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

9. Boyd Specimen. VF (initials removed)
• William Hesslein. This 1870-S dollar is believed to have first appeared publicly in a William Hesslein sale, December 2, 1926, as part of the "California Consignment." Lot 900. Hesslein, of New Haven, Connecticut, and, later, Boston, had a checkered numismatic career and ended it by decamping with coins belonging to others and with a string of unpaid obligations. With initials F.H.1. (later removed) in obverse field. Hesslein's description follows: "1870 San Francisco Mint dollar. Obv. Fine, initials F.H.I. engraved before Liberty, back of Liberty [sic] an attempt was made to take the initials off leaving a gouged appearance. Rev. Fine to V. Fine letter S very clear. The mint record does not show any coinage of this piece. It is claimed there were only seven of these pieces struck. I cannot trace but one and this was sold to a prominent banker at a very large figure. This piece is the rarest of the branch mint coinage and is limited [reserved] at $1,500. (One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars.) In fact as to rarity I do not know of another coin that would equal it. Who is going to be the owner of the prize of the sale?"
• Frederick C.C. Boyd. (Coin now without initials in field.) Boyd was a well-known businessman affiliated with the Union News Company, which maintained concessions in cities and railroad stations in the United States. He was a numismatist in the frnest sense of the word, and spent much time and enjoyable effort studying his holdings, which ranged from colonials to territorial gold. His federal silver and gold coins were auctioned as "The World's Greatest Collection" in 1945-1946, with the 1870-S dollar being sold in the former year. Lot 271, $1,650. After Boyd's death, many of his colonial coins, medals, and other items were purchased by John J. Ford, Jr., then of Rockville Centre, New York.
• Hollinbeck Coin Company's Southern Sale (94th mail bid sale), February 28, 1951, Lot 1248, to Earl M. Skinner for $1,325.
• Earl M. Skinner. New Netherlands Coin Company's 39th Sale, November 1952. Lot 162, $1,200. New Netherlands Coin Company was founded in 1936 by Moritz Wormser, who earlier had served as president of the American Numismatic Association. In 1950 the firm, then owned by Charles M. Wormser, took in John J. Ford, Jr. as an associate. From the early 1950s until Ford's retirement in the 1970s, the New Netherlands company justifiably prided itself on its numismatic expertise. From time to time the firm employed other numismatic experts including David M. Bullowa, Walter H. Breen, and G. Jon Hanson.
• Charles A. Cass Collection, billed as the Empire Sale, by Stack's in 1957. Lot 1759, $1,300.
• Announced to appear in Hollinbeck Coin Company's 250th Sale, Quarter Millennium Sale, Part I, June 29, 1963; then re-announced for Part 2; then finally offered in Part 3 of the sale, Lot 519.
• Hollinbeck Coin Company's 274th Sale, November 27, 1967. Lot 1162, price unknown.

10. San Francisco Specimen. Mint State
• San Francisco Mint employee, 1870.
•Family of the preceding. Now (1992) owned by a San Francisco area military officer. Said to be Mint State. An offer for $175,000 was made for it in 1991 by a San Francisco dealer, Sam E. Frudakis, who reported the situation to the author.

Notes
• Rumor department: Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, p. 440, states that an 1870-S dollar was placed in the cornerstone of the San Francisco Mint building in 1870 and "probably remains there." However, I am not aware of any documentation that an 1870-S dollar was ever put there in the first place. In any event, I believe its existence to be improbable.

Varieties

Business strikes:
1. Normal Date: Breen-5484. Obverse: The shield point is midway between the tip of the serif and upright of 1; the left base of 1 is over the right edge of a denticle; the date is high in the field (these characteristics are unlike any found on Philadelphia or Carson City coins of the year and serve to identify an authentic 1870-S obverse). Reverse: The mintmark S shallow and thin, hand-engraved, unlike that used on any other San Francisco Mint dollars. The dies may have been polished prior to use.

1870-S Liberty Seated: Market Values

1870-S Liberty Seated: Summary of Characteristics

Business Strikes:
Enabling legislation: Act of January 18, 1837 (weight and fineness); Act of March 3, 1865 (motto) Designer of obverse: Robert Ball Hughes (after Gobrecht)
Designer of reverse: J.B. Longacre (after Hughes and Reich)
Weight and composition: 412.5 grains; .900 silver, .100 copper
Melt-down (silver value) in year minted: $1.027 Dies prepared: Obverse: 1; Reverse: 1
Business strike mintage: Estimated 50 to 200 Estimated quantity melted: Unknown
Population MS-60 or better: 1 reported; see above text. (URS-1)
Population circulated grades: Nine specimens are confirmed to exist. (URS-5)
Characteristics of striking: Average strike. Some have slight traces of prooflike surfaces.
Known hoards of Mint State coins: None

Proofs:
None

Commentary
The 1870-S is the rarest issue in the 1840-1873 Liberty Seated silver dollar series. Only nine specimens are confirmed to exist, with a 10th reported.