1872-S Liberty Seated Silver Dollar. MS-62 (PCGS).；Offered is a remarkable Mint State example of this key date issue in the later Liberty Seated dollar series. Mottled reddish-rose, antique copper and cobalt blue highlights are seen on a base of iridescent lilac-silver patina. The strike is razor sharp in virtually all areas and, with surfaces that are overall smooth in appearance, this satiny example is very close to Choice Uncirculated quality. Worthy of a premium bid.<p>The 1872-S is the only collectible San Francisco Mint Liberty Seated dollar of the Motto type (the 1870-S is a legendary rarity with only 12 examples accounted for, and the final year 1873-S is unknown in any collection). As noted it is a key date issue in all grades, with a mintage of only 9,000 pieces. Most examples were the victims of the three primary sources of attribution for silver dollars of this type: export, melting, and domestic circulation. First and foremost, many 1872-S silver dollars were likely exported. With San Francisco a popular port of embarkation for silver dollars bound for the Orient, it is likely that many of the coins produced at the citys nearby mint were quick to depart for foreign shores. By 1872 the Liberty Seated dollar had long functioned as a trade dollar; it was not until the following year that the federal government authorized a coin specifically for that purpose. Other examples were likely destroyed through melting when the Act of February 12, 1873, abolished the standard silver dollar. Finally, some 1872-S silver dollars almost certainly found their way into circulation after autumn 1876 upon the resumption of specie payments. These circulated coins account for most examples available to todays collectors.<p>The typical survivor is circulated to one degree or another, at which level the 1872-S is actually underrated and rarer than the more highly regarded 1870-CC. As far as most numismatists are concerned a Mint State 1872-S dollar is more fantasy than reality, such is the extreme rarity of such examples. The present lot represents an important opportunity, one that deserves careful consideration and an aggressive bidding strategy.；From our (Stacks) sale of June 1981, lot 604. Lot tag and collector envelope included.
