Seated Dollar No Motto (1840-1865) Silver dollar production was halted from 1804 until 1836, when Christian Gobrecht, at the direction of Mint director Robert Patterson, began producing his designs in advance of circulating production. He modeled the obverse after a drawing made by Thomas Sully. After three years, the Seated design was ready for use. Production began at the Philadelphia Mint in 1840 using the “modern” steam powered presses. The obverse featured Gobrecht’s seated Liberty rendering and a heraldic reverse eagle that features a smaller shield than the earlier Draped Bust type. The coins were produced without the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST” until the Civil War These early seated examples were struck in relatively small quantities until production was increased in 1859. The No Motto type is beloved by dollar collectors as representations of a growing nation in the early part of the industrial revolution.
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