1878-S Liberty Seated Quarter. Briggs 1-A, the only known dies. MS-65 (NGC).

1878-S Liberty Seated Quarter. Briggs 1-A, the only known dies. MS-65 (NGC).，This is a warmly patinated example that also sports sharp striking detail from the rims to the centers. Awash in handsome mauve-gray toning, more direct lighting calls forth vivid undertones of antique gold and blue-gray. Satiny, smooth and visually appealing, this is an impressive Gem Mint State Liberty Seated quarter irrespective of date or issuing mint. The fact that it is a Condition Census example of the key date 1878-S confirms the significance of this coin for advanced collectors of this challenging 19th century series.<p>The San Francisco Mint produced 140,000 quarters in early 1878, a modest quantity by any reckoning, which appears to have taken place in its entirety in the early part of the year. In February, Congress passed the Bland-Allison Act which specified a monthly requirement to mint large quantities of silver dollars. To help prepare for the new Morgan dollars, huge quantities of minor silver coins were melted down, to include a substantial portion of 1878-S quarters and half dollars and even many trade dollars. This wholesale destruction was further exacerbated by the Mint Act of 1871 which specified the redemption of minor silver coins in any amount. As a direct result, what would have been a moderately scarce issue turned into one of the keys for the Liberty Seated quarter series. Due in part to the demands placed on the mints to meet the specifications of the Bland-Allison Act, production of this denomination ceased in its entirety at the San Francisco Mint and would not resume there until 1888. (The sudden release of older silver coins that had been hoarded since early in the Civil War also helps to explain the limited mintages of circulation strike quarters during the late 1870s and throughout the 1880s.) Today, an estimated 300 or so 1878-S quarters are thought to exist, of which a significant proportion are well circulated. Even Mint State examples, when found at all, are mostly in lower grades. Full Gem Uncirculated specimens, as here, are significant rarities worthy of inclusion in the finest cabinets.，，