NGC Grades Scarce GSA Soft Pack Seated Liberty Dollar

Numismatic Guaranty Corporation® (NGC®) has graded what is believed to be one of just a handful of Seated Liberty Dollars to have been packaged in a “GSA Soft Pack.” The 1864 Seated Liberty Dollar was purchased directly from the US General Services Administration (GSA) in 1976 and was recently submitted to NGC, where it was graded NGC XF 40 and encapsulated in a special holder designed to accommodate the original GSA packaging.

When the US discontinued the redemption of silver certificates for silver dollars on March 25, 1964, the Treasury was left with a hoard of silver dollars in its vaults. Many of the silver dollars had collector value and from 1973 to 1980 the GSA held a series of auction and fixed price sales of these coins.

1864 GSA Soft Pack Seated Liberty Dollar NGC XF 40 Obverse Click images to enlarge.

1864 GSA Soft Pack Seated Liberty Dollar NGC XF 40 Reverse Click images to enlarge.

Uncirculated silver dollars, primarily Morgan dollars struck at the Carson City Mint, were sold in rigid plastic holders with a black insert (“GSA Holders”), while the circulated silver dollars—or those with significant toning and bagmarks—were sold in soft plastic holders (“GSA Soft Packs”).

1864 GSA Soft Pack Seated Liberty Dollar NGC XF 40 Click images to enlarge.

According to the government’s packaging, the GSA Soft Packs included either Morgan or Peace dollars. This 1864 Seated Liberty Dollar was likely packaged in error, however, and was extensively documented in the numismatic press when it was purchased directly from the GSA in 1976. It is thought that fewer than 100,000 GSA Soft Packs were sold and that the number of GSA Soft Packs released with Seated Liberty Dollars was in the single digits. This is only the second GSA Soft Pack Seated Liberty Dollar to have been graded by NGC. NGC began to grade and encapsulate GSA Soft Packs in April 2007. The coins are not removed from the original GSA packaging and are instead encapsulated in a special NGC holder that bears the “GSA SOFT PACK” pedigree and the coin’s grade. Similarly, the rigid “GSA HOARD” Morgan dollars and soft “US MINT SEALED” Eisenhower dollars are graded by NGC in their original government holders.

NGC was the first third-party grading service to grade “GSA HOARD” Morgan dollars, “GSA SOFT PACK” dollars and “US MINT SEALED” Eisenhower dollars in their original government packaging, preserving these important pieces of numismatic history. The special pedigrees are reported separately in the NGC Census.