W.I. Seated Halves
1866-S Motto

Owner Comments:

This coin marked a major change in the Seated Half Dollar reverse design when the motto "In God We Trust" was placed on a ribbon above the eagle's head. The San Francisco mint had not received the new reverse dies when the year began. They used usable dies from the prior year to strike 60,000 halves without the "In God We Trust" motto. Once the new reverse dies were in hand, over 16 times as many halves were struck with the motto compared to those struck without the motto. Strangely enough, when one examines the PCGS and NGC slabbed populations for this date, slight more no motto coins have been slabbed than motto coins. The vast majority of the no motto slabs are in low grades indicating these coins were long used in commerce before being retired. The with motto coin grades average much higher. I wonder if quantities of the with motto coins in the lower grades exist in the hands of collectors who do not consider them valuable enough to warrant paying the cost to have them slabbed? Perhaps time will tell.