1846 Seated Liberty Dime (1837-1891)

Intriguing History

In 1846, President Polk's expansionist agenda was reshaping the map: the Mexican-American War added vast new territory in the Southwest, and the discovery of gold in California in 1848 was just beginning to pull fortune-seekers west and pour fresh bullion into the nation's mints. This Seated Liberty dime, Christian Gobrecht's design that anchored small silver coinage for over half a century, was struck during exactly this period.