1867 $1 MS65 PCGS. Breen-5478, ...

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Sold on May 12, 2015 for:

$56,400.00 Bid Source: Internet bidder

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Description

1867 Seated Dollar, Large Over Small Date, MS65
Tied for Finest Known of the Issue
Beautiful Semiprooflike Fields

1867 $1 MS65 PCGS. Breen-5478, Large Over Small Date. The remarkable Gem example offered here is noticeably prooflike beneath rose-gold patina, with deeper rings of reddish-violet and cobalt-blue at the margins. The strike is sharply executed throughout the stars, Liberty's head, and the eagle's talons and plumage, and the overall preservation is exceptional, even for the Gem grade level.

Variety: Breen-5478, Large Over Small Date, as on many examples we have sold in recent years. A half dollar logotype was first entered and then corrected with the dollar-sized date. This die pair was first used to produce some of the 100 proof silver dollars delivered in June 1867. Later, the dies were put to use producing business strikes, which may comprise the bulk of the 10,300 pieces delivered on November 22 of that year.

Population Data (4/15): Three coins each in MS65 at both PCGS and NGC constitute the finest graded of this date.

Heritage Commentary: Seated Liberty silver dollars were largely absent from American commerce in 1867, as large quantities of the 46,900 coins produced that year were exported for international trade purposes, primarily with China, where they were becoming more competitive with the heavier and previously much preferred Mexican dollar. This shift in the standard silver dollar's effectiveness as an international trade coin was partly a result of Mexico adding a 12 percent tax on the exportation of its silver coins, which reduced the Mexican dollar's appeal to Oriental merchants and by default boosted that of the American dollar.

The 1867 Seated dollars that were paid out in the Oriental trade were presumably melted in bulk by their recipients, who traded with silver by weight, not necessarily by the number of coins present. Few examples were retained by American collectors, and most of those that did survive were only in marginal states of preservation. This largely accounts for this issue's rarity in Choice and Gem grades and for its corresponding popularity among modern-day specialists who seek the few finest-known examples.

This is only the fourth time in the past two decades that we have offered a Gem example of the 1867 Seated dollar, and this piece represents one of only three individual coins we have handled in this grade. The last MS65 representative we had the pleasure of offering was an NGC coin that appeared in our May 2012 Long Beach Signature sale (lot 3962), where it realized $57,500. We consider the current example to be superior to that piece in several respects, and worthy of an appropriate bid. An opportunity to acquire an 1867 silver dollar of this caliber may not come again for a long time.

Provenance: Long Beach Signature (Heritage, 6/2006), lot 2079; purchased from Legend Numismatics (4/2011).(Registry values: N7079)

Coin Index Numbers: (NGC ID# 24ZA, PCGS# 6960, Greysheet# 7216)

Weight: 26.73 grams

Metal: 90% Silver, 10% Copper

View Certification Details from PCGS