1851 Liberty Seated Silver Dollar. Restrike--Overstruck on a New Orleans Mint Liberty Seated Silver Here is a lovely and highly significant coin that ranks among the most important offerings in this sale. It is a Philadelphia Mint restrike Proof 1851 Liberty Seated silver dollar overstruck on a New Orleans Mint host coin -- popularly referred to as the "1851-O" silver dollar.
The obverse shows the distinctive centered date of the restrike Proof 1851 dollar, while the reverse displays a somewhat flattened, yet still boldly visible O mintmark of the New Orleans Mint. No silver dollars were struck at New Orleans in 1851, nor did the facility produce Proof Liberty Seated dollars of any date, leading researchers to conclude that the host coin began as a circulation strike 1859-O or 1860-O silver dollar. It was then selected by personnel at the Philadelphia Mint as a host coin for a restrike Proof 1851 silver dollar, produced beginning in the spring of 1859, and almost certainly under the authority of Mint Director James Ross Snowden.
The rarity of the circulation strike 1851 silver dollar (see below) and the absence of original Proofs from that year made this a prime candidate for restriking. These restrikes were quickly recognized as rarities once numismatics as a hobby began to flourish in the United States during the late 1850s. This is an unofficial restrike for, while it was produced under Snowdens authority alongside similar pieces, striking was conducted in secret and sales went through Mint officials and employees rather than through official government channels. Even so, todays collectors can be thankful for this extensive manufacturing activity, as otherwise many important rarities from the earliest decades of U.S. Mint operations would be unobtainable.Writing in the 1993 reference <em>Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia</em>, Q. David Bowers estimates that 50 to 100 restrike Proof 1851 silver dollars were produced beginning in 1859. No original Proof 1851 dollars have been confirmed and, as previously stated, none are believed to have been produced (although some prooflike pieces have been designated as such in the past). No original Proofs are known from contemporary sets, and none were offered for public sale in 1851.
Given their rarity, the absence of original Proofs of this date, and the scarcity of circulation strike 1851 silver dollars, restrike Proof 1851 dollars enjoy strong demand among silver dollar date collectors and specialists in Liberty Seated coinage. Examples rarely remain on the open market for long. Unique as an 1851 silver dollar with remnants of an O mintmark clearly visible, the present restrike is clearly <em>very special</em>.Numismatists Q. David Bowers and Thomas K. DeLorey examined this restrike "1851-O" dollar at the 1992 American Numismatic Association convention and found that the host coin had been filed to fit the restraining collar used in the overstriking, rendering it perceptibly underweight (400.3 grains as opposed to the 412.5-grain standard). Additional research has confirmed that the Philadelphia Mint used two die pairs to produce restrike Proof 1851 dollars. The present coin was struck from the first die pair, distinguished by a short horizontal die line in the drapery just below Libertys right shoulder and a crescent, or lunule, on the upright of the digit 1 in the date.
Beginning in 1850 the rising price of silver in international markets made it impractical for the Mint to continue producing large quantities of silver coins as they cost more than face value to produce. Such pieces completely disappeared from circulation during the early 1850s and, specific to the silver dollar denomination, mintages of circulation strikes at the Philadelphia Mint were drastically curtailed in 1850, 1851 and 1852. (The New Orleans Mint achieved a modest mintage of 40,000 pieces in 1850 from local bullion deposits.) Masses of silver coins were exported for melting, resulting in a net loss of $23 million to domestic commerce.
The coins exported in 1850-1851, in fact, exceeded the total face value of all silver coins produced in the Philadelphia Mint over the course of the preceding 20 years. Circulation strike 1851 dollars, distinguished from the Proof restrikes by having the date set high in the lower obverse field, were produced to the extent of just 1,300 pieces. What few coins have survived from that delivery largely owe their existence to sharp-eyed bank tellers and others who recognized their rarity and set aside examples during the later decades of the 19th century.This "1851-O" dollar is bound to be the centerpiece in a connoisseurs collection of Liberty Seated dollars. It combines rarity, quality, and a <em>unique</em> story.<br />,,PCGS# 6979.Ex Heritages sale of August 1998, lot 8200; Ira & Larry Goldbergs sale of September 2003, lot 535; our (Stacks) sale of the Husky Collection, June 2008, lot 2025.
