1878-S $1 MS DMPL

Key to Collecting: The 1878-S dollar is plentiful in Mint State, with the typical example being MS-62 to MS-64 and with decent luster, more satiny than deeply frosty. The 1878-S comes only with the Reverse of 1878 (flat eagle’s breast, seven tail feathers, parallel top arrow feather).

Surface Quality: Usually fairly well struck; however, some pieces show planchet striations on the face of Liberty and show some weakness at the lower part of the eagle and below. All are of the 7 Tail Feathers, Reverse of 1878 variety (flat eagle’s breast, parallel top arrow feather); and at first glance the reverse may appear to be weakly struck. However, upon close examination most have well-defined feathers. Usually lustrous and very attractive, satiny or frosty (but not deeply frosty), is the rule.

Prooflike Coins: Some are struck from highly prooflike dies, many on just one side, although these are but a tiny fraction of the existing population.

Mintage and Distribution: Early coinage of the 1878-S dollars was not easy, for of the 10 pairs of dies sent from Philadelphia to the San Francisco Mint on April 8, three obverses and eight reverses were considered by the coiner to be unfit for use. I believe that 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 of these, and most of the original mintages of 1879-S, 1880-S, 1881-S, and 1882-S, were stored at the San Francisco Mint. Large quantities of these were released in subsequent years, mostly after 1913, and extensively in the 1950’s, many going to Las Vegas, some held by banks and casinos as “cash reserves” with a secret appreciation potential.

Dozens of die pairs, all of the Reverse of 1878 (PAF) style, were on hand at the San Francisco Mint by early summer, but it is not known how many were actually used that year, although the figures were at least 43 obverses and 38 reverses. Some reverses were kept and employed in 1879. The VAM text describes many varieties of minor doubling. Both Walter Breen and The Top 100 Morgan Dollar Varieties take note of the so-called Long Nock or Long Arrow Shaft variety, for which the left tip of the arrow is slightly longer than normal. Remarkably, virtually all known pieces show wear, this despite the use of at least five die pairs in the coinage.