Q. David Bowers
As they were worth more than face value, Liberty Seated silver dollars did not circulate in the United States for more than two decades after the spring of 1853.
I believe that the Treasury and banks held back certain Liberty Seated dollars, particularly those dated from 1840 to 1850 and from the late 1860s onward, and paid them out at face value after the mid-1870s, at which time they circulated in the channels of commerce, particularly in the American West. The number of such coins was probably not large, and amounted to a few hundred thousand at most. This would account for the presence of such coins, all showing evidence of circulation, in Treasury-held bags released in 1962-1964. The accounts from the 1890s described below may represent some such coins, perhaps pieces which for some reason were not melted as intended.
The Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, 1890, informed the public that during the most recent 12- month period some 31,204 silver dollars of 1873 and prior years were transferred from the Treasury Department to the Philadelphia Mint to be melted into coins of denominations from the dime to the half dollar. Also transferred were 11,977 "standard dollars," which presumably were Morgan dollars. On other occasions, quantities of Liberty Seated dollars were transferred to the Mint and melted.
Numismatic considerations: So far as I have been able to determine, there was no numismatic interest in saving Liberty Seated dollars from circulation during the years they were minted. Such pieces could only have been saved by collectors seeking them before they disappeared from circulation beginning in spring 1853, or held by the general public as souvenirs for sentimental reasons.
Decades later, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, bankers and others saved some coins from circulation, while other bankers and brokers turned them back to the Treasury. Mint reports' indicate, for example, that in 1891, some 10,800 "mutilated and uncurrent" silver dollars were redeemed by the Treasury and melted, followed by 42,881 in 1892, 10,500 in 1893, 15,055 in 1894, etc; Presumably, many such coins were of the Liberty Seated type (with some Flowing Hair, Draped Bust and 1836-1839 Cobrecht dollars, too?). Numismatically knowledgeable bank tellers of which there were many, saved the scarcer dates.
Hoarding after July 1862: In July 1862; silver coins of all denominations disappeared from circulation, by which time the Treasury had suspended paying out additional coins, a situation that was to last until after the end of the Liberty Seated series.
Treasury hoards of "daddies": In 1962-1964 the Treasury Department released long-held bags of silver dollars from its stocks. Included among these were tens of thousands of worn Liberty Seated dollars of dates from 1840 to. 1873, but primarily of dates in the 1840s, plus 1871.2 All dates and mintmarks were represented except 1870-S. Finds included at least one worn Proof 1858, at least one or-two 1851 and 1852 dollars, dozens of 1870-CC, and several or more of 1871-CC, 1872-CC, and 1873-CC, with the last-named being the most elusive Carson City date. These Treasury-held Liberty Seated coins were probably gathered in as obsolete coins after Morgan dollars were released (beginning in 1878)" but for some reason never went to the melting pot. Some far-sighted employee(s) at the Treasury Department packed them into separate cloth bags containing 1,000 coins each and marked "DADDIES" on each bag," a misadaptation of the "dollars of our daddies" term used by collectors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to denote dollars of the 1794-1803 years.
It is not known what the total population of worn Liberty Seated dollars is, but before the Treasury release of 1962-1964, many dates were plentiful in numismatic circulation, tens of thousands were believed to exist in numismatic circles.
Melting: As is the case with Mint State Liberty Seated dollars discussed earlier, the government melting of silver dollars in 1873 (in particular, 1873, 1873-CC, and 1873-S) had effects upon the survival ratio of certain issues.
Summary of reasons: The survival of circulated Liberty Seated dollars today can be approximately related to mintage figures of the 1840s, but for later dates other factors intervened, and the coins have to be studied on a date-by-date basis. Each of the reasons given above played a part.
Determining the population: How, then, can the population of extant circulated Liberty Seated dollars be determined? I have used various sources of information and have added my own opinions.