1866 Seated Liberty Dime
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 8,000 made
- Mintage
- 8,000
- Metal
- 90% silver, 10% copper
- Weight
- 2.49 g
- Diameter
- 17.9 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 1866 Seated Liberty Dime worth?
Few coins in the series are harder to find. Even a worn 1866 sells well above face value. The flip side is that counterfeits and altered dates are common, so authentication matters.
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 1866 Seated Liberty Dime rare?
- Yes. Only 8,000 were made, 2nd lowest of the 116 regular issues in the series.
- Is the 1866 Seated Liberty Dime silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.0720 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on an 1866 Seated Liberty Dime?
- On the reverse, below the bow of the wreath or inside the wreath, depending on the year. Philadelphia dimes have no mint mark.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1866 are scarcer?
- The 1867 at 6,000. So the 1866 is on the scarcer side for those years.
- How many 1866 Seated Liberty Dime coins were made?
- 8,000.
What to check on your 1866
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- Check the date and mint mark under magnification for tooling or added letters. Scarce dates are the ones forgers alter.
- Don't clean it. Cleaning leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- Proof or circulation strike? A proof has mirror-like fields and frosted design details and was sold to collectors, not released in change. The 1866 Seated Liberty Dime Proof (725 made) is the one to compare with.
- 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 key: a full, readable LIBERTY marks a coin in Fine or better. Then check Liberty's head and knee.
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. Low-mintage dates attract altered and counterfeit coins. Check that the date have not been tooled or added, or buy one already certified by PCGS or NGC.
The story of the 1866
Philadelphia made 8,000 in 1866, down from 10,000 in 1865. The next year it made 6,000 (1867).
The other mint made far more that year: 1866-S alone came to 135,000, roughly 17 for every 1866. If you're checking a pile of 1866 coins, the mint mark is the one to look for. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1865 (10,000) and the 1867 (6,000).
Only the 1867 has a lower mintage among Philadelphia's 59 Seated Liberty Dimes. Among the 1860s issues, only the 1867 had a smaller run.
Civil War rarities from Philadelphia (1863 to 1867)
These five years hold the lowest Philadelphia mintages of the series. With silver hoarded in the East, Philadelphia struck only 14,000 dimes in 1863, 11,000 in 1864, 10,000 in 1865, 8,000 in 1866 and 6,000 in 1867. Silver was not circulating in the East, so there was little call for new dimes there. Every one of those dates is a key and even a worn example is a significant rarity. The 1867, at 6,000, has the smallest business strike mintage of any Seated dime.
In California gold and silver kept circulating through the war, so San Francisco carried the load. It struck between 135,000 and 230,000 dimes each year, with the 1864-S the largest at 230,000. The S coins are scarce but far more available than the Philadelphia issues of the same years. Many have heavy wear from years of use in the West.
Proofs were struck at Philadelphia throughout the war, with 460 in 1863 and 725 in 1866. For 1863 to 1867 the proof is sometimes easier to find than a business strike of the same date. That makes careful attribution important. A proof has mirror fields, sharp squared rims and crisp stars and letters, while a business strike has satiny luster or ordinary wear. Altered dates and removed mint marks are a known risk, so have any Philadelphia dime of these years authenticated.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1866
The five-cent nickel arrived in 1866 with the Shield design. The motto "In God We Trust" was added to silver dollars, half dollars, quarters and the larger gold coins.
How to recognize it
Liberty sits on a rock, her right hand resting on a shield crossed by a scroll reading LIBERTY. Her left hand holds a pole topped by a liberty cap and the date is below. The 1837 and 1838-O coins have nothing else on the obverse. From 1838 to 1860 thirteen stars surround her and from 1860 the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA take their place. Drapery hangs from her left elbow on coins from late 1840 on. Arrows flank the date on most dimes of 1853 to 1855 and of 1873 to 1874. The reverse shows ONE DIME inside a laurel wreath ringed by UNITED STATES OF AMERICA until 1860. After that a larger cereal wreath of corn, wheat, maple and oak leaves surrounds the words. Branch mint marks are on the reverse near the bow.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Seated Liberty Dime (1837–1891) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1866 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 8,000 |
| Face value | 10¢ |
| Composition | 90% silver, 10% copper |
| Weight | 2.49 grams |
| Diameter | 17.9 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Silver content | 0.0720 troy oz (2.241 g) |
| Designer | Christian Gobrecht |
Other 1866 Seated Liberty Dime issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1866 Seated Liberty Dime | 8,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0720 oz |
| 1866 Seated Liberty Dime Proof | 725 | Proof | 0.0720 oz |
| 1866-S Seated Liberty Dime | 135,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0720 oz |
Mintage: US Mint records as published in standard references, each figure checked against at least two independent sources. How we build these pages.