1852 Liberty Seated Silver Dollar. OC-1. Rarity-5-. AU Details--Polished (NGC).A more affordable, yet still highly desirable example of this rare key date Liberty Seated dollar. Virtually brilliant surfaces support sharp to full striking detail over most features, with the eagles plumage on the reverse most impressive. A glossy texture explains the NGC qualifier, and a few well scattered carbon spots are also noted for accuracy. Many economic, social and political upheavals were wrought by the discovery of gold in California in 1849, including an increase in the price of silver relative to gold on the world market. By the early 1850s the price of silver was sufficiently high to preclude all but the smallest amount of bullion reaching the Philadelphia Mint for coinage into silver dollars. In any event, the Mint was content to focus on gold dollar production, most domestic transactions requiring a dollar-size coin preferring this increasingly popular type. Against such a backdrop the Philadelphia Mint struck just 1,100 circulation strike silver dollars in 1852. Long recognized as a rare date, Dick Osburn and Brian Cushing (2018) estimate that only 65 coins are extant at all levels of preservation. This is one of the few survivors that we have offered in recent sales, and it is a coin that represents an important opportunity for advanced silver dollar collectors and specialists in Liberty Seated coinage.
