When did Seated coinage leave circulation?

ambro51 · March 13, 2010 12:12AM

last made in 1891, but the degree of wear on some of the ones I ve seen give the impression that seated silver may have been in circulation well into the 1930's and 40's.

thoughts?

jessecarlk · March 13, 2010 12:30AM

I read that Walter Breen remembers seeing 1853 Seated coins (don't remember if they were dimes or quarters) in circulation until the 1950s!

COALPORTER · March 13, 2010 12:30AM

Some guy claims he just found an 1871 seated half at a bank (ah-huh, sure, okay, whatever

, so they are still out there.

TheRegulator · March 13, 2010 12:33AM

My Dad still has his old Dansco folders which probably date from the early 60s. I believe there area couple seated dimes and one extremely worn seated quarter. He used to help at the local church and could search the plate offerings.

jessecarlk · March 13, 2010 12:33AM

I too just read about the 1871 half...so there ya go!

fishteeth · March 13, 2010 12:35AM

I have an 1853 half dime that my grandfather got in change in the the late 30's in Nashville. very well circulated

rld14 · March 13, 2010 1:56AM

I have a slick 1891 Dime, probably an AG that I saw in one of my bags of junk dimes.

PerryHall · March 13, 2010 3:50AM

When you find a really old coin now, you can safely conclude that it was most likely stolen and either spent or deposited into a coinstar machine or bank.

collegecoincollector · March 13, 2010 4:05AM

i agree with the above, i've heard it was found as late as the 1950s. especially the arrows and rays coins

SaorAlba · March 13, 2010 4:46AM

I have my great great grandfather's coin purse from when he passed away in 1918 - there is over $2 worth of change in there, most of the dimes in fact are SL and range in dates from 1843 to the 1870s. There are only one or two Barbers in there in fact. The cents were evenly split betwixt Indians and Lincolns, including several early date S mints since he lived in California - unfortunately no 1909's though. Sometime I will have to take the coin purse out of the bank vault and photograph everything.

BigE · March 13, 2010 4:54AM

Wow! What a neat thing to have handed down---------------------BigE

A coin purse back then must have been like a wallet for men now. Change then was like bills now, gold-silver and copper. A gold coin went a long way! No credit cards to carry

You probably made your own ID??

RWB · March 13, 2010 5:16AM

Typical coin life was about 25 years, and the Great Depression probably pulled a lot of seated coins out of piggy banks and coffee cans.

pursuitofliberty · March 13, 2010 9:02AM

I am too young to remember such things (at least real circulation, unlike the strange occurances of one now and again now) ...
however my Grandmother told me back in the early 90's on an occaision that I had asked, that she had remembered seeing
Seated coins as a young girl, and seemd to think she saw them (albeit with less frequency) all the way up until the start of
the war (WWII).

She specifically recalled getting several from them from one of her Uncle's as a young girl ... one of which she had never heard
of before ... said it was very small ... and called a "half dime".

She was born in 1908 ... not with us any more ... but had a great memory and was a wonderful history "teacher".

ProofArtworkonCircs · March 13, 2010 1:42PM

I was looking though my father's change purse in the 1940's and never saw a seated Liberty in circulation. I wanted a 1900 Barber, but never found that particular date. In the late 1950's and early 1960's there were some Seated Liberty dollars around (I should say released, they didn't last long), but I never found one.

magikbilly · March 13, 2010 3:42PM

Hi there,

About 12 years ago I saw an 1877 25C in circulation. It was spent in a store my brother runs. When I was a kid in the 1970's the oldest coins I recall seeing in circulation were perhaps 50-60 years old on average.

Best wishes,
Eric

Bjorn · March 13, 2010 10:49PM

No clue, but I think they were mostly gone by the 1930s, at least according to my grandparents - who didn't remember ever really finding any. They did report that Indian Heads and Barbers were still knocking about though... the oldest coin I ever received in change was a barber dime in cull condition in the early 80s.

CaptHenway · March 13, 2010 11:46PM

Whitman used to make albums for seated coins, so there may have been a few still around in the late 30's and 40's. Perhaps enough got out during the Great Depression, when people spent not only their piggy banks but their collections to have money to eat, to make them noticeable.
TD

droopyd · March 14, 2010 1:37AM

<< <i>Typical coin life was about 25 years, and the Great Depression probably pulled a lot of seated coins out of piggy banks and coffee cans. >>

My Dad, who used to deliver the Saturday Evening Post as a kid during Depression days, said that he occasionally would receive very slick Seated coinage as part of his collections (along with a fair amount of Barber material). He tried to hold onto as much of it as he could, but times being what they were, they all to often had to go back into circulation.

SaorAlba · March 14, 2010 1:53AM

My grandmother said that she had once gotten a Flying Eagle cent in change once for a nickel candy purchase - she thought it was neat and old, but alas, the depression being what it was and money rather scarce she spent it a few days later.

shorecoll · March 14, 2010 1:58AM

My mother got a nearly slick seated dime at a convenience store in the 70's (likely liberated from a collection). Indian cents were still in circulation in the 60's and 70's but they were very scarce.

SmallSizedGuy · March 14, 2010 2:56AM

My mother was born in 1937 and lived in the upper midwest. She said she never saw seated coinage or Indian cents.

My father was born in 1931 in Tennessee. He also stated he never saw seated coinage, but did see Indian cents in circulation into the 1950s in that part of the country.

roadrunner · March 14, 2010 2:57AM

Breen specifically mentioned that as a youngster he saw 1853 A&R quarters in change in the 1940's. The date was so common that no one paid them any mind as they were just worn out silver coins probably worth less than a generally unworn 1940's quarter. Other 1853 arrows denominations were among the most common of their types as well so no surprise they too were found in the 30's,40's as well.

roadrunner

stumpy041486 · March 14, 2010 3:31AM

This one left circulation Friday.

Barry · March 14, 2010 3:37AM

I recall as a kid in the 60s picking occasional IHCs and Mercs from circulation. Was it different for the previous generation?

Overdate · March 14, 2010 4:39AM

Growing up on the east coast, I started checking my change in the mid-1950s. Found an Indian cent and Barber half but never any seated coins.

JJM · March 14, 2010 7:00AM

Ha, I had some seated halves "in Play" as chips in my house
game last nite ....and some barber slicks

so that would be in circulation, no?

291fifth · March 14, 2010 7:04AM

In 1933, my grandfather, living in Chicago, thought finding an 1843-O Seated Quarter in change so unusual that he saved it. He gave it to me in 1956. I still have it.

lkenefic · March 14, 2010 7:11AM

My grandfather worked at a soda fountain during the Depression. He had many Indian Head Cents dating from the 1880's. This was after my brother had already gone through it, so I'm certain there was older coinage in higher denominations... don't specifically recall any Seated coins though...

BTW... that 1871 is incredible! Probably just re-entered circulation

L

IrishMikey · March 14, 2010 11:44AM

I remember finding a totally worn-out Seated dime in 1961 or 1962, when I was
going through the family change cup. When I showed it to my father, who grew up
during the Depression, he said he had never seen one like that when he was young.

Of course, a dime in the 1930's was a small fortune, so his chances were much smaller
back then.

When did Seated coinage leave circulation?

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