The rare coin market loves fresh discoveries from old collections, such as the exceptional 1846-O Seated Liberty dollar that emerged from the Linnemann Family Collection recently.

The Professional Coin Grading Service Mint State 64 dollar was offered as part of Stack’s Bowers Galleries’ June 21 auction during Whitman’s Coin and Collectibles Baltimore Expo. It sold on a bid of $37,500 (or $44,062.50 once the firm’s 17.5 percent buyer’s fee is accounted for).

Seated Liberty dollars were struck at the New Orleans Mint for just four years, of which 1846 was the first. PCGS had graded just one other MS-64 example with none finer, and as the catalog attested, it was a rare find in the current market, “something unseen for generations and of such incredible quality ... It is indeed likely that no finer 1846-O remains to be found, but history will be the judge if there is time enough to wait.”

Finding pricing comparables for a coin of this rarity is challenging. A Jan. 7, 2010, sale of another toned example graded PCGS MS-63 with a green Certified Acceptance Corp. sticker, indicating quality within the grade, was at the $17,250 level, but it is more available in this grade as around a dozen MS-63 1846-O dollars are known.

Further, the MS-64 dollar has a distinctive overall color scheme, described as “a firm foundation of gunmetal-blue which flashes with teal, yellow and lilac when examined under a light.” Unusual both in appearance and in rarity.

For those looking for a more reasonable example, Stack’s Bowers offered one graded Numismatic Guaranty Corp. MS-60 with a green CAC sticker that realized $7,167.50 in the same auction.

Other Seated Liberty highlights included an extremely handsome PCGS Very Good 10 1870-CC Seated Liberty quarter dollar with a green CAC sticker that brought just over $14,000.

In the same auction, a run of Carson City Mint dimes from the William Porter Collection included one of the finest 1871-CC Seated Liberty dimes graded PCGS About Uncirculated 55 with rich toning brought $27,025.

Two 1873-CC Seated dimes graded ANACS Fine 12 Details, Cleaned and PCGS Very Good 8 sold for $3,407.50 and $3,290 respectively. The strong prices for the Porter coins reflects that the market’s appetite for scarce and rare Carson City Mint coinage shows no signs of stopping. ¦