Traditionally and in general, collectors save first-year type coins because of the novelty of the new designs. Thus many first-year type coins appear in unusually high quantities and in above-average grades because they we set aside and preserved. Such was not the case with the 1840 Seated Liberty Dollar. The explanation could be simple: perhaps collectors could not afford to set aside quantities of high-value dollar coins or the design may have been too similar to that of the Gobrecht Dollars issued from 1836-1839. Whatever the reason, collectors now face a challenge finding nice examples of this date. The 1840 Silver Dollar ranks in the rarest third of all dates in the series. Nonetheless, collectors should have no problem finding a circulated example of this date, but Mint State eamples may be hard to locate.
