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Gobrecht dollars: the seated dollar before Seated dollars
1836–1839 silver dollars by Christian Gobrecht. Liberty seated, eagle flying. Patterns, originals, and later restrikes. Not a Morgan. Not a Trade dollar.
A Gobrecht dollar is the seated-Liberty silver dollar of 1836–1839, before the regular Seated Liberty dollars of the 1840s. Christian Gobrecht designed it. Liberty sits. The eagle flies. That flying eagle is the tell.
These are not Morgans. They are not Trade dollars. They are not a common estate coin.
Originals and restrikes
The hobby argues about which 1836–1839 pieces are originals and which are later restrikes. Alignment of the eagle, die states, and edges matter. That is specialist land. A shop will look. A Saturday cash-out is the wrong room for a fight about die alignment.
What a shop does
If someone walks in with one, we treat it as possible serious money until it is not. Weight. Look. Light. Loupe. We do not clean. Don’t clean. We may send you to a holder before we write a big number. When to slab.
If it is a later Seated dollar with a regular heraldic eagle, you do not have a Gobrecht. You have Seated. Still silver. Different book.
Continue in the coin and money library. Related visitor guides: for shop visitors.