1852 Liberty Seated Silver Dollar. OC-1. Rarity-5-. MS-62 (NGC). Exceedingly rare Mint State preservation for a silver dollar issue that is highly elusive throughout the numismatic grading scale. Both sides exhibit bright, essentially untoned surfaces with appreciable reflectivity in the fields. Sharply struck in all but a few isolated areas. Wispy handling marks define the grade, although none are worthy of undue attention.<p>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 one of our very few offerings for a Mint State example of all time. It is a coin that represents an important opportunity for advanced silver dollar collectors and specialists in Liberty Seated coinage. From Heritages sale of Poulos Family Collection, Part II, September 2019 Long Beach Signature Auction, lot 4782.
