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The 1855-S Liberty Seated Half Dollar
rhedden
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The 1855-S half dollar has long been considered a key date within the Liberty Seated half dollar series, in part due to its mintage of just 129,950 pieces, the third lowest mintage of any "S" mint half dollar from 1855 to present. Only the 1866-S No Motto (60,000) and 1878-S (12,000) Seated Halves have lower mintages among the "S" mints. No "S" mint Barber, Walking, Franklin, or Kennedy half can match these low numbers, {excluding} modern proofs.
The 1855-S quarter and 1855-S half dollar had the mutual distinction of being the first circulating silver coins produced by the San Francisco mint during its formative years at the first location on Commercial Street, where it had been established during the previous year. There were no 1855-S half dimes, dimes, or dollars minted. Collectors can obtain examples of the 1855-S half eagle, eagle, and double eagle, given a large amount of patience and a slightly larger sum of money to spend.
While the 1855-S half is not terribly rare in an overall sense, most collectors of the series will tell you it's a real challenge to locate a high grade piece without damage or cleaning, unlike the P-mint coins of the 1879-1891 era, which are widely available in Mint State grades, despite their lower estimated mintages. One of the most interesting features of the 1855-S half is its propensity to turn up in damaged condition. A majority of surviving specimens show harsh cleaning, corrosion, severe scratches, jewelry damage, signs of being removed from a mount, or graffiti. Most 1855-S half dollars had a rough life.
The typical 1855-S half is weakly struck on the obverse shield, meaning it is possible for a VF coin to have an incomplete "LIBERTY." Such is not the case with the 1856-S or later "S" mint halves.
A quick look through the archives at Heritage shows that the 1855-S half has appeared at auction 103 times since the early 1990s, including duplicate auctions of the same coin. Of the total auctioned, 11 pieces were housed in PCGS (problem-free) holders; 12 were housed in NGC (problem-free) holders; 14 were housed in ANACS (problem-free) holders; and 2 were offered as non-damaged, raw pieces. The remaining 64 pieces (62% of the total) were described as being damaged in some fashion, or harshly cleaned. Of the non-damaged coins auctioned, a majority graded VG-10 or lower, further evidence that these halves saw extensive circulation in the Old West. A collector wishing to acquire this issue in an EF or AU grade in a PCGS holder would have had only 8 opportunities to do so through Heritage since 1993.
Only one MS specimen of the 1855-S half has been auctioned by Heritage since 1993. The James Bennett Pryor Collection contained a high-grade specimen that was most recently auctioned in 2004, where it appeared in an NGC MS67 holder and brought $92,000. The PCGS population report lists only one graded Mint State coin at MS-66, which is likely the same coin as the NGC MS67 Pryor specimen. A total of 9 AU, 14 EF, and 16 VF specimens have been graded by PCGS, including re-submissions, out of a total of 63 graded.
In summary, the 1855-S half dollar remains a challenging issue to locate in "presentable" condition, a quintessential example of a condition rarity among 19th century U.S. coins.
If any of you compulsive fact-checkers should spot an error in this informative post, please send me a PM and I will take care of it.
Edited 6/10/2011 to exclude modern proofs- there is actually a 1998-S issue that has a lower mintage than the 1855-S, if we don't lump all 1998-S halves together.
The 1855-S quarter and 1855-S half dollar had the mutual distinction of being the first circulating silver coins produced by the San Francisco mint during its formative years at the first location on Commercial Street, where it had been established during the previous year. There were no 1855-S half dimes, dimes, or dollars minted. Collectors can obtain examples of the 1855-S half eagle, eagle, and double eagle, given a large amount of patience and a slightly larger sum of money to spend.
While the 1855-S half is not terribly rare in an overall sense, most collectors of the series will tell you it's a real challenge to locate a high grade piece without damage or cleaning, unlike the P-mint coins of the 1879-1891 era, which are widely available in Mint State grades, despite their lower estimated mintages. One of the most interesting features of the 1855-S half is its propensity to turn up in damaged condition. A majority of surviving specimens show harsh cleaning, corrosion, severe scratches, jewelry damage, signs of being removed from a mount, or graffiti. Most 1855-S half dollars had a rough life.
The typical 1855-S half is weakly struck on the obverse shield, meaning it is possible for a VF coin to have an incomplete "LIBERTY." Such is not the case with the 1856-S or later "S" mint halves.
A quick look through the archives at Heritage shows that the 1855-S half has appeared at auction 103 times since the early 1990s, including duplicate auctions of the same coin. Of the total auctioned, 11 pieces were housed in PCGS (problem-free) holders; 12 were housed in NGC (problem-free) holders; 14 were housed in ANACS (problem-free) holders; and 2 were offered as non-damaged, raw pieces. The remaining 64 pieces (62% of the total) were described as being damaged in some fashion, or harshly cleaned. Of the non-damaged coins auctioned, a majority graded VG-10 or lower, further evidence that these halves saw extensive circulation in the Old West. A collector wishing to acquire this issue in an EF or AU grade in a PCGS holder would have had only 8 opportunities to do so through Heritage since 1993.
Only one MS specimen of the 1855-S half has been auctioned by Heritage since 1993. The James Bennett Pryor Collection contained a high-grade specimen that was most recently auctioned in 2004, where it appeared in an NGC MS67 holder and brought $92,000. The PCGS population report lists only one graded Mint State coin at MS-66, which is likely the same coin as the NGC MS67 Pryor specimen. A total of 9 AU, 14 EF, and 16 VF specimens have been graded by PCGS, including re-submissions, out of a total of 63 graded.
In summary, the 1855-S half dollar remains a challenging issue to locate in "presentable" condition, a quintessential example of a condition rarity among 19th century U.S. coins.
If any of you compulsive fact-checkers should spot an error in this informative post, please send me a PM and I will take care of it.
Edited 6/10/2011 to exclude modern proofs- there is actually a 1998-S issue that has a lower mintage than the 1855-S, if we don't lump all 1998-S halves together.
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Comments
Pretty good strike with a light blueish tone.
R.I.P. Bear
Thanks, rhedden, for a very informative post!
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
April 1941 a specimen that was represented as an ms63 by numismatic gallery and was part of the "worlds greatest collection III (Boyed) where it sold for $168
In January 2005 an ngc ms61 specimen sold by american numismatic rarities for $32,200. It was part of the kennywood collection
January 1996 bowers and merena sold the pryor specimen graded ms66 by pcgs for $72,600
january 2004 heritage sold the pryor specimen graded ms67 by ngc for $92,000
Just thought id help you a little with the MS history...
a pcgs au58 sold in january 2009 by stacks for a cool $20,700.
We'll use our hands and hearts and if we must we'll use our heads.
A lot of them went cheap. I purchased some of the coins and some for as little as $150 each!
Some coins with EF details sold under $500.
True XF problem free coins are $5000 or more and very difficult!
Did you post this to the LSCC boards? It is well done, I would love to hear Bill's response
Buying top quality Seated Dimes in Gem BU and Proof.
Buying great coins - monster eye appeal only.
and I can't recall who owns it, but it may be a member here.
These were tough years for half dollars and for quarters produced in S.F. & New Orleans.
It seems that the 1855-O quarter is the toughest of all the ones mentioned to find nice &
in higher grades. This is just a guess because I don't trust the new Heritage archives
search features!
R.I.P. Bear
I would have to agree with what Rhedden posted. Dead on. What I don't agree with is the 55-s quarter being in the same league of the 55-s in any sense of the word. The 55-s quarter is far commoner in low grades, mid-graded, high circ grades, and mint state. It's been overrated for 40 years only because it's the first S mint and hanging on to the coat tails of the 55-s half. Finding a problem free VF-XF 55-s quarter may take a few days, weeks, or months but you'll get one. But trying to find the right 55-s half in that grade could take you years. I owned my first VF-XF 55-s half back in 1974....for about 2 days. It was from a mail bid sale in Coin World that I had won for $250...but listed as an XF. I was a bit perturbed that the coin was only a mid range VF (maybe because of the weak lettering) and I returned it for refund. Unfortunately, the firm turned out to be a scam outfit and ended up going bellyup right after I shipped the coins back. I was out the full $250 and had no 55-s half in VF either. It was a decent orig piece but at that time was way overpriced at $250 in VF. A lesson learned. Sometimes it's best to cut your losses and keep what you have.
roadrunner
There is no argument that the 1855-S half is a tougher coin than the quarter from the same year. I do agree that there are plenty of damaged 1855-S quarters to be found, though. The quarter does share that dubious distinction with the half. However, the quarter is common enough that there are problem-free pieces available on a regular basis, as Roadrunner has said. What you may not like about the quarters is that the sellers often think they are key dates and should be priced as such.
Edited to add: If I recall correctly, we decided that the second 1855-S half posted above (blue background in photo) was tooled in the central obverse to hide damage- so don't use it to judge the striking characteristics of the date.
Link
The large photos are completely devoid of color (desaturated) so they only show apparent details. The slabbed photos would seem to indicate that actual surface color.
For me, it's hard to get an accurate read on this coin, but it looks like at least VF-20 details?
Here is my example:
Link to heritage sale
<< <i>The NGC MS61 piece is to be offered in October. Apparently some think it is a true UNC. Lol.
Link to heritage sale >>
The reverse almost looks damaged to me in places.
<< <i>The NGC MS61 piece is to be offered in October. Apparently some think it is a true UNC. Lol.
Link to heritage sale >>
It looks like a pretty typical UNC.
<< <i>The NGC MS61 piece is to be offered in October. Apparently some think it is a true UNC. Lol.
Link to heritage sale >>
The gold sticker only suggests JA is willing to make an offer on this coin at today's MS61/62 equivalent money. And for the 55-S half that may just be about the same as a killer AU58+ "everyman" specimen, which I think this is.
There's no doubt that portions of the coin qualify for mint state. It's also obvious that there's a massive knee rub that is NOT from striking. Last I checked, a coin with massive rubbing can't be technically mint state. The obv.
fields do show some friction or lack of complete luster. I won't disagree that the coin might qualify for MS61/62 at current "market grade" standards. The coin is still in the condition census of 55-S halves so whether you call it a
58+, 61 or 62 is more semantics than anything else. The coin is not mint state. It can be slabbed as MS61. Those are the discontinuities of the current coin market. I was there when that coin first sold raw and fetched AU58
money. I was also there when the Norweb 42-0 small date quarter fetched AU55-58 money. Those coins slabbed out as MS61 and MS63 respectively....essentially doubling and tripling their prices. I don't agree that either one
are technically mint state though.
Any seated collector buying that 55-s is well aware of the rub on the knee and will factor that into their pricing. The Eliasberg 1861-s MS64 half has a much larger rub on the leg/knee area but it has very strong and unbroken field
luster on the entire coin. It doesn't change the fact that the coin has obvious and extensive rubbing. This MS61 1855-s is a very pleasing example overall which is unusual for this coin in grades of VF or higher. I do find it puzzling
that PCGS has yet to grade a single 1855-s half as mint state, yet NGC has graded several of them. Don't you think that if those 61/62 coins could get into a PCGS holder and be the "first" one they would have done so? The
Norweb 42-0 sd quarter is in the same predicament. PCGS has graded one single coin as unc...a MS61. It does make one wonder.
but it's an NGC PR65 and different from the business strikes you are considering.
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