George Robert Redford (1871-1900) Coin Album
The 1871 Two-Cent piece is the last of the high-mintage dates in this series. Though its mintage was less than a million pieces, this date survives in Mint State to nearly the same extent as other dates with much higher mintages except for the 1864 and 1865. Red-Brown examples are plentiful up through MS64, above which the populations drop off, ending at MS66, where a single example is noted. Red examples are scarce, and are usually found in MS64 and MS65. Here, the best examples include two in MS66RD.
In 1871, the Mint produced only 561,000 Nickels for circulation. This was a new record low for the series, by far; the previous low was the year before when the Philadelphia Mint produced nearly 5 million Nickels. Naturally, this is one of the more sought-after of the Shield Nickel dates. The overall population is sustantially lower than in previous years, and the number of certified Mint State examples dropped by nearly a half. Surprisingly, a fair number of MS64 to MS65 examples are known, and even the MS66 grade is on par with more common dates such as 1869 and 1870. The strike quality on this date is generally quite good, although an occasional piece will show weakness on the stars on the upper to upper right reverse. As usual, die cracks appear frequently.
The 1871 Half Dime is one of the most common dates in the series, though it is not as plentiful as dates such as 1837 Large Date, 1853 With Arrows, 1857, 1858, 1860, and 1872-S (Mintmark below wreath). Likewise, Mint State examples are reasonably plentiful, especially in the MS63 and MS64 grades. A dozen or so MS66 examples are known, but PCGS has certified only one MS67 example, with none finer (as of March 2011).
The 1871-S Dime has a small mintage of 320,000 coins, but this is in line with many of the preceding years, Nonetheless, this date is more valuable than P-Mint dates with even lower mintages (1869 comes to mind), mostly because of the attrition of Mint State examples as they travelled across the country from the San Francisco Mint to the collectors back east. Perhaps two dozen Mint State examples are known, mostly in MS63 and MS64. Gems are very, very rare, and none are known above MS66. Dime researcher, Gerry Fortin, has identified three different die pairs that were used to strike all of the 1871-S Dimes. All three varieties have a small, weak mintmark.
While many 1871 Liberty Seated dollars probably were exported to China, the mintage was so large that pieces are common today. It is likely that large numbers remained stateside in Treasury vaults and were released into circulation beginning in autumn 1876, when specie payments were resumed. Some were returned to the Treasury, bagged, and not released until 1962-1964. The 1871 Liberty Seated silver dollar was the first with a mintage to cross the million mark, and was just one of two dates to achieve this level, the other being 1872. Of all Liberty Seated dollars, the 1871 is the most available date today. Examples are readily available in VF, EF, and AU grades and make ideal candidates for inclusion in a type set to illustrate the 1866-1873 Liberty Seated design with the motto IN GOD WE TRUST on the reverse. In 1963, when James F. Ruddy and I had the enjoyable experience of sorting through quantities of circulated Liberty Seated dollars obtained from the Federal Reserve during the great Treasury distribution, we found many 1871 dollars. These were nearly all in VF and EF, with light brown-gray toning. Although Walter H. Breen in his Encyclopedia of United States and Colonial Coins states that two bags (2,000 coins total) of Uncirculated specimens were released by the Treasury in 1962-64, my experience concerning the availability of Mint State pieces does not confirm this, although there are indeed at least a couple hundred or more Mint State coins extant. (The information in the Encyclopedia is probably erroneous, and may have derived from Ron Severa (below). Walter H. Breen, in a letter dated February 12, 1992, asked me to verify these bags with Harry Forman. Upon endeavoring to do so, I learned that Harry Forman handled at the most a few dozen Uncirculated pieces. In an article, "Liberty Seated Dollars - Scarcity / Availability," in The Gobrecht Journal, March 1977, Ron Severa stated: "Two bags released by Gov't." For dollars of 1859-O and 1860-O he wrote that one bag each was released. For 1872 dollars he simply stated, "Available in most listings," and did not mention government hoards.) I have seen a few Mint State coins with lightly etched surfaces, said to have been retrieved from a shipwreck of unknown location and details.