Once again silver dollars were issued for circulation with the start of the series of Liberty Seated Dollars. Mintages were impacted at one point by the rising price of silver, which made the coins melt value exceed their face value. For two years, just over 1,000 silver dollars were struck, and instead the US Mint produced more than one million of the newly introduced gold dollars.
First struck in 1840, the Liberty Seated Dollars carried the new composition of 90% silver and 10% copper that had been adopted for silver coins during the interim. Production would continue until the enactment of the Mint Act of 1873. In addition to the Philadelphia Mint, the mint facilities at New Orleans, San Francisco, and Carson City would also strike the silver dollars.
There were a total of 45 different date and mint mark combinations for the series. Although it must be noted that one of the issues, the 1870-S Seated Liberty Dollar, had no reported production. It is presumed that 12 coins were struck to mark the occasion of the ground breaking for the San Francisco Mint. Another issue of the series, the 1873-S, had a reported mintage of 700, although no examples are known exist.
For the Seated Liberty Dollar series:
- The lowest reported mintage (for a coin which is known to exist), occurs for the 1852 silver dollar. The mintage was a mere 1,100.
- The highest reported mintage occurred in 1872 at Philadelphia, when 1,105,500 coins were recorded as struck.
- Total reported production across all circulation dates is 6,487,747. Of this amount, the Philadelphia Mint was responsible for producing 5,465,463 coins.
Liberty Seated Dollar Mintages
| Issue | Mintage |
|---|---|
| 1840 | 61,005 |
| 1841 | 173,000 |
| 1842 | 184,618 |
| 1843 | 165,100 |
| 1844 | 20,000 |
| 1845 | 24,500 |
| 1846 | 110,600 |
| 1846-O | 59,000 |
| 1847 | 140,750 |
| 1848 | 15,000 |
| 1849 | 62,600 |
| 1850 | 7,500 |
| 1850-O | 40,000 |
| 1851 | 1,300 |
| 1852 | 1,100 |
| 1853 | 46,110 |
| 1854 | 33,140 |
| 1855 | 26,000 |
| 1856 | 63,500 |
| 1857 | 94,000 |
| 1859 | 255,700 |
| 1859-O | 360,000 |
| 1859-S | 20,000 |
| 1860 | 217,600 |
| 1860-O | 515,000 |
| 1861 | 77,500 |
| 1862 | 11,540 |
| 1863 | 27,200 |
| 1864 | 30,700 |
| 1865 | 46,500 |
| 1866 | 48,900 |
| 1867 | 46,900 |
| 1868 | 162,100 |
| 1869 | 423,700 |
| 1870 | 415,000 |
| 1870-CC | 11,758 |
| 1870-S | est. 12 |
| 1871 | 1,073,800 |
| 1871-CC | 1,376 |
| 1872 | 1,105,500 |
| 1872-CC | 3,150 |
| 1872-S | 9,000 |
| 1873 | 293,000 |
| 1873-CC | 2,300 |
| 1873-S | 700 |
Source: SeatedLibertyDollar.net
