Natural Toning
1859-O


Obverse
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Reverse
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Coin Details

  

Set Details
Origin/Country: United States
Design Description: SILVER DOLLARS - SEATED LIBERTY, NO MOTTO
Item Description: $1 1859 O
Grade: PCGS AU 58
Owner: Hagop
 
Winning Set: Natural Toning
Date Added: 4/6/2021
Research: See NGC's Census Report for this Coin

Owner's Description

A stunning fully original example wrapped in a natural gray and golden patina. Direct lighting reveals iridescent undertones of lavender and champagne-gold with loads of satiny mint luster. Indisputably a non-hoard coin whose abundant luster, un-abraded surfaces, and flawless rims, lead one to conclude that this beauty spent very little time
in circulation. The combination of these premium characteristics make it a joy to view.

The increase in circulation strike silver dollar mintages at the Philadelphia Mint in 1859 and 1860, as well as the resumption of dollar coinage at New Orleans in the same years, was made possible by the discoveries of large silver deposits in the West, especially in Nevada, where discovery of the rich Comstock Lode was made public in 1859. Much of the bullion was shipped to the East and South, where it was deposited for coinage into dollars at the Philadelphia and New Orleans mints, with the intent of using the coins in the export trade to China. The 1859-O, with an unusually large mintage for the type of 360,000 pieces, was probably widely represented among the more than 1,250,000 silver dollars shipped to China in 1859, 1860, and 1861. Yet even so, it is one of the most common Liberty Seated dollars in Mint State due to the Treasury Department releases of 1962 to 1964, which probably yielded between one and two bags of heavily abraded examples. This piece, however, is not a Treasury Hoard coin and is far scarcer, especially with its richly original and problem free surfaces. Far more challenging to locate with this kind of quality than most collectors realize.

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