1840

General Comments The Liberty Seated dollar series was initiated at a time when both demand for dollar coins and the supply of silver bullion were small. As a result, most mintages are tiny relative to other lower denomination series of the era. 1840 is no exception. Despite its small mintage, 1840 is a relatively common date in the Liberty Seated dollar series. Its mintage of 61,005 ranks 28th out of 47 dates. Prices are a little higher than other common dates due to the demand for first-year-of-issue coins. Examples are easy to locate in virtually any desired grade. They only become rare in choice to gem BU, MS63 or better. Choice to gem coins will bring a significant premium over the common date price. The finest known business strike examples are MS64. PCGS has graded four such examples. NGC has graded one. CACG has also graded one, probably one of the four noted above. Dropping down to MS63, PCGS and NGC have graded a total of 18 examples. A total of 88 coins have been graded in all mint state grades. As much as 25% of this total almost surely represents duplicate grading records, created by re-submissions. Business strike grading statistics are as of December, 2024.		Mintage 61,005 Proof mintage 40 estimated Mintage ranking 28th Finest known MS64, PR65 Known obverse dies 5 Known reverse dies 5 Known die marriages 10  (1 unconfirmed) Most common die marriage OC-1 / R2 Rarest business strike die marriage OC-5 / R7 Rarest die marriage OC-P2 / R8 OC-P5/ Unconfirmed

1840 is an interesting year for proof issues, deserving a separate discussion. PCGS and NGC each show more than 20 coins graded as proof, while I estimate that only a total of 40 exist in that format. Most of this paradox can be attributed to re-submissions. Each service shows many examples in PR63, and several in PR64. I guess that one or more collectors and/or dealers tried numerous times to get several of these coins into higher grade holders. They may have ultimately been successful, but it appears that many attempts were necessary to achieve that success, and that several unsuccessful attempts created grading records that haven’t been deleted from the population reports. My review of the Heritage and Stacks-Bowers archives revealed 24 individual coins sold since 1999, a number consistent with our survival estimate. Another small part of the explanation is the slabbing of early business strikes as proofs. I mentioned previously in my discussion of proofs vs. business strikes that many early strikes have strong prooflike characteristics. With no documentation available to clearly differentiate proofs from business strikes the result has been inconsistency in the proper identification of the format.

I currently believe that the varieties I’ve identified as OC-P1, OC-P2, OC-P3, and OC-P4 were intended to be proof issues, although, as I will note below, the conclusion for OC-P4 is a little shaky. Reverse die PA, used for the OC-P1 and OC-P2 varieties, was used for proofs from 1840 through 1854. No business strikes have been found with this reverse, making these two varieties unquestionably proof-only issues. The dies used to strike OC-P3 were also used to strike the OC-3 business strikes. After examining one of the existing proof examples of this die marriage, a PR64 Cameo example certified by PCGS, I concluded that it is unquestionably proof. Not only does the coin display all the indicators of strike quality that one would expect from a proof, but the obverse has a lint mark below the date, a feature seldom seen on business strikes. I’ve examined numerous examples of this die pair that are clearly business strikes, so my conclusion is that this die pair was used to issue both formats. The proof issues are clearly earlier die states than the business strikes, so that also supports my conclusion. This makes 1840 one of a small number of years that violates my assumption that proof and business strike dies weren’t mixed. Similarly, the dies used to strike OC-P4 were also used to strike OC-4 business strikes. I’ve personally examined one proof example of this die marriage, a PR55 example encapsulated by PCGS. I’ve reviewed high-resolution pictures of two others. All three coins exhibit the strike characteristics that would identify them as proofs. My reference collection example of this die marriage is weakly struck on the eagle feathers, making it likely that it’s a business strike. Two other examples, from the John Frost collection, have been directly examined. Both exhibit minor strike weaknesses, making it likely that they were intended as business strikes. I’ve seen pictures of two other lightly circulated examples in the Heritage archives that are slabbed as business strikes. One appears to exhibit the strike weakness of a business strike. The other photo is inconclusive. I’ve concluded that the P3-PC die combination was used for both proofs and business strikes.

I’ve also included in my proof die marriage listing a 5th variety, OC-P5. Breen identifies a second die marriage for the P1 obverse die. I have not been able to confirm the existence of this die marriage, but I left the place holder just in case one turns up.

As an aside to this discussion, I can address one more issue that has been discussed for many years. Some writers have postulated that all the proofs minted with my 1840 PA reverse are restrikes, struck at some point in the 1850’s or early 1860’s. I’ve found two years, 1840 and 1850, where obverse dies that were paired with this reverse were also used to strike business strikes. I’ve examined proofs for both years and compared them with business strike examples. In each case the business strikes are later die states, indicating that, at least for these two years, the proofs are regular issues, not restrikes. I believe that this is enough data to lead to the general conclusion that all the proofs married to reverse 1840 PA are regular issues. I’ve confirmed use of the 1840 PA reverse die to strike proofs for all years through 1854 except 1851 and 1853.

Finally, I’d like to note that there is some disagreement on die marriages OC-P1 and OC-P2. John Dannreuther has concluded that the dies which I’ve identified as P1 and P2 are the same (reference 29). After careful study I believe that my original conclusions were correct, and they are different dies. However, these conclusions are based on examining pictures of a very small number of coins, so there is room for error. For this addition of my book, I continue to include both dies, identified as they were in the first Edition.

9 die marriages have been positively identified. 4 obverse dies were paired with 4 different reverse dies to strike five business strike die pairs. Two of the obverse dies and two reverses were also used to strike proofs. Two die pairs are found in both proof and business strike formats. Two additional proof die marriages were struck by the reverse die used for almost all proofs from 1840 through 1854. There is a possibility that a 5th proof die marriage exists. This die marriage is documented in the Breen reference (reference 7). It pairs my Obverse P1 with a reverse die different from that used in my OC-P1 die marriage. I haven’t confirmed the existence of this die pair, but I’ve left a place for it in my die marriage listings for this date in case one is confirmed later. The following table summarizes the currently known (or assumed) die marriages for 1840.

Click the links below to view the details of the die marriages.

The 1840 business strike emission sequence can’t be conclusively determined since there is no overlap of any of the currently identified dies. This could change in the future if additional die marriages are discovered which pair one or more of the currently identified dies.

We believe that the first 3 positions in the emission sequence are ordered correctly, although it should be noted that the die polishing is very minor and subject to interpretation. Positions 4 and 5 are arbitrary.

Attribution of 1840 coins is relatively simple. First assume that you’re looking at OC-1, since that die marriage makes up almost 75% of the population. If the obverse isn’t Obverse 1 then determine its attribution. If it’s Obverse 2 or Obverse P1 you’re done. They’re only married to a single reverse. For the other obverses attribution of the reverse die will be required.

The table below summarizes the key characteristics of each of the currently known obverse dies:

The table below shows the characteristics that allow quick identification of the die marriages.

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