San Francisco was a perfect destination for bullion from the Comstock Lode and the gold fields of California, as well as large quantities of bullion from around the Pacific Rim. By the late 1860s it soon became apparent to Treasury officials that the first San Francisco Mint building was not able to handle the steadily increasing volume of incoming bullion. In 1869, the government located a site at Fifth and Mission Streets and by the end of 1874, the "Granite Lady" was ready and equipment from the old mint was moved into the new building. Limited coinage operations began in December.

The production of most gold denominations in 1875 was at best minuscule and includes some notable numismatic rarities. Only the double eagle was coined in any significant quantities at Philadelphia, Carson City, and San Francisco, and then almost entirely to satisfy foreign demand for the denomination. The newly built facility at San Francisco coined 1,230,000 double eagles. Many 1875-S double eagles made their way to mostly European banks and treasuries soon after production; even those that went into circulation often ended up in sacks for overseas transport in later years. The coins were moved around receiving a wide range of scrapes, dings, abrasions, and other forms of damage. Those that remained in the United States later ended up in the Mint's furnaces during the extensive melting that took place after the Presidential Gold Surrender Order in 1933.

When 1875-S double eagles that had been shipped overseas returned in the twentieth century, a significant number of Uncirculated examples were among those repatriated coins. Several thousand 1875-S double eagles are believed to exist in all grade levels. Even though PCGS CoinFacts provides an estimate of 1,025 individual Mint State survivors, almost all are between MS-60 and MS-62 and seldom any finer. At the MS-63 level, the issue is extremely scarce and at MS-64 it is a formidable condition rarity.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the D. Brent Pogue Part VII Auction, where it realized $432,000.