Liberty Seated Silver Dollars

Grading Characteristics - Uncirculated Examples

Many Liberty Seated Dollars show weakness of strike that, for the obverse, is noted on the head, breast or central part of Miss Liberty.  The reverse may show this weakness in the neck, upper right wing, and right leg of the eagle.  The shield with "LIBERTY" wears much faster than for other Seated Liberty series, though not as quickly as with the raised "LIBERTY" of the twenty-cent pieces.

AU 55/58 coins will have slight wear on the head, breast and upper legs, though these are areas characteristic of strike weakness also.  The reverse will tend to show slight friction on the feathers of the neck, both upper wings and the legs.  As these are large coins, so slight friction and scattered marks in the fields are to be expected even in these high circulated grades.

AU 50/53 coins will have slight wear to the head, breast, entire legs, shield, rock and lower gown folds exhibiting friction.  The field now has rubbing, and scattered marks, small and large, are present.  The reverse will tend to have flatness on the neck, upper wing and leg feathers, with wear now evident on the high points of all of the wing feathers.

EF 40/45 coins that are decently struck should still have fairly sharp letters for "LIBERTY", but some wear will be evident on "BER"  On poorly struck coins, the "BER" may be totally missing.  The head, breast and upper leg of Miss Liberty will be flat from wear, with the rock, shield and lower leg also exhibiting friction.  All gown folds will be present, though worn on the high points.  Stars should still show most center lines (centrils).  The reverse will have all feathers present, except for areas of strike weakness, though the neck and leg feathers will be flatter than the wing feathers.  Claws, leaves and arrowheads will be separate, but the high points will be flat.

VF 20/35 specimens may have a partially missing "LIBERTY", especially in the lower VF grades.  As noted, "BER" may be missing entirely on some coins.  The head and breast will be worn mostly flat, with blending evidence.  Gown details will still be sharp in the recessed areas, though some lack of detail is noticed around the legs.  Star lines will show only on the edges, with the centrils (center lines) worn flat.  Reverse feather detail should still be evident in the wings, but the neck, upper wing, and leg feathers will have only slight detail remaining.  Claws, leaves and arrowheads will be mostly flat, with blending evident.