1861 Quarter Dollar Seated (1861 Seated S$1) NGC AU58 CAC. The featured coin is a wonderful example of a Civil War era Liberty Seated quarter dollar. Graded AU-58 by NGC, this 1861 quarter dollar exhibits beautiful blue and brown toning which encircles the design. The surfaces of this coin are pristine and bright and without any noticeable blemishes.

The wonderful surfaces are further accentuated by the sharply struck devices. Influenced by the design of the seated goddess motifs on British coins, engraver Christian Gobrecht crafted the design for the Seated Liberty quarter dollar from a drawing by Thomas Sully. Liberty Seated quarter dollars were first struck in 1838. On the obverse of the coin, Gobrecht used a modified version of his Liberty, seated on a rock and surrounded by thirteen stars, while the reverse had the Reich-Kneass eagle from the previous Capped Bust quarter dollar issue with the denomination as QUAR. DOL. instead of the earlier 25 C.

Liberty Seated quarter dollars struck from 1838 to 1853 and again from 1856 through 1865 are referred to as No Motto issues because they lacked the motto IN GOD WE TRUST, which was added in 1866. By 1853, due to the increase in silver prices relative to gold, the silver in the No Motto quarters was worth more than face value. This led to their rapid disappearance from the channels of commerce. Accordingly, Mint Director George Eckert persuaded Congress to reduce the weight of silver coins to preclude melting. This set the stage for the next type of Seated Liberty quarter, the Arrows and Rays variety. The No Motto variety would not return until 1856.