Liberty Seated Dimes Varieties 1837-1891 - 1877 San Francisco Variety Chapter Page

1877-S


Mintage: 2,340,500

Top 100	Var#	Obv	Rev	DR	Obverse / Reverse Quick Diagnostics	Ahwash	Greer
*	101	1	A	1C	Repunched 18, Med Date, Up Slope Broken S,O / Small Block S, [mm Rt,H]	A-2	G101
	102	1	B.2	1C	Repunched 18, Med Date, / Lapped Die, Small Block S, [mm Lt,C]		G101
	103	2	C	1L	Med Level Date, Broken S, Partial O, DL Above Shield / Sm S, [mm Lt,C]
	104	3	D	0R	Med Level Date, Complete S and O / Small Block S, Repunched, [mm Rt,H]
	105	4	E	1R	Medium Level Date, Broken S and O / Small Filled S, [mm C,C]
	106	5	F	0B1	Medium Level Date, Broken S, Partial O / Small Block S, [mm Rt,H}
	107	6	G	1B2	Medium Level Date, Broken S, Partial O / Small Block S, [mm Rt,H}
	108	6	B	1B2	Medium Level Date, Broken S, Partial O / Small Block S, [mm Lt,C}
	109	7	H	1C	Medium Date, Up Slope, Complete S and O / Small Filled S, [mm Rt,C]
	110	7	I	1C	Medium Date, Up Slope, Complete S and O / Small Filled S, [mm Rt,H]
	111	7	C.2	1C	Med Date, Up Slope, Complete S and O / LDS, Small Block S, [mm Lt,C]
	112	8	F	0R	Medium Level Date, Broken S and O / Small Block S, [mm Rt,H]
	113	9	E	1C	High Level Date, Broken S and O / Small Filled S, [mm C,C]
	114	10	J	0B1	Medium Date, Upward Slope, Broken S / Small Block S, [mm C,H]
	115	?	K	-	Type I Reverse


Variety Vs. Denticle Ruler Cross Reference Table

Type II Reverse Die and Mintmark Position Comparison Guide

Scarcity: This is a San Francisco date that is difficult to locate in nice EF-AU condition.  Greer considers the 1877-S 
date as "One of the most challenging common dates to locate".  It has been speculated that significant melting of this 
date took place to supply silver for minting of Morgan silver dollars in 1878.
 
Updated Greer Rarity Ratings
Overall Rarity: G-VG R3-, F-VF R3, EF-AU R4-, MS R4

                                Fortin Variety Rarity Estimates In VF - Mint State

Variety	Rarity	Suggested Premiums	Variety	Rarity	Suggested Premiums
101	R3	-	109	R4	-
102	R4	-	110	R3	-
103	R3	-	111	R5	-
104	R4	-	112	R4	-
105	R3	-	113	R5	50-100%
106	R4	-	114	R4	-
107	R5	-	115	Unknown	-
108	R3	-

Comments: Many of the 1877-S dimes seen are the repunched 18 variety.  This variety appears at a much higher frequency 
than other obverse dies. The existence of 1877-S coinage with a Type I Reverse still remains unconfirmed, though the author 
has seen, within the past ten years, one advertisement in Coin World for this unverified reverse die.  Neither Ahwash or 
Greer have seen an example of a Type I 1877-S dime.

All 1877-S dimes come with a Small S, though there appears to be two types or styles of Small S mintmarks.  They are the 
Small Block S and the Small Filled S.  These two mintmark types are noted to help with the differentiation of reverse dies. 
After 18 years of study, 10 obverse and reverse dies have been identified with numerous die marriages being available.  
Interestingly, this date is rarely seen with die cracks or progressive die states.  With only 14 known die pairs of obverse 
and reverse dies and an average mintage of about 167,000 pieces per die pair, one would expect to find evidence of die wear 
and later die states on surviving examples of 1877-S dimes.  Researching this date has proven to be challenging due to the 
difficulty in locating higher grade examples.  
 
                               Value As A Date (Coin World Trends/CoinValues

Grade	1963	1973	1983	1993	2003	2012
G	1	2.25	6.25	6	20	15
F	2	5	12.5	9	30	25
EF	-	10	37.5	28	40	45
MS60	12.5	90	325	130	200	225
MS63	-	-	-	290	400	400

1877-S Date Gallery

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