• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Key Date Coins

United States Key Date Coin Guides

  • Key Date Coin Guides
  • My Coin Guides

1870-S Seated Liberty Half Dime

Background and History

The 1870-S Half Dime represents one of the most enigmatic rarities within American numismatics. According to official mint records no examples of the coin were ever struck, yet a single example was discovered in 1978. This represented a major numismatic event and added a unique issue to the series of Seated Liberty Half Dimes.

1870-S Seated Liberty Half Dime

The story of the discovery has been recounted in various references and although it seems fantastic, it has been confirmed multiple times by major numismatic scholars. The unique 1870-S Seated Liberty Half Dime was originally discovered in a dealer’s “junk box” containing common, low value coins. Shortly thereafter, it would be publicly exhibited at the 1978 American Numismatic Association convention held in Houston, Texas. The coin was examined and declared genuine by Kam Ahwash, a noted expert on Seated Liberty coinage, and Walter Breen, a major numismatic scholar.

It is believed that the 1870-S Half Dime was created to commemorate the laying of the cornerstone of the second San Francisco Mint in 1870. This information comes from a slip of paper accompanying another unique coin, the 1870-s Three Dollar Gold Piece, when it was offered at auction in 1911. The paper contained a note from J.B. Hampstead, Chief Coiner of the San Francisco Mint in 1870, indicating that two examples of the 1870-S Three Dollar Gold Piece had been struck, with one placed at the cornerstone of the new Mint and the second kept as a duplicate.

While unconfirmed, most numismatic researchers believe that the information provided in the note by Hampstead also applies to the 1870-S Seated Liberty Half Dime. If this is true, then another example of the coin could still be retained within the cornerstone of the second San Francisco Mint, possibly along with 1870-S dated coins of other denominations.

Coin Grade and Value

Since the 1870-S Half Dime is a unique coin, the grade is perhaps not as important as for other rarities where multiple examples exist. For a long time, the coin had been graded MS-63 by both PCGS and NGC. The coin was eventually upgraded to MS-64 and housed in a PCGS holder as part of the Law collection.

The unique coin shares some characteristics with other San Francisco Half Dimes of the era. Most notably it is slightly weakly struck in the upper left reverse. Also, the mintmark on the reverse is filled and not immediately recognizable as an “S” without closer examination. When the issue was first identified as genuine in 1978, it was also determined that the same reverse die was used to strike 1871-S Half Dimes.

The first publicized sale of the 1870-S Half Dime occurred in 1978 shortly after its discovery. The coin was sold for $425,000 to John Abbott, with the price determined as $25,000 more than the 1804 Silver Dollar that was sold as part of the John Work Garrett collection.

During the 1990’s, the coin would be offered on the public market for $1.5 million dollars, however a buyer was never found. The coin was eventually offered at a public auction held in 2004 where it sold for a price of $661,250. Five years later, the coin would be sold privately for $1.4 million dollars.

Primary Sidebar

More Key Date Coins

Large Cents

1793 Chain Cent

Small Cents

1856 Flying Eagle Cent
1877 Indian Head Cent
1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent
1922 Lincoln Cent
1955 Doubled Die Lincoln Cent
1969-S Doubled Die Lincoln Cent

Nickels

1880 Shield Nickel
1885 Liberty Nickel
1913 Liberty Nickel
1937-D 3 Legged Buffalo Nickel

Half Dimes

1792 Half Disme
1802 Draped Bust Half Dime
1870-S Seated Liberty Half Dime

Dimes

1894-S Barber Dime
1916-D Mercury Dime

Twenty Cent Pieces

1876-CC Twenty Cent Piece

Quarters

1796 Draped Bust Quarter
1901-S Barber Quarter
1916 Standing Liberty Quarter
1932 D & S Washington Quarter

Half Dollars

1878-S Seated Liberty Half Dollar
1921 Walking Liberty Half Dollar

Silver Dollars

1794 Flowing Hair Dollar
1804 Draped Bust Dollar
1893-S Morgan Dollar
1895 Proof Morgan Dollar
1928 Peace Dollar

Three Dollar Gold Pieces

1870-S Three Dollar Gold Piece

Half Eagles

1822 Capped Bust Half Eagle

Double Eagles

1849 Liberty Double Eagle
1854-O Liberty Double Eagle
1856-O Liberty Double Eagle
1870-CC Liberty Double Eagle
1907 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle
1927-D Saint Gaudens Double Eagle
1933 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle

Commemoratives

1915-S Panama Pacific $50 Gold Piece

Modern Series

1995-W Proof Silver Eagle

Copyright © 2022 Key Date Coins · Maintained by MyCoinGuides.com
All Rights Reserved · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Contact Us