1850 Liberty Seated Silver Dollar. MS-63 (NGC).This smooth and satiny silver dollar offers soft but lively luster, a bold strike, and some prooflike reflectivity in the fields. Both sides are warmly toned, the reverse with intermingled highlights of sandy gold to otherwise dominant pewter gray. From a modest mintage for the date of 7,500 pieces, a small figure by any standard.As a rule of thumb, the early issues in the Liberty Seated dollar series can be considered rare in all Mint State grades. Those from the 1840s mostly circulated within our countrys borders, while those struck during the mid to late 1850s (and later) were largely used in export trade. The issues from the early 1850s were struck in small quantities since little silver bullion reached the Mint during the California Gold Rush era; the 1850, 1851 and 1852 silver dollars were probably largely withheld from circulation at the time. While many of the circulation strikes produced in 1850 were melted for their bullion content, others were retained by financial institutions and brokers until released into commerce during the later decades of the 19th century. The more fortunate of those coins were snapped up by sharp-eyed numismatists who recognized the rarity of this date. The most fortunate pieces, including the present example, survived in Mint State, probably purely as a mater of chance. The offered coin is a leading condition rarity for this scarce, key date issue that would do justice to the finest collection of silver dollars or Liberty Seated coinage.From the Magnolia Collection. Earlier from Heritages sale of the Eric P. Newman Collection, Part II, November 2013, lot 33517; our Baltimore Auction of March 2015, lot 6068.
