1861-S Seated Liberty Half Dollar
Circulation strike struck at the San Francisco Mint · 939,500 made
- Mintage
- 939,500
- Metal
- 90% silver, 10% copper
- Weight
- 12.44 g
- Diameter
- 30.6 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is an 1861-S Seated Liberty Half Dollar worth?
Collectors pay a real premium for this date, worn or not, because far fewer were made than usual. Uncirculated pieces go much higher.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
- Certification by PCGS or NGC, which buyers expect for scarce dates
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1861-S Seated Liberty Half Dollar rare?
- Somewhat. 939,500 were made, fewer than most dates, so collectors treat it as a semi-key.
- Is the 1861-S Seated Liberty Half Dollar silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.3600 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on an 1861 Seated Liberty Half Dollar?
- On the reverse, below the eagle. Philadelphia halves have no mint mark. On this coin the mark is S, for San Francisco.
- Which San Francisco dates near 1861 are scarcer?
- The 1866-S, No Motto at 60,000, the 1857-S at 158,000, the 1856-S at 211,000, plus 6 more. So the 1861-S is one of the easier dates of its stretch.
- How many 1861-S Seated Liberty Half Dollar coins were made?
- 939,500.
What to check on your 1861-S
- Make sure the mint mark really is an S. A worn or filled mark can be misread. It's what separates your coin from the 1861-O (2.5 million made).
- Don't clean it. Cleaning leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- Old coins pick up damage over a long life. Look for holes, bends, scratches or signs of cleaning before you judge the grade, because a damaged coin sells for a fraction of a problem-free one.
- Judge the grade under good light. LIBERTY on the shield is the benchmark for Fine. Check the high points of Liberty's knees and breast.
Never clean it. Collectors pay strong premiums for original surfaces and natural toning on a date like this. A cleaned coin can lose half its value or more.
The story of the 1861-S
Output at San Francisco climbed to 939,500 in 1861, from 472,000 the year before. The next year it made 1.4 million (1862-S).
1861-O came to 2.5 million and 1861 came to 2.9 million, so neither mint's 1861 coin is much scarcer than the other. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1856 (938,000) and the 1863-S (916,000).
San Francisco struck the Seated Liberty Half Dollar in 26 issues between 1855 and 1878. By mintage this one lands in the more common half, while the key for that mint is the 1873-S, No Arrows (5,000). Within the 1860s it's 16th smallest of 23, between the 1863-S (916,000) and the 1866-S, With Motto (994,000).
Peak branch output and the 1861-O (1856 to 1865)
With the arrows gone, halves were struck in large numbers. New Orleans reached 7,294,000 in 1858. San Francisco's early halves, such as the 1856-S and 1857-S, are scarce in better grades. In 1861 New Orleans struck 2,532,633 halves under three authorities: the United States, the State of Louisiana and the Confederacy. Specialists use die markers to tell which authority struck a given coin. Four halves were also made with a Confederate reverse design.
During the Civil War silver disappeared from eastern circulation. Philadelphia mintages fell to between about 250,000 and 512,000 a year from 1862 to 1865. San Francisco, where coins still passed at face, struck more halves than Philadelphia in most of those years. Worn wartime Philadelphia halves are harder to find than their mintages suggest because many were melted later.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1861
The Civil War began. Confederate forces seized the branch mints at New Orleans, Charlotte and Dahlonega. New Orleans struck some half dollars under Confederate control before closing.
How to recognize it
Liberty sits on a rock holding a shield inscribed LIBERTY and a pole topped with a liberty cap, with 13 stars around her and the date below. The reverse shows an eagle with HALF DOL. below. Arrows beside the date (1853 to 1855 and 1873 to 1874) and rays around the eagle (1853) mark weight changes and IN GOD WE TRUST appears above the eagle from 1866.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Seated Liberty Half Dollar (1839–1891) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1861 |
| Mint | San Francisco Mint |
| Mint mark | "S" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 939,500 |
| Face value | 50¢ |
| Composition | 90% silver, 10% copper |
| Weight | 12.44 grams |
| Diameter | 30.6 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Silver content | 0.3600 troy oz (11.196 g) |
| Designer | Christian Gobrecht |
Other 1861 Seated Liberty Half Dollar issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1861 Seated Liberty Half Dollar | 2,888,400 | Circulation strike | 0.3600 oz |
| 1861-S Seated Liberty Half Dollar | 939,500 | Circulation strike | 0.3600 oz |
| 1861-O Seated Liberty Half Dollar | 2,532,633 | Circulation strike | 0.3600 oz |
Mintage: United States half dollar mintage figures (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.