Q. David Bowers
Business Strikes:
Enabling legislation: Act of January 18, 1837 Designer of obverse: Robert Ball Hughes (after Gobrecht)
Designer of reverse: Robert Ball Hughes (after Reich)
Weight and composition: 412.5 grains; .900 silver, .100 copper
Melt-down (silver value) in year minted: $1.042 Dies prepared: Obverse: 1; Reverse: 2
Business strike mintage: 33,140; all delivered on one day, June 29, 1854
Estimated quantity melted: Unknown
Approximate population MS-65 or better: 5 to 8 (URS-4)
Approximate population MS-64: 12 to 20 (URS-5)
Approximate population MS-63: 5 to 10 (URS-4)
Approximate population MS-60 to 62: 8 to 12 (URS-4)
Approximate population VF-20 to AU-58: 130 to 200 (URS-9)
Characteristics of striking: Some are sharply struck, but others lightly defined in areas, including the head of Miss Liberty and the eagle's wings and claws. The top of the date is not bold in the die, a characteristic of all specimens, as the date logo-type was punched more deeply into the die at the bottom.
Known hoards of Mint State coins: None, except for a tiny group of five Mint State coins described by David Cohen (see text)
Proofs:
Dies prepared: Obverse: At least 1; Reverse: At least 1.
Proof mintage: 50 to 100 estimated
Approximate population Proof-64 or better: 5 to 10 (URS-4)
Approximate population Proof-60 to 63: 20 to 30 (URS-6)
Commentary
The 1854 dollar is a prime rarity in all grades. Most were exported.
The New Orleans Mint in 1854
The New Orleans Mint was in such poor repair by 1854 that the Senate (resolution of May 31, 1854) requested the secretary of the Treasury to determine whether it was better to remedy the defects in the original structure or whether it was "a wise economy [to] render it expedient to erect a new building." Further:
"The foundation was defective, causing the walls to spread, same being of insufficient strength to support the arches below the floors. To correct this and other problems the estimated sum of $25,000 was required."
The repairs commenced in 1855 and continued to September 30,1858, by which time $588,812.70 had been spent!
Rarity Recognized in 1869
The American Journal of Numismatics, March 1869, printed dealer Edward Cogan's response to an inquiry submitted by classical scholar and numismatist Dr. Charles E. Anthon, as to which United States coins were considered to be rare. The 1854 dollar is listed as one of the rarities in the Liberty Seated series, along with some famous cousins:
"IN SILVER DOLLARS: 1794, 1804 (and this, as is already well known, is by far the rarest of all), 1836 (particularly the one with the name of Gobrecht in the field of the Dollar between the base and the figure of Liberty and the date). The ordinary type is comparatively common, and only valuable when in fine Proof condition. Then followed the 1838, '39, '51, '52, '54, and '58."
The Year 1854 in History
Due to political unrest in Germanic states during this era, many Germans emigrated to America, including 215,000 in 1854 alone. Many emigres went to cities with large German populations, such as Cincinnati and Milwaukee.
The Crimean War in Russia began on March 28, 1854 and would continue until 1856. The United States had little interest or involvement.
On the antislavery front, a federal court convicted a Wisconsin man of aiding a runaway slave, in violation of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, but the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the act was unconstitutional and, therefore, the conviction was invalid. In Boston an angry crowd stormed a federal courthouse on May 26th in an effort to rescue fugitive slave Anthony Burns; but the slave was escorted to a ship, to be returned to his owner in the South.
On the temperance front, Timothy Shay Arthur's novel, Ten Nights in a Bar Room and What I Saw There was published. Sensational and full of lurid episodes, with the backing of numerous members of the clergy, the tale was second in sales during the 1850s only to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Ten Nights in a Bar Room opened as a play in New York City in 1858 and soon became a classic. By the turn of the century it was a staple on the stage, along with other such favorites as East Lynne, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Hazel Kirke. Ten Nights in a Bar Room narrated the shameful ruin of a small town brought about by the Sickle and Sheaf, a tavern owned by one Simon Slade, who was later murdered by his own son in a drunken quarrel. Other characters of note were Joe Morgan, the town drunk; his noble wife Fanny and angelic daughter Mary; gambler Green, who meets a horrible death; and Judge Hammond, also destroyed by alcohol.
Henry David Thoreau's book, Walden, was published and included such aphorisms as "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation" and "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."
The Mason & Hamlin Organ Company was founded in Boston and would go on to achieve a reputation for quality. In the nineteenth century its grand pianos would become renowned for their craftsmanship, but they were less well known than, for example, Steinway instruments.
At the Philadelphia Mint, the first trimes of the new issue appeared; these .900 fine coins were distinguishable from the early.750 fine (billon) pieces by extra outlines to the star, and arrows and olive branch on reverse. In May, the Mint began delivering the new $3 gold coins; in this year only, DOLLARS was in small letters in the inscription on the reverse. In August came the new larger (Type II) gold dollars. The wreath copied that on the $3 and in turn would reappear on the 1856-1858 Flying Eagle cents. The New Orleans and Dahlonega mints also made $3 pieces, but in smaller quantities.
Experiments to make cents thinner, narrower, and lighter resulted in numerous patterns (1854-1855) of designs similar to the Liberty Head motif of large cents (but without stars) or featuring a flying eagle copied from Gobrecht's dollar reverse. These were in copper or "French bronze" (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc, adopted in 1864) or other alloys; the "Midnight Minters" restruck many in 1858-1859.
The San Francisco Mint opened for business utilizing the building bought from Curtis, Perry & Ward, successors to Moffat & Co. In the first year it coined only gold, mostly double eagles. Superintendent Robert Aiken Birdsall sent the first one, a Proof, to Philadelphia for the Mint Cabinet. Of the quarter eagles and half eagles, just 246 and 268 respectively were struck; in later years these would become highly prized rarities.