Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States - A Complete Encyclopedia

These figures, while interesting, cannot be correct, as if 60,638 dollars dated 1803 were coined, and 81,914 dated 1802, the total with these dates is 142,552, whereas government figures indicate that if all coins minted in 1802 and 1803 were dated those two years, no more than 127,284 could have been struck. Seeking an explanation for this, I considered two possibilities:

1. The certification data alone, on which these numbers are based, are not sufficient; additional information such as specific Economite data, which do not exist, is needed as well.
2. Or, the error, which amounts to about 11 %, is within the range of acceptability.
I prefer to think that the revised mintage figures for 1795-1800, based on a combination of Economite and certification data, are more reliable.

Author's Estimated Figures All Years

Mintage Figure Conclusions

1794 dollars: Analysis of this date is excluded from the present discussion. Earlier, I noted that the finding of just one coin in the 1878 Economite Hoard Was not statistically significant. Similarly, as 1794 dollars are very valuable today; worn specimens at all grade levels have been submitted and resubmitted in a much greater frequency than have been worn dollars of other dates.

1795 dollars: From the large number of surviving coins today and in the Economite Hoard, I conclude that the mintage of 1795"dated coins approximates 391,521 coins, as compared to the government mintage figure of 203,033. Accordingly, many coins dated 1795 must have been struck in later years. Likely candidates for at least part of this mintage are the calendar years 1796 and 1798. For 1798 in particular, the' number of 1798-dated coins struck seems to be far less than the government figure for the year.

1796 dollars: The government mintage figure of 72,290 and my estimated mintage figure of 75,212 are close enough. However, much of this mintage may have been dated 1795, thus moving part of the coinage of 1796-dated dollars forward to 1798. A candidate for striking at a later date is 1796 BE-66, with the Small Letters reverse die relapped.

All I am suggesting is that an estimated 75,212 1796-dated dollars were struck sometime in 1796 or in later years.

1797 dollars: I suggest that approximately 60,805 1797-dated dollars were struck but the years of striking are unknown. The government states that 7,776 dollars were struck in the calendar year 1797, but it seems virtually definite that the actual mintage of 1797-dated dollars was far greater. Thus, 1797-dated dollars were mainly struck later than 1797. I believe that most were coined in the early months of 1798, prior to the introduction of 1798-dated dollars with Heraldic Eagle reverse.

My estimated mintage figure for dollars dated 1796 is 75,212, and that for 1797 is 60,805. This seems to conform with observations in the coin market that today the 1797 is just slightly scarcer than the 1796.

1798 dollars: I suggest that approximately 235,785 1798-dollars were made in calendar year 1798 and in later years as well. The government mintage figure for calendar year 1798 is 327,536 pieces. I believe that the extra coins, amounting to at least 90,000+ coins-and even more if 1798-dollars were struck after 1798-consisted of dollars of earlier dates 1795-7.

1799 dollars: I suggest that approximately 395,498 1799-dated dollars were minted. The government states that 423,515 dollars were struck in calendar year 1799. Presumably, at least several tens of thousands of these bore earlier dates.

1800 dollars: The government mintage figure is 220,920, while I suggest that approximately 99,224 were struck with the 1800 date. Thus, probably at least 120,000 or so were of earlier dates.

I believe that there is a strong possibility that during any given calendar year after 1795, to 1800, there were Coins struck from dies bearing earlier dates.

1801-1802-1803 dollars: The government states that 181,738 dollars were struck in these years (the 1803 figure includes some dollars struck early in 1804 from older dies). I suggest that the mintage figure was about 178,823, which seems close enough.

Unfortunately, Economite Hoard data are not available for the 1801, 1802, and 1803 years individually. Using certification data extrapolations alone-which, I believe leads to in-accuracies-these numbers are obtained: