1867 Seated Half Dollar NGC PF66 Ultra Cameo Everest
Rick Tomaska's Live Auction Featured Coin
Thursday, October 12th, 2023
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- Mintage: 625
- NGC Population: 1/1
- PCGS Population: 1/0
- CU Price Guide = $20,000
- Finest Known: PF67 UCAM (1) – Last sold nearly a decade ago for approximately $35,000.
- Christian Gobrecht’s Seated Liberty is one of the most influential and important designs across United States coinage.
- Not only was it the flagship design on the nation’s silver coinage for most of the 19th century but it was the design chosen for the reintroduction of the U.S. silver dollar, which hadn’t been struck in over thirty years, since production was indefinitely suspended in 1803.
- The final design featured the figure of Liberty seated on a rock, draped in a loose-fitting gown—suggesting statuary from Hellenistic Greece. She is looking over her right shoulder, her right arm supporting the Union shield. Her left arm holds a long pole with a Liberty cap on top.
- Gracing the reverse was a noble eagle design with dropped wings, a shield on its breast as well olive branches and arrows grasped by the bird’s talons.
- With the silver dollar not circulating for the last 30 years, the second largest silver counterpart, the half dollar, had gained favor in channels of commerce.
- This was quite evident in the first five years of production of the Seated Liberty Dollar as the Philadelphia Mint struck 628,223 dollars from 1840 to 1845, compared to 9,956,772 half dollars.
- Once gold was discovered in 1848, at Sutter’s Mill the overabundance of the precious metal caused its price to drop and in turn had the opposite effect on the price of silver, raising it to the point in which its intrinsic value exceeded its face value.
- Between 1850 through 1875, more gold was discovered than in the previous 350 years, causing a worldwide shift in monetary systems. Before long 200 half dollars no longer amounted to $100 in gold but instead $106.60.
- This raise in silver prices resulted in hoarding, exporting, and melting that was only further amplified heading into the 1860s. Economic uncertainty surrounding the ever-looming Civil War caused further complications for circulating silver in the United States and before the end of 1861, the government suspended specie payment, which would not formally resume until 1879.
- Following the Civil War, a sense of religious zeal swept the nation. The motto IN GOD WE TRUST was subsequently added to the two-cent piece in 1864 and by March 3, 1865, the addition of the motto was mandated on all silver coins above a dime and all gold coins above the three-dollar.
- Proof Seated Liberty Half Dollars were produced in extremely small quantities throughout the series but even more so during the Civil War and the years shortly after its conclusion.
- Mintages for Proof Seated Liberty Half Dollars ranged between a handful of coins per issue to less than 1,500 coins per issue. In total, fewer than 30,000 Proof Seated Liberty Half Dollars were struck from 1839 to 1891.
- The present 1867 PF66 UCAM ranks as one of the finest surviving specimens for the 2nd year of issue With Motto Seated Liberty Half Dollar and represents a tremendous blend of rarity and history, making it the perfect addition for the astute collector.
