1887 Liberty Seated Half Dollar. WB-101. MS-64 (NGC). CAC.

1887 Liberty Seated Half Dollar. WB-101. MS-64 (NGC). CAC.，This highly lustrous and attractive 1887 half dollar displays cameo-like contrast between the frosty motifs and mirrored fields. A whisper of golden toning engages both sides. The final years of the Liberty Seated half dollar series, 1879 to 1891, saw limited circulation strike mintages from the Philadelphia Mint, with the mintage of the 1887 just 5,000 pieces. The reason for these low mintages was the influx into the market of older half dollars that had been hoarded since early in the Civil War. The Treasury Department had not anticipated this and had ordered the mints to increase silver coinage output during the early to mid 1870s in order to have a plentiful supply of new coins to meet renewed demand. When older coins came to light in such large quantities, additional new production was not required and mintages for the half dollar fell off beginning in 1879. It seems that the only reason circulation strike production for this denomination continued at all was to prevent the dates from 1879 to 1891 being Proof-only rarities.，From the A.J. Vanderbilt Collection. Earlier from our Philadelphia Americana Sale of September 2011, lot 2927.，