of presentation piece (the high-grade survivors are either proofs or carefully struck, prooflike business strikes), the similarities between these two issues becomes even more obvious. Following the pattern established by the 1894-S Dime, therefore, we offer an approximate mintage of 20-25 coins for the 1870-S Seated Dollar.

As previously stated, only nine 1870-S Seated Dollars have been positively confirmed. The fact that most are well circulated and accompanied by impairments such as scratches, corrosion and/or cleaning should not cast doubt on the status of these coins as presentation pieces. Rather, the issue seems to have had the extreme misfortune of having been distributed to non-numismatists who later spent the coins, gave them to someone else who did or otherwise mishandled these important charges. The unique 1870-S Three-Dollar gold piece that was also prepared in connection with the cornerstone ceremony has also been mishandled. Today, that coin is most accurately graded as EF-40 Ex: Jewelry. Furthermore, the unique 1870-S Half Dime was probably also distributed around the time that the cornerstone of the second San Francisco Mint was laid. Obviously discarded by its original owner or a descendant at some point in time, the coin was “discovered” in a dealer’s junk box in 1978.

The following roster of the nine 1870-S Seated Dollars that are positively known to exist is based on those provided in Bowers and Merena’s catalog for the Eliasberg Collection, David Lawrence’s catalog for the Richmond Collection and Q. David Bowers’ 1993 Silver and Trade Dollar Encyclopedia. Beginning with the finest-known example, the roster reads:

1. The James A. Stack, Sr. Specimen. Ex: Colonel E.H.R. Green (believed to be correct); Stack’s; James Aloysius Stack (1944 – no relation to the numismatic firm of the same name); James A. Stack estate; Stack’s sale of the James A. Stack, Sr. Collection, March 1995, lot 212; Stack’s sale of the L.K. Rudolph Collection, May 2003, lot 2136; The Legend Collection of Seated Liberty Dollars. This coin was displayed at the July 2005 San Francisco ANA World’s Fair of Money convention along with the unique 1870-S Half Dime and the unique 1870-S Three-Dollar gold piece. Over the years, the Stack specimen has been graded VF, EF and Mint State. PCGS MS-62.
2. The Granberg/Norweb Specimen. Ex: Henry O. Granberg, illustrated at the 1914 ANS exhibit on United States coinage; Waldo C. Newcomer, exhibited at the 1916 ANS convention; William H. Woodin; Colonel E.H.R. Green; Colonel Green estate; Burdette C. Johnson, sold approximately 1944; Stack’s sale of the Anderson-Dupont Collection, September 1954; Arthur M. Kagin; Ambassador and Mrs. R. Henry Norweb; Bowers and Merena’s sale of the Norweb Collection, November 1988, lot 3825; Jim Jessen Collection. PCGS AU-58. We believe that the AU-58 listing at NGC also refers to this coin from an earlier submission.
3. The Eliasberg Specimen. Ex: Stack’s sale of the George H. Hall Collection, May 1945, lot 1576; B. Max Mehl’s sale of the Will W. Neil Collection, June 1947, lot 202; Stack’s; Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. (1947); Bowers and Merena’s sale of the Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection, April 1997, lot 2243. Currently believed to be graded either AU-50 at NGC or AU-53 at PCGS.
4. The Ostheimer Specimen. Ex: M.H. Bolender’s Sale of the Compton Collection; M.H. Bolender; Mr. and Mrs. Alfred J. Ostheimer III; Lester Merkin’s sale of the Ostheimer Collection, September 1968, lot 372; Superior’s sale of the Gilhousen Collection, October 1973, lot 1339; Superior’s 1975 ANA Sale, August 1975, lot 1125;Julian M. Leidman; House of Stuart (Gary Strutridge, KS dealer); Bowers and Ruddy’s 1978 ANA Sale, August 1978, lot 1160; James E. Pohrer; Kagin’s 1983 ANA Sale, August 1983, lot 2707; Leon Hendrickson and Sal Fusco; private collection; advertised for sale by Phoenix Rare Coin Galleries in July of 1992; Richmond Collection; David Lawrence’s sale of the Richmond Collection, November 2004, lot 1497; Jack Lee III Collection (Heritage, 11/2005), lot 2226; Currently graded EF-40 at PCGS. The present example.
5. The Stickney Specimen. Matthew Adam Stickney, sold privately before the Stickney Collection sale; Colonel E.H.R. Green (perhaps); James Kelley; Jack V. Roe; James Kelley; Clint Hester or Charles M. Williams; Numismatic Gallery’s sale of the Adolphe Menjou Collection, June 1950, lot 2181; Abe Kosoff Fixed Price List, 1955; Stack’s sale of the Fairbanks Collection, June 1960, lot 617; Stack’s sale of the Samuel Wolfson Collection, June 1963, lot 1431; R.L. Miles, Jr.; Stack’s sale of the R.L. Miles, Jr. Collection, April 1969, lot 1612; Stack’s 1978 Autumn Sale, September 1978, lot 345; David Quellar; The Quellar Family Collection of Silver Dollars (Heritage, 4/2008), lot 2129. NGC EF-40.
6. The Farouk- Schultz Specimen. Ex: Norman Schultz’s sale of December 1935, lot 1302; B. Max Mehl; unknown intermediaries; King Farouk of Egypt; Sotheby’s sale of the Palace Collection, February 1954, lot 1676; Arthur Conn and Harold Whitneck’s 1960 ANA Sale, lot 1168; Abner Kreisberg and Hans M.F. Schulman’s sale of April 1967, lot 1253; private collector; Stack’s sale of March 1987, lot 1203; private collection; Stack’s sale of October 2007, lot 5294; Baltimore Auction (Bowers and Merena, 2/2008), lot 2035. Currently graded VF-25 at PCGS.
7. The Carter Specimen. Ex: Waldo C. Newcomer; B. Mex Mehl; Colonel E.H.R. Green; Burdette C. Johnson; B. Max Mehl’s sale of the Jerome Kern Collection, June 1950, lot 1941; Amon G. Carter; Stack’s sale of the Amon G. Carter, Jr. Family Collection, January 1984, lot 285; Stack’s sale of the L.R. French, Jr. Family Collection, January 1989, lot 56; Stack’s sale of November 1989, lot 546. VF, apparently not certified by either PCGS or NGC.
8. The F.C.C. Boyd Specimen. Ex: William Hesslein sale of December 1926, lot 900; F.C.C. Boyd; Numismatic Gallery’s sale of the World’s Greatest Collection, January 1954, lot 271; Hollinbeck Coin Company’s Southern Sale, February 1951, lot 1248; Earl M. Skinner; New Netherlands Coin Co.’s 39th sale, November 1952, lot 162; Charles A. Cass Collection; Stack’s Empire Sale (Cass Collection), November 1975, lot 1759; Hollinbeck Coin Company’s 274th sale, November 1967, lot 1162; Stack’s sale of June 1996, lot 1940; Baltimore Auction (Bowers and Merena, 11/2009), lot 3086. Genuine—Code 98, Damage (PCGS). Our grade for this specimen is VF-20 Tooled, to remove initials.
9. The Eureka Specimen. Reportedly found by an 18-year old boy in Eureka, California sometime before 1922 who kept it until the 1970s. Steve Ivy’s Donovan Sale, July 1978, lot 1128; Manfra, Tordella and Brookes; Paramount’s session of Auction ’85, July 1985, lot 1270. Fine-VF, and scratched.

1. San Francisco Specimen. Ex: San Francisco Mint employee (1870); family of the preceding; San Francisco area military officer (1992); supposedly seen by San Francisco dealer Sam E. Frudakis in 1991. Reportedly Mint State.
2. San Francisco Mint Cornerstone Specimen #1. Not verified, and no documentation exists confirming the inclusion of an 1870-S Dollar in the cornerstone of the “Granite Lady.”
3. San Francisco Mint Cornerstone Specimen #2. Same comments as to the preceding.

PCGS# 6965.