1. Silver Dollars 1834 to 1883 John Frost

2. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Founded during 1973 in Bal Harbour, Florida Kam Ahwash and John McCloskey past presidents 600+ members who enjoy seated coinage Liberty Seated coinage experts Research, education and social interactions Dues are $20 per year. ~ 20 Regional Meeting events per year Page 2 2014 – 2015 Officers Gerry Fortin, President Len Augsburger, Vice President Craig Eberhart, Secretary/Treasurer Bill Bugert, Publications Editor

3. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Award-winning Publications Gobrecht Journal Published 3 times per year Bill Bugert, Editor Detailed Research, Collecting Notes, Club Member Stories All Color – November 2014 E-Gobrecht Published Monthly Bill Bugert, Editor Club News, Auction Results. Short Articles, Monthly Columns Quick and Easy Publishing

4. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Regional Meetings Social opportunities ~20 events annually nationwide – FUN, ANA, Baltimore, Long Beach, Manchester NH, CSNS, Denver, Bay State, Ohio State Show, CONA Page 4

5. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Hall of Fame, Publishing Awards Hall of Fame recognition HoF Committee annual review and voting LSCC HoF Members: Kamal Ahwash, John McCloskey, Al Blythe, Randy Wiley, Brian Greer, Gerry Fortin, Jim O’Donnell, Eugene Gardner Annual publishing awards Ahwash Award – Best Gobrecht Journal article as voted by membership E-Gobrecht Editor’s Award – Key contribution to monthly newsletter Page 5

6. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Christian Gobrecht 1785: Born in Hanover, PA Clockmaker, inventor, die maker and engraver 1811: Moved to Philadelphia 1823: Applied for Chief Engraver 1835-1840: Second Engraver 1840-1844: Chief Engraver Patterns, medals, regular issue Liberty Seated coinage Page 6

7. Silver Dollars 1834 to 1883 John Frost

8. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Huh? Dollars 1834-1883??? Really? Have you ever seen an 1834 dollar? Yes, the United States minted a few dollars in 1834! Do you know what the 1834 coins were dated? 1804! Full Proof Set wanted for foreign leaders – Sultan of Muscat and King of Siam No current designs for Dollar or Eagle Old device punches pulled 8 coins were struck

9. Liberty Seated Collectors Club 1836… A matter of national pride Mint Director R.K. Patterson: standard monetary unit not struck for more than 30 years – A matter of pride, we needed to resume dollar coinage Patterson to Gobrecht: design a coin “of particularly artistic merit” worthy of our new Dollar Would propagate to the other silver coins Pencil sketch by Thomas Sully

10. Liberty Seated Collectors Club First a pattern Gobrecht created a beautiful rendition of Liberty Three-dimensional medal look Flowing gown Detailed hair Uncluttered

11. Liberty Seated Collectors Club The reverse How many of you know the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia had a pet in the 1830s? Peter the Eagle, or “Old Pete” A drawing of Old Pete was the inspiration for the reverse “Onward and upward”

12. Liberty Seated Collectors Club First a Pattern Gobrecht was a medal sculptor who signed his work ― C GOBRECHT F below the base, not sure if any struck – Rejected, so his name was placed on the base of the rock – None of the original “below base” patterns are known today a number of restrikes are available

13. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Then a business strike The “name on base” was deemed acceptable – At least, at first! 1,600 pieces were ordered between December 1836 and March 1837 All were dated 1836 Sent to Bank of United States for distribution Many circulated, many turned into jewelry (holed, mounted, etc.)

14. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Design adopted With satisfactory results, the Seated Liberty design was adopted in 1837 on the Half Dime and Dime – Without Stars Adopted on the Quarter in 1838, Half in 1839, but with stars

15. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Forward with Dollars After more dollar patterns in 1838 and 1839… – all with stars on the obverse – Some with the stars removed from the reverse … the dollar returns to production Beautiful Flying Eagle design abandoned – John Reich eagle selected – No real reason was given (strike?) – I expect it was because Reich eagle already chosen for Quarter, Half Gobrecht’s Flying Eagle would not return until 1856

16. Liberty Seated Dollars 1840-1873

17. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Liberty Seated Dollars 45 dates and mints in 34 different years Minted in Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Carson City Minted when needed, where needed, in the quantities needed Many dates had very small mintages 1858 was a proof only year Denomination abolished in 1873

18. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Seated Dollars are scarce items! Only 6.5 million struck total during the entire series – Less than 1/100 the number of Morgan Dollars struck! One for every 1878-P Morgan dollar alone had over 10 million struck! Page 18

19. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Fairly static design Only one design modification – Motto added above eagle in 1866 – Two fantasy pieces made in 1866 without motto (not an official issue at all)

20. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Dates and mints 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 Proof only 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 O O O O S S S CC S

21. Liberty Seated Collectors Club What happened to Seated Dollars? Dollars not needed much, so mintages very limited Those minted were workhorses 1850-1856 were melted for their bullion value – Weight reduction of other silver (arrows) did not affect dollars 1858 was proof only – Official mintage was 80, but likely about 210-300? 1859-1865 were mostly exported to the Far East (they were our first Trade Dollars), except the O-mint Later years minted in somewhat larger quantities (P mint) and created a sufficient supply

22. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Legendary Rarity – 1870-S Dollar In a series loaded with rarities, one stands alone, the legendary 1870-S dollar No record of mintage, except a note discovered in 2004 about coining one for the Cornerstone of the new Mint The coins started showing up in circulation in the 1870s Rarer than 1804 dollars, between 9-12 are known Photos courtesy of Heritage Auctions

23. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Collecting Seated Dollars Most people collect by type – Either one coin, or one No Motto and one With Motto – Often with Proof examples Others collect one each from the four mints More and more collectors have discovered Seated Dollars and try for a complete set – minus the rare and “uncollectible” 1870-S

24. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Collecting by mint For P mints, many choose 1840 (first year) or 1871/72 – 1841, 1842, 1843, 1847 are most available early years For S mints, 1859-S and 1872-S are your choices – With 9,000 minted, 1872-S is tougher in high grade O mints, 1860-O and 1859-O are the two most common dates in the entire series, even in Mint State – A few mint-sewn bags of bagmarked UNCs in the 1960s – 1850-O (very tough – 40,000) and 1846-O (also tough – 59,000) much harder than the 1859-O and 1860-O coins

25. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Carson City coins Collecting by mint, the CC “type” coin will undoubtedly be the1870-CC Mintages: 1870-CC 12,462 (available for a price) 1871-CC 1,376 (about 100 known) 1872-CC 3,150 (about 200-250 known) 1873-CC 2,300 (75-95 known)

26. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Show stoppers 1870-SJust 9-11 known, but not regular issue This is a mid six figure coin at least! 18511300 minted, about 40-50 known (+ perhaps 1 proof) 18521100 minted, about 45-50 known (+ about 10 proofs) These will cost five figures each Most people will exclude all three of these - Some albums don’t even have holes for them!

27. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Comments about Seated Dollars Very difficult set to assemble, even if you exclude the 1851 and 1852 Many scarce dates often sell for way over listed values – 1850, 1854, 1856, 1861, 1862, 1863, 1865, 1866, 1868 You can get a lot of rarity for the money Beware of large numbers of counterfeits now on the market, of most years, especially on Ebay – Especially the years when most coins exported (some served as models for the counterfeits)

28. Liberty Seated Collectors Club The end of an era By 1873, enough silver dollars for use here in the USA Still big demand for dollar coins for trading with far east – Many of the Seated Dollars had been exported This led to the silver dollar being abolished – replaced with a new coin exclusively for foreign trade Numerous patterns made during early 1870s and William Barber’s design was chosen for the new coin And, now we had the… Trade Dollar!

29. Trade Dollars 1873-1883* * The 1884 and 1885 Trade Dollars were clandestine issues that were completely unauthorized, and don’t count!

30. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Introducing the Trade Dollar Figure of Liberty seated at the seashore facing west toward the Orient, holding an olive branch Trade Dollar slightly heavier standard silver dollar The weight and fineness displayed on reverse Coin sold by banks based on weight and bullion value Legal tender status was ambiguous, – disastrous results domestically

31. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Trade Dollars readily accepted in the Orient Coins accepted in commerce in the Far East To note acceptance, the coins were often chop-marked – Marks often referred to the merchants name – Sometimes, chop marks said things like treasure, value

32. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Chop marks Once a coin had a few chops, most merchants just accepted the coin, However, sometimes people just started piling on! 1874-CC

33. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Domestically, the coin was a disaster! Legal tender status was ambiguous Price of silver was depressed after 1873 Trade dollars could be bought for bullion value (~80¢) Company owners: buy Trade Dollars at bullion value, and pay workers in Trade Dollars at full face value Company stores and banks only accept them at bullion! – Just another way for the bosses to screw over the workers The Trade Dollar became America’s most hated coin, ever!

34. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Beginning of the end of the Trade Dollar By 1878, enough had been made for export Legal Tender status revoked domestically No need to make any more of this failed experiment Bland-Allison act restored the silver dollar, even though we didn’t need any (politics, greed, cronyism) Proof-only issues continued from 1878 until 1883 With no love lost for the Trade Dollar, sometimes the proof coins were spent, sometimes abused – Nobody cared about them, and nobody mourned their loss

35. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Cloudy finale Two unusual issues followed in 1884 and 1885 Dies may have been made for striking proofs in 1884 before decision made not to (unconfirmed) – Regardless, pieces were struck anyway, clandestinely – 10 known and highly prized, despite their questionable status Dies also created clandestinely without proper authority in 1885, and 5 proofs were struck – Not coins or proper issue at all, they are like the 1913 Liberty Nickels (and ridiculously expensive as well) The series just ended entirely after that

36. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Design changes Design itself completely unchanged throughout the series Two minor changes to both obverse and reverse hubs In 1875-1876, Type I and II combinations/pairings of both front and back exist – Trade Dollar specialists mainly collect these Type I Type II I II

37. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Varieties Two significant varieties exist and are listed in Red Book Both scarce, and very rare in high grades 1875-S/CC 1876-CC Doubled Die Reverse (major doubling)

38. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Collecting Trade Dollars Many people collect this by Type, with a single coin – Usually S-mint coin, often chop-marked Others go for the complete set of business strikes Some go for the complete set of regular issues from 1873 to 1883 A real challenge: get all business strikes chop marked! – The 1878-CC is extremely rare with chop marks – 1875-P also rare, especially Type II (perhaps 3 known) Chops used to be considered serious impairments – Not anymore, and discounts for them can be small

39. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Collecting Trade Dollars 1873-1883 This short set is very straightforward to complete – Only 23 different dates and mints – Plus 2 major varieties – No real show stoppers, even the proof issues – Proof-only issues are relatively expensive, but not so much compared to some more commonly collected coins (1936) This series is plagued by more counterfeits than any other U.S. coin – Most came from China, and now are in hands of Americans – Many are easy to spot and have a similar appearance, but some are deceptive – A large percentage of Trades on Ebay are counterfeits!!!

40. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Key Dates Business Strikes 1878-CC is undisputed key date – Mintage just 97,000, many melted 1875 (P) is next scarcest – Mintage only 218,200, but many were melted or lost – 1873-CC with a lower mintage is actually more available (and costly) Proofs – 1877 is perhaps scarcest regular issue proof (mintage 510-710) – 1878 is toughest proof-only issue, followed by 1881 – Proofs of all years were spent, and many (if not most) are cleaned – many impaired as well

41. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Summary of Trade Dollars Trade Dollars are an interesting artifact of one of the biggest fiascos of coinage ever in the United States A bit of history exists with every coin, especially the many chop-marked pieces that returned from the Orient As the series is finally being appreciated, interest in them is exploding and demand (and prices) rising fast Still, a relatively affordable series to complete, and not that many coins to find Beware of the many thousands of counterfeits currently on the market!

42. www.LSCCweb.org Thank you for your time!