General Comments
1866 begins the post-Civil War era of the Seated dollar, and represents the beginning of the With Motto type.
As a date 1866 is scarce, but not rare. They are more available than their Civil War predecessors, although
high grades, gem and above, are still very rare. Proofs seem to be available in all grades, with numerous
examples graded in PR65 or better.
1866 examples are relatively easy to locate, but patient searching may still be required to find truly
problem-free coins. As with most Seated dollars, high grades, both proofs and business strikes, are more
available than lower grades. The population reports show that about 30% of the business strikes currently
graded as problem-free are mint state. Another 35% are in various grades of AU. Problem-free examples in
grades lower than XF are scarce, but more available than the Civil War years. They will generally bring
somewhat higher prices than most price guides indicate.
The finest currently graded mint state examples are 3 coins graded MS67, two by PCGS and one by NGC. An
additional five coins have received a MS66 grade. Four more have graded MS65, and 39 have received a MS64
grade. A few of these, including a significant percentage of those graded MS64, are likely re-submissions.
The overall availability of mint state examples is like other dates of the era, but much greater than either
1864 or 1865. Population statistics are as of February, 2019.
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Mintage | 49,625 |
Proof mintage | 725 |
Mintage ranking | 26th |
Finest known | MS67 PR69 Cameo |
Known obverse dies | 4 |
Known reverse dies | 3 |
Known die marriages | 4 |
Most common die marriage | OC-1/ R2 |
Rarest business strike die marriage | OC-1/ R2 |
Rarest proof die marriage | OC-P1/ R4- OC-P3/ R8 (no motto) |
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The finest currently graded proof coins are PR69 cameo. The population reports show one at PCGS and two at NGC.
We suspect that these represent at most two coins. PCGS has evaluated one additional coin as PR68 cameo.
At the PR67 level PCGS has graded one coin while NGC has graded seven. All but two of the NGC coins were
given a cameo or ultra cameo designation. The population reports show 17 coins at the PR66 level and 31 at
PR65. A total of 553 have been graded at all proof levels. Since we estimate that only 500 exist, this figure
underscores the level of re-submissions represented in the population reports. It’s also interesting to note
that a larger than normal percentage of the 1866 proofs are designated cameo. The dies were apparently
carefully prepared for this first year of With Motto coinage. Population statistics are as of March, 2017.
1866 examples are usually well struck, with star centrals sharply defined and all other details above average.
Reverses are almost always sharp. High-grade business strikes are sometimes prooflike or semi-prooflike, but
frosty examples are equally available. Beware of mis-attributed coins. You’ll note that our example of
Obverse P2 is an example that PCGS slabbed as a business strike. As noted above true proofs are often cameo.
1866 Die Marriages
4 die marriages have been positively identified. A single die pair was used to strike all business strikes.
Neither die was used for proofs, although many were very prooflike and have been mis-attributed as proofs.
As a result, both Bowers (reference 4) and Breen (reference 7) list a third proof die pair with a repunched 1.
Bowers mentions that copper patterns were issued from the same die pair. However, these patterns were struck
by the business strike die pair rather than an additional pair of dies. We’ve concluded that two obverse dies
were paired with two reverse dies to produce three proof die marriages. The third of these die pairs,
P2-1865 PB, our die marriage OC-P3, is the historic No Motto die pair, of which only two are known. This die
pair is covered in an additional section at the end of this chapter. The With Motto reverse, Reverse PA is
transitional. It was used to strike proofs for 5 years, beginning in 1866 and ending in 1870. The following
table summarizes the known die marriages for 1866.
Click the links below to view the details of the each marriage.
Die Marriage |
Rarity |
Obverse Die |
Reverse Die |
Estimated Survivors |
OC-1 |
R2 | 1 | A | 1000 |
OC-P1 |
R4- | P1 | PA | 175 |
OC-P2 |
R3 | P2 | PA | 325 |
OC-P3 |
R8 | P2 | 1865 PB | 2 |
1866 Business Strike Emission Sequence
With only a single business strike die marriage the emission sequence is simple.
Emission Order |
Die Marriage |
Comments |
1 | OC-1 | |
1866 Proof Emission Sequence
Sequencing of OC-P1 and OC-P2 is based on die polishing noted on Reverse PA. The shield recesses are notably
unfinished on OC-P1, but much more finished on OC-P2. OC-P1 was clearly the first die pair. To place OC-P3,
the No Motto issue, into the sequence we assumed the frequently documented theory that the No Motto pieces
were minted after 1866. We haven't been able to confirm this by directly examining either of the existing examples.
Emission Order |
Die Marriage |
Comments |
1 | OC-P1 | This is apparently the earliest reverse die state,
but the differences are minute. |
2 | OC-P2 | |
3 | OC-P3 | We assumed this position in the emission sequence based
on the widely accepted assumption that these were minted at some time after 1866 |
1866 Quick Finder Chart
Attribution of 1866 die marriages is relatively easy. Both the obverse and reverse of the business strike die pair
show some notable markers. The only challenge is differentiating the two known With Motto proofs. These
share the same reverse die, but the date position of the two obverse dies is significantly different.
Die Marriage |
Obv Die |
Rev Die |
Right Base of 1 |
Keys |
OC-1 | 1 | A | C |
Obverse: Repunched 18. 2nd 6 is L
Reverse: Doubled die reverse, most visible on the motto.
| OC-P1 | P1 | PA | R QTR |
Obverse: Date grid is 4-2.0.
Reverse: A heavy horizontal die line in the motto from the top right corner of the N through the bottom of GOD.
| OC-P2 | P2 | PA | R QTR |
Obverse: Date grid is 5-2.0.
Reverse: A heavy horizontal die line in the motto from the top right corner of the N through the bottom of GOD.
| OC-P3 | P2 | 1865 PB | JL of RE |
Obverse: Date grid is 5-2.0.
Reverse: No motto.
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1866 No Motto
We won’t try to go over all the history of this date. That’s been covered in detail elsewhere (references 4 and 7
are suggested). For our purposes, it’s sufficient to say that the 1866 No Motto dollar is the rarest coin in the
series, with only two examples known. One now resides in a Texas collection. The second, the famous DuPont coin,
is in the ANA Money Museum.
Consistent with our approach throughout this reference we’ve tried to let the dies tell the story of these coins.
Unfortunately, in this case we haven’t had the opportunity to carefully examine an example. We hope to change this
in the future by examining the coin in the ANA Money Museum, but for the time being our conclusions are based on
pictures provided by Stacks-Bowers.
We’ve identified the No Motto die marriage as OC-P3. We’ve reviewed relatively high-resolution pictures of both the
obverse and the reverse, those provided by Stacks-Bowers. Based on the position of the date we believe that the obverse
die is our Obverse P2, which was also used to strike the 1866 OC-P2 die marriage, a With Motto type. The reverse
die appears to be 1865 PB. The only other appearance of this die is in the 1865 OC-P1 die marriage, an extremely rare
marriage, with only four examples confirmed. This die displays no notable markers, so there’s a significant level of
uncertainty in our attribution. Eliminating the uncertainty would require examination of the two coins together with
the aid of a microscope or high magnification. With only four examples of 1865 OC-P1 known, and only two examples of the
1866 No Motto, this is highly unlikely, so for now we’ll have to rely on our photo observations.
Since the literature seems to agree that the No Motto coins were struck at some point later than 1866 we’ve placed
it in the emission sequence after the With Motto die marriages. Again, we’d love to confirm this in the future by
examining the 1866 No Motto dollar together with an example of 1866 OC-P2, but for now we’ll just make the assumption.
Photo credits:
Obverse and reverse full photos:   1866 NGC PR67 Cameo, from the Heritage archives.
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