1868 Liberty Seated Silver Dollar. MS-63 (PCGS). OGH--First Generation.

1868 Liberty Seated Silver Dollar. MS-63 (PCGS). OGH--First Generation.，Offered is a brilliant and attractive 1868 silver dollar with a full strike and intense satin luster. The appearance is very nice for the assigned grade, and the rarity of this date in Mint State is sure to attract keen interest from advanced silver dollar collectors.<p>This is one of several elusive circulation strike issues in the Liberty Seated dollar series of 1840 to 1873. Struck well after silver dollars had ceased to be used in domestic commerce, the Philadelphia Mint delivered only 162,100 circulation strikes in 1868. As with all post-1852 issues in this series, the 1868 was struck to the order of silver bullion depositors who used the coins in international commerce. In essence, therefore, the Liberty Seated dollars of the 1854 to 1873 era were predecessors to the trade dollars that were minted from 1873 to 1878.<p>The most popular destinations for these exported Liberty Seated dollars during the 1850s and 1860s were Liverpool, England and China, the latter via the popular clipper ships of the day. Some of these coins returned to the United States, such as in exchange for bales of cotton purchased by English merchants. The vast majority did not, however, explaining the elusiveness of dates such as the 1868 at all levels of preservation. Numismatic interest at the time focused almost exclusively on yearly Proof coinage. Indeed, it is likely that the condition rarity offered here survived in Mint State purely as a matter of chance. In any event it is an important silver dollar offering in the remarkable Vanderbilt Collection and a coin that belongs in another highly regarded cabinet.，From the A.J. Vanderbilt Collection. Earlier ex David W. Akers session of Auction 88, July 1988, lot 632; via Stacks.，