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Message:: [QUOTE="zach24, post: 1347613, member: 29975"]A synopsis of the Seated Liberty design It is not easy for me to pick a favorite series of coinage, I enjoy most all coins ever produced by the United States, but there is one thattakes the crown, and that would be the beautiful Seated Liberty design. It isthe perfect combination of history and art. It was struck on 6 denominations(Half Dime, Dime, Twenty Cent, Quarter, Half Dollar, and Dollar), and spanned 55 years! When production had first begun, America was still a fledgling, inthe shadow of global superpowers such as Great Britain and France, by the end of its production in 1891, America had grown to dominate the globe. The story of the Seated Liberty design begins in 1785 with the birth of Christian Gobrecht, the third chief engraver of the mint. Before his employment at the mint, Gobrecht was a Clock engraver in Baltimore. In 1811,the 26 year old Gobrecht moved to Philadelphia in 1811, where he soon foundwork as a die sinker. Fast forward 24 years. It is now 1835, and Gobrecht hasnow been hired as the Assistant Chief Engraver of the Mint, after a stroke by then Chief Engraver, William Kneass. From this point on, Gobrecht would do all pattern and die work for the mint. Plans for Seated Liberty first began in 1835 when Mint Director Robert Patterson hired a pair of artists, Titian Peale and Thomas Sully, to create a design for the Seated Liberty. Patterson gave many recommendations toSully, telling him precisely what he wanted. Patterson wanted Liberty sitting on a boulder, with a liberty pole in her right hand, he also knew what he wanted for the reverse- a natural looking eagle, he said a shield on the breast madet he eagle look unnatural, but it is obvious that a shield was placed on the eagle anyhow. Gobrecht used Sully’s sketches as a guide when producing thecopper plates with the realized design. Half Dimes- Seated Liberty Half dimes were produced every year from 1837 until 1873. Mintages vary widely, with the most plentiful date being the 1853, with a mintage of 13.2 million, and the scarcestdate, 1867, with just 8,000 pieces struck for circulation! There are 6 varieties of Seated Half Dimes:1.   No Stars (1837-38)2.   Stars Around Rim, no drapery (1838-40)3.   Drapery & Stars (1840-53)4.   Arrows at date (1853-55)5.   Arrows at date removed (1856-59)6.   “The United States of America” motto type, replacing obverse stars (1860-73) <img src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR9t80UupLm5Mj05swZRb-O_cKvrap1aMSOIS5-QM1T1LgZBABH" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />Dimes- Seated Liberty Dimes were minted every year from 1837 until 1891, the highest mintage of this coin is observedwith the 1891 Philadelphia issue at over 15 million pieces struck, and the lowest held with 1867 Philadelphia issue at a mere 6,000 examples struck! The varieties are nearly the same as the Seated Half Dime with a couple added:1.   No Stars (1837-38)2.   Stars Around Rim, no drapery (1838-40)3.   Drapery & Stars (1840-53)4.   Arrows at date (1853-55)5.   Arrows at date removed (1856-59)6.   “The United States of America” motto type, replacing obverse stars (1860-73)7.   Arrows at Date [again!] (1873-74)8.   Variety 6 resumed (1875-1891) <img src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQOn9iZjbZ8zB1st9jgcegfpyDoNz3oRDsFCHt7EKtcm8asWRKp" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Twenty Cent- The 20 cent piece was struck from 1875 until 1878, a direct result of the Comstock Lode, a discovery of Silverore at Virginia City, Nevada. The Twenty cent has low mintages for all of its 3 years, with one major outlier, the 1875 San Francisco issue, with a mintage of1.155 million; it exceeds the second highest mintage by over 900,000! While it shares the same basic obverse of its Seated Liberty sisters, there were a few changes… Instead of ‘United States of America’ circling the obverse design, ithas 13 stars, and more obvious is the reverse which is totally redesigned! It still has an eagle in the same position, it is very different, and in my opinion, the Eagle resembles a chicken more than a majestic Bald Eagle. The toughest coin to acquire in this extremely short series is the 1877, of which a measly 350 proof were struck!<img src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSTYL5mvp4v579Sk7a83xMjetp4Dmv6rg9_N4_K_eh_0qPBgTWM" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Quarter- The 25c Seated Liberty was struck continuously from 1838 until 1891, the highest minted coin in this series is the 1876 issue,with a massive 17 million coins being struck at Philadelphia, the lowest issue is the 1873- Carson City, with only 4,000 examples struck, this proves to be an extremely tough date today. The Seated Quarter had varieties, as follows:1.   Noreverse motto (1838-52)2.   Arrows at Date, Rays reverse (1853)3.   Arrows at Date, No rays (1854-55) 4.   No motto resumed (1856-1865)5.   “In God We Trust” motto added to reverse (1866-1891)6.   Arrows at Date (1873-74)7.   Reverse  Motto resumed (1875-91)<img src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcREpnCm-dchkJ91wDzL11F3P2FnRteqxzeL8F-aLHz_l4bY5ux_" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Half Dollar- The Seated Half Dollar was struck every year from 1839 until 1891, the highest minted coin, like the Seated Quarter, is the 1876, the smallest, being a super-rarity, is the 1853- New Orleans with an estimated 5, yes 5, struck! These can be collected with relative ease, but you will need to cough up some money for scarcer dates such as 1879 Philadelphia issue. Like all other Seated Liberty coins, the half being no exception, there is a short list of sub-types that were minted:1.   Basic No Motto (1839-52)2.   Arrows at Date, Rays Reverse (1853)3.   Arrows at Date, Rays removed (1854-55)4.   Basic No motto resumed (1856-66)5.   Modified, motto ‘In God We Trust’ added (1866-91)6.   Arrowsat Date (1873-74)7.   With Motto Design restored (1875-1891)<img src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRTS0hcKSqxpQDUtTHaOuNfI3Gd4rAB_IlEwHroH4-Dmoe_9u8j" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Dollar- The Seated Liberty Dollar was struck every year from 1840 (not counting the Gobrecht type) until 1873; it wasthe first time since 1803 that Dollar coins were struck regularly for circulation.The Seated Dollar series is extremely tough to complete, due to the fact that most all mintages are low, with only 2 exceeding 1 million: 1871 & 1872.Seated Dollars are very often counterfeited and you should thoroughly inspect an example before purchasing it. Every date is tough, but dates like 1858 withonly 300 proofs minted or 1870-S, with only 12 minted are even more so. The Seated Dollar has only two varieties, No motto (1840-1866) and with motto(1866-1873). The coin was replaced with the Trade Dollar in 1873, opponents ofthe act called it “The Crime of ‘73”. <img src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSylVgKQWg4bt-2-07Twsmv1bpkp69sGFhVBGBzRZQd4Ax6z314" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />Understanding the Arrows modifications- The placement of Arrows on such dates as 1853 and 1873 are more than just artisticflare, they signify a change in weight for the coins bearing these signs. Due to increasing prices of Silver, the weights of Half Dimes to Half Dollars were reduced in 1853, and again modified in 1873. [/QUOTE]

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