The trend of smaller circulation strike production of silver dollars that was begun in 1850 continued in 1851, with an even lower mintage of 1,300 pieces. The vast quantities of gold entering the world market from California caused the price of silver relative to gold to rise to the point where the bullion value of a United States silver dollar outstripped its face value. In such a situation there was little, if any incentive for bullion dealers to have their silver coined into dollars, explaining the small circulation strike mintages from the Philadelphia Mint in 1850, 1851 and 1852. Those coins that were produced were almost certainly not released into domestic circulation at the time, or else they would have been exported and/or melted. It is likely that some 1851 dollars found their way into circulation later in the 19th century, by which time the rarity of this date was already well established (the Mint had produced Proof restrikes for collectors as early as 1858). Sharp-eyed bank tellers and others with regular access to silver dollars during the late 1870s and 1880s probably set aside examples of the 1851 and other key date Liberty Seated issues such as the 1852, accounting for some of the coins in today's numismatic market. Uncirculated examples probably represent coins obtained directly from the Mint in 1851 or else preserved at the time of issue. We believe that fewer than 100 coins are extant in all grades.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the January 2012 Auction, where it realized $37,950.