1891 Liberty Seated Dimes 1837-1891 AU58

History

The 1891-S falls in the last year of the Liberty Seated dime, a series cataloged from 1837 through 1891 and ended when the Barber design took over in 1892. It belongs to Type 5, the Legend Obverse subtype and the final configuration the design carried. San Francisco struck 3,196,116 dimes that year, the smallest business-strike figure of the three 1891 issues but still a multi-million-piece coinage, and more than double the 1,423,076 the branch had produced in 1890. Philadelphia also struck proofs in 1891, distributed only in six-piece sets of the silver and minor coins.

Details

The alloy is the standard 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper, with a weight of 2.50 grams, a diameter of 17.90 mm and a reeded edge. All 3,196,116 pieces came from the San Francisco Mint. Grading-service auction records place the issue's high mark at $10,281, paid in July 2022 for a coin graded MS67+.

Features

The Legend Obverse configuration used from 1860 onward places the inscription around the seated figure, and the 1891-S represents the last year that layout was struck at San Francisco. The mintmark appears on the reverse, and S-mint Seated dimes carry a long-standing attribution hazard: a horizontal file line or die defect in the lower loop of the S has repeatedly been mistaken for a repunched S over S, a problem recorded in detail on the 1887-S, where only a small number of repunchings are accepted as genuine. The Medium O over Horizontal O mintmark variety sometimes associated with 1891 belongs to the New Orleans issue, not to the San Francisco coinage.

Notable facts

• Philadelphia struck 15,310,000 dimes in 1891 and New Orleans struck 4,540,000.
• Proof coinage for 1891 is reported at 600 pieces, all from Philadelphia, and no proof 1891-S dimes were made.
• PCGS alone has certified more than 240 of the 1891 proof dimes.
• The 1891-S is common in circulated grades, and its value is concentrated at the top of the Mint State range.
• The Pittman Act of 1918 applied to standard silver dollars and had no bearing on dime issues such as this one.